Fighting With My Equipment - But It's Actually a Lot of Fun (Most Of the Time)

Happy July 3rd to all of my on-line friends and readers. I'm warning you that you'll get a 4th of July "Splash Page" tomorrow, but not a full post. It's a holiday and I'm going to enjoy it. I'll probably still work out on the treadmill, but no absolute guarantee. I might allow myself a bit of a sleep-in instead since there will be no more holidays until Labor Day in September. 

I had the black metal edges of each side above removed for 
cleaning and adjustment. Getting them off was easy. Getting 
them back on was another matter entirely. But I persevered, 
and after more than 30 minutes, finally succeeded in getting 
everything reassembled perfectly. Now to test the actual cut 
and whether the blade track will need adjustment at all. 

I started a serious cleaning of my horizontal mat cutter yesterday afternoon. It needs a good clean, the blades need to be aligned, and everything needs to be totally square up. At the time I chatted with Aearwen a bit later, I had the placement blocks at the top and bottom of the cutter unscrewed. That was easy. It turned out that the hard part was getting them back together properly. I discovered a great deal about a specific set screw, but putzed  with it for the full hour I was chatting with Aearwen. Then, within 10 minutes of hanging up with her, I finally managed to get the equipment properly reassembled. "Whew"! That was a bit of a job. I changed one of the blades in the head, but the other blade is a total ARGH. It's next to impossible to get out of the blade holder. I don't have a replacement blade of that shape either (that I could find), so I may have to order a packet, then take EVERYTHING apart once again. I'll do that on a day when DH is working and I'm home since it's obviously picky. 

The mat cutter is a precision piece of equipment. It's factory 
adjusted, but things can happen over time to knock the cuts 
out of true. I'll be testing the settings on Friday. I got everything 
thoroughly cleaned yesterday and managed to get everything 
back together again (eventually). THAT was a challenge - LOL. 

But on something like a machine like this, it has to be precise. Even 1/16th of a inch off will show in a larger piece. If all I'm doing are small pieces of artwork, it's not as major. But if I'm doing something that requires an opening of anywhere from 24 x 36 or similar ... that small 1/16th inch difference really can play in and make the end product trash. DH brought home two pieces of matboard for me, though. I need one piece to cut and one for the "scrap" piece that is put below it. When cutting a mat, you always have a "scrap" or "slip" piece underneath. It allows for a clean cut through the actual mat. 

A mat cutter, when properly aligned, will allow the framer 
to cut precise 90 degree angle corners in mat boards, 
allowing the artwork to look great on any wall. Even a small 
amount out of alignment will show, and it won't be a good 
thing for any customer. 

So, now that I've bored all of you, I think I'll wrap this up and head over to the swimming pool for my final swim of the day. Yesterday was crowded. I ended up with three in my lane, so we circled. Ruth swims slower than I do, and the young lady who joined us a bit later swam faster than us, but we managed quite well. It was a boring swim for me, though. I had managed to forget my underwater headphones at home, so I had no book to listen to while swimming. *sigh*. I can manage (and did manage), but I really prefer to listen to my audio books while in the water. It makes the time go faster. Have an excellent 3rd of July. I'll be back with a full post on the 5th. Slava Ukraini!