Substrate Cutter

[Snook]

We purchased a Fletcher Substrate Cutter about one year ago. We are experiencing issues with it not cutting straight. We have called Fletcher and have some maintenance parts on order. i hope this fixes the problem, however I would like to get any feedback possible to a couple questions:

1. Has anyone else experienced the same issues of not cutting straight on the Fletcher Cutter?
2. We cut primarily ACM (Aluminum Composite Material). Is there a better cutter for our needs? We digitally print all signs and laminate prior to applying to the ACM. Cutting the ACM on the Fletcher is our final step.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Chad Snook
www.Fastpost.com
www.SignSetters.com

 

[Gino]

Perhaps, you are loading it [substrate] in crooked.
Possibly, it isn't sitting square on the floor.
You might not have it secured to the wall evenly.
Are you making a one fell swoop cutting motion ??
Do you have the composite blade in and not the sheet blade ??


Sounds more like 'user error'. We've had ours for years and other than one of us doing something wrong, it can't cut wrong.

 

[David Wright]

Just what I needed to hear.
Ordered mine today.

 

[Farmboy]

What Gino said.
We've also had ours for just over a year. Works like a champ.

 

[Zx360]

We got ours a week ago, only time I've noticed it not cut straight is when I'm trying to shave 1/4 or less off a panel to fit in a poorly welded frame. Everything else the cutters been a dream.

Did id you try running through the install calibration tests again to see that the frames still square and that somehow that didn't get messed up?

 

[Snook]

Update on original post

Since my original post, we have gone away from our Fletcher and have gone with a shear. We are into week 3 and it is working great. Our Fletcher worked great the first couple years then it started to loosen. We tried to square it up, replaced many parts, and tried a few other things. It just wasn't a good piece of equipment to cut aluminum composite material. We do production and use it everyday. Shear is the way to go!

 

[neil_se]

That mirrors my experience Snook, although ours is Keencut brand. Now it's only used for corflutes and pvc and we use a basic treadle guillotine for all our ACP (which also has the bonus of cutting other sheet metals). I also never liked how the vertical cutting wheels creates a curve in the off cut, so that if you're trimming one piece of ACP into 2 signs, one isn't flat.