Sharpening Machine Bladesand Mill KnivesPrecision Grinding, Inc. Is known for sharpening machine blades and mill knives for paper mills, plywood mills, steel companies, automotive manufacturers, industrial companies and manufacturing companies of all types across every industry, every day, and we’d like to do business with you.At times, supporting steel shims may be required to return your shears to the original thickness necessary to fit your machine.
And our final accessory is the cutting machine carrier! The Brother Scan N Cut Tote Bag will be perfect for you if you think you’ll be moving your machine around a bit, or if you would like a nicer way to store it while not in use. The Brother Scan N Cut Is Best For Described as a craft cutting machine, this is great for the home crafter. Contact a saw and blade tool sharpener near you. Ask if you can apprentice in the craft of saw and blade tool sharpening. Offer to apprentice for free or work as a hired hand. Look to apprentice with sharpeners who can train you in manual and machine sharpening to gain versatility from experience.
Test Cutting. Seems a bit like a faff, but actually it's what ensures that you'll get perfect cuts every time, without having to shell out constantly for new consumables (blades & mats).
So here's what I know (so far) about Test Cutting, Blades and Mats.First, let's have a look at the blade & the mat themselves. Brother really have put a lot of thought into the design and operation of these, I'm rather impressed myself! I'm assuming you've either read or got in front of you Chapter 1 Getting Started in the Manual (either on CD-Rom that came with your machine or online via the Brother Support Website) and also the Appendix about looking after your machine, when we go through this.BLADES.
Brother ONLY has 2 sorts of blades - STANDARD and DEEP CUT. The Standard Blade has it's own holder which is BLUE. The Deep Cut Blade has it's own holder which is PURPLE. I've not tried, but anecdotal evidence says that ONLY Brother Blades work. This might change in the future if someone comes up with a generic one that works but until they do, best to save some pennies by being kind to your blade!. You open the Blade Holder by unscrewing the Bottom Half of the Blade Holder.
This is different to the Pen Holder, where you use the little press down catch on the back. The Brother Manual tells you how to change blades at Chapter 5 APPENDIX Consumables: Replacing the Blade. I don't know about you, but I'm not entirely happy about handling sharp things I can barely see! It's one reason I don't really like using Scalpels, I hate changing the blades!
Brother have had the marvellous idea of putting a piece of thick spongy material in the BACK of the official SPATULA HANDLE to stick the blade it to take it out of the holder. Which makes it painless and blood free!. Some people keep 2 Standard Blades - one for fine work for vinyl and tissue & other paper under 80gsm (copier paper) and one for heavier paper. This makes sense if you do a lot of cutting of fine things where you need to know your Blade has a decent edge and point on it. But unless you are going to buy yourself an extra Blade Holder as well, you do have to be disciplined about and practise changing blades and have some way of marking them (nail varnish?) and some sort of container they can't escape from for storage. Obviously it's up to you, the Blade is designed to last a reasonable amount of time with care (the machine's only been out a few years and some people are still on their first blade who bought their machines early on) so it's not necessary, just letting you know you can!. If you have bought a second hand machine, or you really really messed up a cut, ALWAYS check your blade tip under a magnifying glass before cutting again.
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You can do this by winding it out to the deepest it will go beyond 12 and being careful not to stab yourself. ALWAYS keep the little lid that comes with the holder. It stops the blade from breaking and also from you stabbing yourself when the Holder's not in the machine.
You can leave the Blade Holder locked in the machine permanently, however, I've found that I use the Brother Pen Holder, and if I'm not in the habit of taking the Holder out of the machine, I either forget the pen and then it sits there open (impressively they don't dry up even after 24 hours sitting in the machine forgotten), or I forget to check my settings and mess up the cut depth! For me, I am trying to be disciplined and tidy and remember to check settings, so I don't leave mine in. I wouldn't leave it in when travelling either.How do I know which Blade to use for what?I'm a bit surprised that Brother don't include more information about which Blade to use with what sort of material with the machines. They give a very small table called Cutting Settings in the Manual Chapter 1 GETTING STARTED: FIRST STEPS Adjusting the Blade Extension.However, the internet is a wonderful thing! This PDF by The Gentleman Crafter, a guy who used to work for and is still linked with Create & Craft TV in the UK (sole distributor of Scan n Cut machines) tells you at what stage you should swop from Standard to Deep Blades depending on the thickness of the material you are cutting.He covers virtually every material you might want to use, far more detailed and far more useful than Brother's own offering! Me, I'm interested in paper right now, so that's what I'll concentrate on when I give examples.Basically, up to 400gsm Cardstock (200lb Watercolour Paper), which is classed as Super Heavy Cardstock, you use the Standard Blade, over that, go to the Deep Blade.
For example HunkyDory's Adorable Scorable is 350gsm. Tissue paper is up to about 35gsm - both are cut using the Standard Blade and the difference in weights is why people tend to have 2 Standard Blades if they use extremes of weights regularly! (NB: the USA has a slightly different system than the UK for measuring the weight of paper & card, so if in doubt and you're in the USA google it!)Don't be scared of setting the Blade a little less so that it cuts most areas but not quite all, where if you have it any deeper, it cuts right into the mat. As long as the material you are cutting is properly adhered to the mat, it won't move and you can tell the machine to repeat the cut and this time, it should cut through all the way in EXACTLY the same place.
Try doing a repeat cut without changing any settings as often it'll work. You rarely have to go to a higher setting, it might be sensible to go to a lower one!How do I set the Blade Depth?Blade Depth is essentially 'how much of the blade sticks out of the holder at the bottom'. So to adjust that you turn the Bottom Half of the Holder between the numbers 1 to 12.On your Blade Holder there's a sticker that runs from 1 to 12, 1 is the least sticking out and 12 is the most.Everyone's blade turns beyond 12, because the ability to turn the screw on the bottom of the Holder has 2 functions, firstly it allows you to dictate the Blade Depth for cutting (Manual: chapter 1 Getting Started: First Steps: Adjusting the Blade Extension), and secondly it allows you to take the bottom of the Holder off, so that you can change blades, or clean out any debris from cutting.