Modifying the Logan mat cutters
I have taped down 3 wide strips of leftover matboard and the mat cutter surface is complete. The matboards don't reach all the way to the top of the board but it isn't necessary. In the right photo I am setting up to make a squaring arm. I need to show you this in a larger picture below ...
Here you see a large metal square, an 18 inch metal rule, and a wooden yardstick cut at the 3 inch mark. The metal rule in the center is positioned at the very bottom of the cutting area and the wooden yardstick is right under it. The wooden yardstick is cut at the 3 inch mark because when the squaring arm is completed there must be room for the bevel cutting head to cut all the way through the mat or foamboard when you are sizing these items.
  You can see that my squaring arm and the board underneath it is 22 inches long. It is adaquate for the "Compact" cutter. On the "Intermediate" my board is wider and my squaring arm is about 26 inches. And on the "Intermediate" there is a squaring bar on the left side of the cutting board that you must align your squaring arm across. The reason I am using a wooden rule for the squaring bar is for cutting glass. I use my Logan mat cutters to cut lots of glass. I originally used an aluminum rule for the squaring bar but whenever you bump some glass against the metal squaring bar it will easily break the glass. If you do not plan on using your Logan for cutting glass ... go ahead and use an aluminum rule. Just be sure it is thick enough to have an edge when two matboards are on top of another. The aluminum rule I used to use was about an 1/8 thick or maybe a bit thicker. If you do not own a double stick tape gun ... get one! In the picture on the right I am sticking tape on the back side of the wooden rule to hold it in position when I screw it down. The tape is a bit flexible so I can easily adjust the squaring arm to get it perfectly square.
  Here I screw down the squaring arm and on the right is the finished mat cutting board complete with the home made squaring arm. But I was mistaken and the picture below shows you that it is hard to get things perfectly square ... but the results are well worth the effort.
Look at all the holes in the wooden rule! I had to reposition the squaring arm 3 times before I got it right! On the right you see my Logan Simplex cutter with the extended board surface. The Simplex come with a 26" squaring arm. I started with the "Intermediate" and put a squaring arm on it and I am now using it for glass cutting. And I made it a wall mount. Continue to the next page if you would like to see the "Intermediate" converted to a wall mount glass cutter .... Continue
|
