Since our president cant seem to say it ?.........................                                                                            GOD BLESS AMERICA !T.C.

No problem just curious.............now if I can remember what I was doing I'll get back to it?

T.C.

Quote from: deemery on March 10, 2021, 03:21:58 PM
The big difference between the NWSL Chopper and the Shay Cutter is the former just has a vertical (guillotine) motion, while the latter adds a horizontal slicing motion.  That makes the cut smoother and reduces (but does not eliminate) the tendency to get a beveled cut.  I ordered some double-thick single edge razor blades, I'll report back how well they work in my Shay style cutter.


dave

Just wondering what results you got with the double thick razor blades ?
T.C.

Quote Oldguy:   "A single bevel should leave one cut end flat, but the other will have a bevel.  If that end is to be used, then it would need to be squared."

I totally agree, and to me one side square is better than none.  If you look at my pictures you can see where the "utility" blade that has a double bevel clearly makes a "V" cut so that will leave ya having to sand square both ends,  I guess you could say the single bevel blade solves half of the problem.

If I need multiple parts all the same size I will cut them a little longer so I can swap ends to get two square cuts rather than have to sand each to the proper length, in fact there is no reason not to cut all the parts in this manner as I think I will save time and also wood.

T.C.

Thanks for the interest Karl :
I'm pretty much set as I have already bought a 100 pack of the single bevel, Matt cutter blades.
So for me it's a done deal, I can use the blades in either of my cutters and expect to get a square cut on whatever side I have the "non bevel" turned towards.
I do get a little better cut with my Shay type cutter and I think that's because it's more rigid and a better system. I also like the fact I will be able to cut square 45's with the Shay.


I'm waiting to see how Dave makes out with the extra thick razor blades ?

I looked at Jeff's results and was impressed with how the heavier blade cut.
Maybe I could have bought the razor blades and been good? 

But I just cant get that flush cut rail nipper out of my mind.

As I said my goal is to not have to sand every miter and cut clean 90's and 45's.
I think I have accomplished that.

Now I need to build something to find out for sure.
I want to thank all you guy's for all the advise, input and comments on this, hopefully it will also help others to get better cut's from there tools?

T.C.

I will be very interested in your results especially with thicker wood.

Personally I think it has to do more with the bevel of the blade than the thickness.I keep thinking about the flush cut rail nippers that are flat on one side, if you compare the cut you get with them to a cut from a regular pair of side cutters it's obvious.

Hopefully I am wrong as the razor blades are dirt cheep compared to the Matt cutter blades.

My goal is to be able to cut and glue, not cut then sand to size and glue.Repeatability is also a concern especially if you have to sand to size.
T.C.

Bernd

You are correct all the cuts have a bevel, But the important thing is where the bevel is.

In the first two photo's you will notice the bevel is on the right side only the left side is square, I attribute that to the Matt blade with the single bevel .

In the second two photo's the bevel is on both sides more like a "V" rather than one side being square like the first two photo's, notice I have the utility blade in the tool.

I agree that my chopper is not as rigid as the shay cutter and I can see your thinking about slight drifting due to flexing, but I would think that one of the Matt cutter blades in your cutter or a newer type NWSL chopper with the better handle should produce a clean cut on one side as seen above.
I think a square cut on the piece of 3/16x1/4" spruce was impressive, the Matt blade also was easier to force though the wood.


I dont know how one would get a clean square cut on both sides?   I'm sure on very small stripwood you may not notice the difference but on 1/6" or larger I feel you may?

T.C.

Thanks Karl I need all the luck I can get.
I've done some more testing with my old chopper made by K-tool, it's basically the same as a NWSL copper so It will give a good idea of whats going on.

I skipped the razor blade as I know what the results would be and tested a heavy utility blade and a single bevel Matt cutter blade.
The wood pieces are 1/8x1/8" bass wood and 1/4x3/16" spruce.

The first set of pictures are the Matt cutter blade, the second set are with the Utility blade.
Matt cutter





Utility blade



T.C.

Thanks Bernd, if you think about it Rail Nippers have a flat side that cuts  flush on one side so I guess it's the same theory ?

Tomorrow I'll take some pictures of some 1/8x1/8" and 1/4x1/4" cut with my chopper to get an idea of how it cuts
T.C.

Jeff, thanks for the kind words.

If I may ask:
Did you buy the single or double bevel blades, also how ridged are your cutters ?Both of my cutters are very ridged and I think that also helps to keep the blade from drifting.
T.C.

Bernd I think both are true.
I took some photos for those interested so you can judge for yourself.
The straight cut on the left side is perfect, the right side piece has an angle this is due to the single bevel.  The wood is 1/4" x1/8" and 1/8"x1/8"
T.C.



The angle cut is not as perfect but still workable., may get better as I learn the tool a bit more?

Up date:
I received my Matt cutter single bevel blades today and this is what I found.
I found all I really needed to do was buy the blades and install into my old K-tool chopper. This was easy as it already had a clamp type blade holder and the blade fit with no problem

So I got out some 1/8"x1/8" wood and Long story short it cut as straight as you could want !  Go figure I could have saved myself all that work and money making the Shay type slicer and just bought the blades. Who knew! 

Next up was the new toy I built, I had to modify the blade holder for the new blades by drilling and taping a hole for an 8-32 screw to hold the blade in place, no big deal.
I got the same results as I did from my chopper "straight as a dime !"
So then I checked the angle cutting feature I built into my cutter to see if it would also cut angles with the same results ?It does really good on thinner stuff but has a very slight deflection on the thicker stuff, not enough to worry about and probably not bad enough to bother sanding.
Now for the down side, there's always a down side.
I notice when I cut the wood that the side of the blade with no bevel is nice and square but the other side has a very distinct angle, so that will have to be incorporated into how I use the tool.The chopper did the same, one side flat no deflection the other side not so much.I dont consider this to be a big problem because to me just having one side cut square is a big plus and I'm happy with it.
I haven't a clue what one would get with the double bevel blades?

I will try to take a few pictures of some cuts for those who are interested.
T.C.

Craig I will be trying the Matt cutter blades in my chopper and in my Shay type cutter.

It will probably come down to all I needed was the blades instead of all the work making a new tool.

But I had fun making it and hopefully it will work just a little bit better than a chopper?
T.C.

Thanks for the kind words about my work, I've seen your work so coming from you it means a lot.
I have a notch milled into the blade holder for the top of the blade to set into so the blade does set flat against the holder.The whole thing is very rigid there is no wobble anywhere so I know its got to be the blade.

When you order your blades make note that they have double bevel and single bevel.I ordered the single (supposed to be here Sat.) because I think/hope I will get a straight cut on the flat side.


The down side to it is I will have to flip the material over to cut the other end or rotate the blade so the flat is on the other side to use the other side of the cutter.
Still easier than sanding every piece square and worry about the part being to small, or even trying to sand down it to the rite size.
Thanks again  T.C.

OK I finally figured out how to post pictures on my post above so you all can see my mess. 

Bernd do you think that idea could be added to a regular chopper easy enough?I measured a box blade thickness ant it came to .023 so that's .008 more than the matt cutter blade and .014 more than the razor blade, big difference.    I will try the matt cutter blades on my chopper as well as my new toy I made and hopefully get both working/cutting square.

I dont know if you all noticed that I made my Shay type cutter with a moveable back stop so I can cut angles with it, hopefully it works out?Thanks again for all the replies and ideas .

T.C.