Cutting mat photo board

Read a post by @Zoomer about attempting to cut photo mat board from a couple years ago and outside of some pricy options I didn’t see a tested (and liked) solution.

I’d like to cut mat board for some art prints, so this is something I’m trying to figure out how to do. I was thinking of doing a contour cut with the 90° V-carve tool, but sounds like results, especially in the corners, can be pretty rough.

The original post was a couple of years ago, so I’m curious if any new practices or products come along that could produce good results.

Anyone doing this in a way they’d recommend?

Thanks!

My suggestion would be a drag knife.

That seems to be the consensus, but don’t they cut at only 90°?

I’d like to cut at 45°, but making a 90° cut on the Shapeoko would be better than manually cutting them at 45° LOL

Is there a recommended drag knife? I haven’t seen one with the other C3D cutters.

Thanks!

C3D sells the Stingray.

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Thank you, I would not have looked at this, thinking it is for cutting only vinyl.

The Stingray is only suited to vinyl and thing paper and cardstock.

You would need a drag knife w/ a longer/larger blade to cut matboard.

So any of the 1/4 or 1/2 inch tools that secure a ‘utility blade’ would do?

There are a couple options found on Amazon for $75-$140~ but no idea how well they might perform with the Shapeoko.

I used to make a lot of picture frames. I investigated the mat cutters and found the investment too high so I just went to Michaels and had them cut my matting. There is satisfaction in making your own stuff but I would bet money any admirers of your work will ever ask who cut the matt! Sometimes you just have to look at options and decide on cost and expediciency.

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Yes, or some similar size blade.

I worked up a 3D printed design a while back and it worked okay, and purchase one off eBay which worked a bit better (unfortunately, that was far enough back that I can’t find the purchase in list of past purchases)

Note that you will need to either be cutting a design which has rounded features and which will cause the knife to swivel as necessary, or you will need to use a CAM tool which adds corner overcuts of a suitable size so as to cause the rounding — I did that by hand-coding G-code.

I think I might try a test with a downcut 90° Vee using Adv. V-Carve without the clearance bit.
You’d have to hold the material down as close to the cut as you can get, on a flat surface you can cut into a little bit to prevent fraying on the bottom edge.

Maybe a clamping jig something like this so it works for multiple sizes

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I think a trip to Michael’s makes the most sense for me. My initial thought was, “I can just do this with what I already have and save a few dollars”, but since it’s not something I plan to do often (or sell for ROI) it’s likely more effort and cost than it’s worth.

One of the traps of the Shapeoko is the number of distractions that come up by what’s possible to do with it.

Thanks everyone for your recommendations and advice,

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