KEENCUT Sabre 2 Series User manual

Sabre Series 2
Inspired Design – Precision Engineering
USER INSTRUCTIONS
Thank you for choosing the Keencut Sabre Series 2. Every effort
has been made to bring you a precision engineered product
with the promise of many years of valuable service. In order to
obtain maximum benefit from your machine please read these
instructions carefully. For advice and assistance or replacement
parts please contact your distributor or Keencut.
Keencut Limited, Baird Road, Willowbrook Industrial Estate, Corby, Northants, ENGLAND NN17 5ZA.
Telephone: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected]
www.keencut.co.uk
KC-EDITION 11/10

1 Contents
2 Safety & Preparation
2.1 Installation Recommendations
Safety
3 Set-up
3.1 Blades and bldae holders
3.2 Changing the blade holder
3.3 Inserting the GRAPHIK Blade and setting the Depth
4 Operation
4.1 Cutting, Scoring hard plastics, Cutting PVC foamboards
4.2 The Aluminium Squaring Arm (Optional)
4.3 Using the Rotary Cutter (Optional)
4.4 Changing the Rotary Blade
5 Maintenance
5.1 Cleaning and Lubrication - (warning note)
Adjusting the Cutting Head Sliding Bearings.
1 Contents 1

2.1 Safety & Preparation 2.1
CHECKING THE FLAT SURFACE (TABLE TOP)
■Please note! It is essential that the cutter is used on a flat surface to cut
accurately. A war ed or bowed table to can induce a twist in the Cutter Bar
resulting in a bowed cut.
SAFETY
■The blade must be removed before moving, cleaning or lifting the cutter.
■Only lift or move the Cutter using the Base Plate and kee u right when doing so.
■Do not lace your fingers near the blade when using the machine.
■Do not use the Cutter if there are any signs of damage to the Cutting Head or
Cutter Bar Assembly.

3.1 Set-up 3.1
BLADES AND BLADE HOLDERS
The Sabre is fitted with a new conce t in Cutter Bar design, the vertical action cutting
head. This enables robust blade su ort and a level of flexibility never seen on revious
cutters of this ty e.
The Sabre Cutter bar has been designed to cut a variety of boards to a thickness of
13mm (0.5”) using the s ecial GRAPHIK D 017 blade (available through your distributor
or Keencut).
Consideration should be given to the toughness of the board being cut and the maximum
de th of cut. it is recommended that heavy materials such as PVC foamboard should
only be cut to a maximum of 6mm (0.25”) whereas, lighter materials like foam centred
board can be cut u to the full 13mm (0.5”).
A range of blade holders are available to fit the Sabre, including the o tional Rotary blade
holder for cutting textiles and other flimsy materials. Please refer to the Keencut website
for u to date details on the others.

3.2 Set-up 3.2
CHANGING THE BLADE HOLDER
Before removing a blade holder make sure the blade has been removed or guarded
(de endant on ty e).
Loosen both of the small knurled knobs by about two turns, raise the blade holder to
align the knobs with holes in the blade holder then ull towards you to release. Reverse
the rocedure to attach a blade holder to the cutting head.
 

3.3 Set-up 3.3
INSERTING THE GRAPHIK BLADE AND SETTING THE DEPTH
Remove the blade clam ing late by
undoing the large black clam ing knob, if
there is a blade already in the holder it will
come away with the magnetic clam ing
late . You will notice the blade de th
adjuster with the small black knob is free
to slide along its slot and the raised i on
its underside locates in the small hole in
the GRAPHIK blade.
Ensure there is no debris on the underside
of the clam ing late articularly around
the magnet before fitting the new blade.
The blade can be ositioned on the
clam ing late either way round enabling
the blade to cut either left to right or right
to left .
Hold the clam ing late in lace on the
blade holder and tighten the clam ing
knob ensuring the blade is ro erly
located in its groove.
Before tightening the clam ing knob the
blade de th can be adjusted by sliding the
adjustment knob u or down to retract or
extend the blade. It is good ractice to set
the de th so that the minimum amount of
blade is ex osed to just cut through the
material, it takes much less effort and
roduces a better cut.



CUTTING
The standard GRAPHIK blade holders can be set to cut at different de ths and in either
direction by sim ly adjusting or fli ing the blade over in the holder. You can also ush
or ull the cutting head to suit your own comfort.
Once your blade is set move the cutting head near to the start of the cut, ress down
the blade holder and ush or ull to take the cut. Only light finger ressure is usually
required to de ress the blade holder so most of your effort can be directed into ushing
the blade through the material.
SCORING HARD PLASTICS
Many hard lastics such as Acrylic can be scored and sna ed by hand or over the edge
of a bench (use hand and eye rotection). The back edge of the GRAPHIK blade can
be used as a scoring blade, osition the lastic sheet in the cutter and draw the blade
backwards across the surface a lying downward ressure to the blade holder, some
lastics will benefit from being scored a number of times before sna ing.
CUTTING PVC FOAMBOARDS
PVC is a very tough and durable material, to obtain a straight and smooth edge cut the
material slowly, if you cut too fast the board will ri and give a jagged uneven edge.
Considerably higher cutting erformance is obtained from warm room tem erature
boards, if you store your boards in an unheated room in winter you will find them much
more difficult to cut and the colder the board the slower they will need to be cut.
4.1 Operation 4.1
DEEP CUT
SHALLOW CUT SHALLOW CUT
DEEP CUT

4.2 Operation 4.2
THE ALUMINIUM SQUARING ARM (Optional)
Attach the Squaring Arm
using the two screws and
nuts rovided. When
tightening the screws ensure
that the arm is at right
angles to the cutting edge
using a iece of a er or
card cut at 90°, as shown .
To fix the scales in the correct osition, lace a iece of card on the Squaring Arm and
slide the measuring sto to the back corner then fasten it in osition. Cut the card by
de ressing the blade and drawing it through the card smoothly. Measure the width of
the card, and stick down the measuring scale so it reads the measured dimension at
the sto .
X
X

4.3 Operation 4.3
THE ROTARY CUTTER (Optional)
The o tional Rotary Blade Holder is used to cut textiles, thin a ers and other flimsy
materials, it uses a circular blade to ress down onto a cutting mat or sheet of suitable
lastic laced on the base of the machine.
The red lastic blade guard rotects the blade and makes it safe to handle, however, be
very careful as the blade is extremely shar . The guard has to be closed to allow the
blade holder to be fitted or removed, align the scallo  in the red lastic guard with the
left hand release hole and fit/remove the blade holder in the normal way.
USING THE ROTARY BLADE CUTTER
Position the material to be cut on the cutting mat in the machine and lower the cutter bar.
Rotate the safety guard gri clockwise to reveal the blade. A ly downward ressure to
the blade holder whilst drawing the cutting blade along the material in one continuous
motion.
Some materials will cut better if a harder lastic base is used in lace of the cutting mat.
Acrylic works well for this, use a iece at least 15cm (6") wide and long enough to
su ort the full cut length of the material. Lighter downward ressure will be required with
harder lastic bases.

GUARD FULLY CLOSED

4.4 Operation 4.4
CHANGING THE ROTARY BLADE
Undo the clam ing knob to release the clam late then carefully remove the blade with
the red guard and the blade centre boss.
Se arate the blade  from the red guard  and ush out the magnetic centre boss ,
be extremely careful, the oint of a encil can be used to hel ush the boss free of the
blade. Ensure there is no debris attached to the magnetic boss or any of the other
com onents, reverse the rocedure to install the new blade.
U on first use check the blade is revolving, if it is not it is an indication that the clam ing
knob  is too tight or there is debris inside.
■The circular knives are extremely sharp - handle with care.





5.1 Maintenance 5.1
CLEANING AND LUBRICATION
It is good ractice to kee a dust sheet over the cutter if it is not to be used for extended
eriods. In any event regularly clean it with a dry cloth, to remove any stubborn stains
use a cloth dam ened with a little water/detergent.
Should the cutting head slideway require lubrication use a silicon s ray or im regnated
s onge.
CUTTING HEAD BEARINGS
The bearings that control the sliding motion of the cutting head are manufactured from a
high grade olymer and under normal use will last for an extremely long time. As they
settle into osition you may find a slight amount of side lay, this can be removed by
tightening the two adjustment screws:
Place the long end of the 2mm Allen key rovided into any of the two screws and very
gradually tighten it with one hand whilst moving the cutting head u and down the cutter
bar with the other. Once you feel the sliding motion start to tighten undo the screw the
smallest amount so the cutting head just slides easily.
Re eat this on the other screw, further finer adjustment on each screw may be needed to
achieve an easy sliding movement with zero side lay.
■Please note! Do not use oil or s irits to lubricate or clean the cutter, some of
the lastic com onents and bearings may be damaged.

KEENCUT Limited E-mail: [email protected]
KEENCUT Limited accepts no liability if the product is not assembled and used in the correct way.