RN-Quilter

We were talking at Guild re Accuquilt and its dies, and someone said the foam in her 2.5" die is disintegrating ... I've not heard of this before. Does anyone have any info on the foam in the Accuquilt dies?

Another person also asked if the blades get dull, and how to sharpen them....I don't know the answer to that as well.

Please enlighten me, so I can pass on the information.

Thanks in advance🌹🌹🌹

KalamaQuilts

those are probably questions better directed to accuquilt itself, the foam because it may be awarrenty problem and sharpening because it would probably void the warrenty.

I sure do love my cutter though!

RN-Quilter

Thanks Kalama🌹🩷

Onebyone

The blades should are not need sharpening as they were made for thousands of paper cuts. But those were the older dies. the newer dies don't seem to be the same quality as the older ones. I have some of the first Accuquilt dies and they are much different than the dies of today.
I took the foam off one of my dies that wasn't cutting clean at the corners, the 2 1/2 Inch square multi die. There is no way to sharpen the blades unless removing them from the board. The foam was held in place with a few squiggles of glue, not adhered all over. The die cut perfectly after I took the foam off. But dangerous to pick up and store.
I have a few dies that the foam has torn away from the edge of the board. I reglue it. I noticed one die the foam seems to crumble in one spot, it's one of the newer dies. I saved the foam i took off the square die so I can cut a patch to replace the crumbling part if I want to. So far it hasn't interfered with the cutting. The foam is for safety for fingers and to protect the blade edge, nothing else.

Onebyone

Here is a picture of the die with no foam. The foam layer is very thin. I saved the square pieces of foam and put the frame foam back for safety in handling. The die cuts all the corners now with no foam. With the foam the corner cuts were not cut all the way.

RN-Quilter

Thank you, Onebyone, that is very helpful. I will relay your message to the group.🌹🌹🌹

zennia

Thank You for the picture. I didn't know the foam was so thin.

stitch678

If the newer dies aren't ax long lasting as the old ones, likely this occured when Acuquilt was purchased by another company.
I have heard good reviews of the Blue Wren dies ( from Australia). They make dies to fit Acuquilt and also custom make dies. The price is reasonable , even though shipped from so far.

quiltsRfun

I might try this with a couple of HST dies that don’t cut well at the corners. It’s kind of stopped me from using them so there wouldn’t be much loss if I destroy them in the process.

Onebyone

Just be very careful in storing and handling with no foam. The blades are very sharp. Accuquilt did acknowledge long ago that some the joins at the corner intersections could be a problem in cutting cleanly. A snip of thread cutting would be needed. After looking at the join of the blades I could tell why, if off by just a tiny smidge of a smidge it won't cut clean.