Has anyone used their 3D printer to modify their 3D printer to hold a cutting tool from a Cricut or Silhouette stencil (die cut) machine? It seems to me that placing a cutting mat on the print bed and “printing” a one layer object “on” a piece of paper would do the job of one of these stenciling machines.
Something I plan to try in the future… but willing to learn from the attempts of others.
Interesting idea. Totally plausible. The complication I see is the angle of what is cutting would need to rotate with the direction of the cut. Right? Maybe requiring an additional motor and programming to rotate at certain rates and angles. Unless you have some sort of omni-directional blade like a tiny dremel head, or a low powered laser. I could see being able to replace the nozzle of a 3D printer with a point, and have it create a bunch of tiny holes in whatever you are trying to cut by moving the Z axis in and out…I don’t know. Let me know if you learn something. It would be an interesting adaption.
@Daniel_Jackman : at least some vinyl cutters have a tool with the point very slightly offset from the tool centerline, and a pivot, so it automatically turns in the direction of the cut as it cuts.
I thought there were some omni-directional blades for these machines – I’ll have to see if can can open a box at a store I guess. If the blade has to be directional, then we’re talking about software writing that I’m not capable of.
You need an offset cutter, that trails behind the axis of the pivot. And the software has to compensate for this. Easy math to do, not as easy to implement in use. I’ve got two big cutters, 60inch wide capacity, by 35 feet or so, to cut vinyl, window tint, and automotive clear bra material
A quick Googly and I found a page with a close up of a cutter. Looks like it just comes to a point. A little more expensive than I’d want for just experimenting – but might be able to find a cheap knock off for that purpose. I’m also going to ask around to see if anyone owns that kind of machine and if they can hold the cutting point in their hand and try to cut out a circle or something free hand.
The link I’m referring to is
http://www.joann.com/cricut-premium-fine-point-blade-and-housing/15683261.html
i believe you are referring to what is called a “drag knife”, there are a number of those on thingiverse mostly in CNC-related categories… ex: https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=drag+knife&sa&dwh=345a8dc1bfe0fa8
Idea as old as dirt - It works - kind of on older printers. If you have a perfectly level bed or some software bed leveling it would work even better. I published this back in 2012…it works…even on an ancient Thing-O-Matic.
The Cricut tool holder accommodates the blade rotation. Software post-processing to add extra motion at the turns would be necessary to prevent dragging the blade sideways.
Get a low power laser for such a cutting tool mod.
I need to double-check, but I believe even a low power laser, but still powerful enough to cut paper, might be tough to import into Canada. Good idea though!
I’ve put a 2W laser in my cnc mill. The drag is that if you’re under about 5-6W, paper has such a low albedo that you have to turn the laser on, then wait for about 600mS until it actually starts burning, and then start moving, at which point the blackened spot will keep absorbing enough that you can cruise around at a reasonable rate. (maybe 2mm/second.) That 600mS isn’t constant, either, so just adding wait statements into your gcode in place of Z moves isn’t wholly effective.
But look on canadian ebay for 1-2W laser diode modules. (Get a module. It is a huge project to try to put a collimation lens on a bare laser diode.) And if you do get one, add more heatsinking to the laser diode.
@Alex_Koukarine that’s an ok idea, if you want to cut paper. If you want to cut stencils, vinyls and such you have to only cut thru one layer, you don’t want the backing or mask cut. You need that to hold the design together.
The cutters i use cut thru a layer of window tint, but not the clear carrier they are on for handling, only a few mils thick