Needle Cutter ???

[XYZADave]

Greetings All,
I'm looking to see if anyone has info on the "needle cutter" machine head, Post number 7 in this thread ( http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...533#post540533 ),
Utube video by Tom McGuire Titled "No Hot Wire" ?
This cutter ( sewing machine?) head, appears very light weight and easily mounted in place of a router. Could have some interesting applications!

Thanks Dave

[miljnor]

Looks homemade to me!

you could easily make what he had with just a motor spinning with an eccentric cam hooked to a needle element. Picture an old locomotive piston driver, only in revers.

[XYZADave]

Hi Maljnor, Thanks for your observations!
...Yes, upon further scrutiny. ( I found the hi rs, full screen viewer setting)
and it does look cleverly home made. ulthough I am still vague on exactly how the rotating shaft actually moves the needle ( the mechanical interface) and the exact function of the solenoid setup.... anyway we may never know from the few angles viewable in the vids.
As far as making somethihg like it, the closest I have come to this is thinking about mounting a sabre saw "jig saw" on the bottom of my Z axis but these are toooo heavy, toooo big and have toooo many vibrations I'd have to dampen to make it practical. Oh well another "one day" job.
Thanks Dave

[miljnor]

if you can find a saber saw to take apart, there in will be your design!

As they use the same mechanic's as i was posing earlier.

And also the vibration from a saber saw is from the mass of the reciprocating head. The saws use the mass in the unit to help keep it cutting.

Most of this mass you don't need as your not cutting anything but foam. And you could definitely get rid of the body of the saw and replace with some billet aluminum stuff.

[rvalotta]

From what I can gather its a DC motor connected to a shaft that has a offset where the needle is attached. The solenoid is used as a brake to keep the needle in a pulled up location. It seems to just get in the way of the rotating shaft and keep it from making any revolutions.

Hope this helps... Looks pretty simple to duplicate... The only thing I havent figured out is how he has the needle attached to the shaft...

[rvalotta]

From what I can gather its a DC motor connected to a shaft that has a offset where the needle is attached. The solenoid is used as a brake to keep the needle in a pulled up location. It seems to just get in the way of the rotating shaft and keep it from making any revolutions.

Hope this helps... Looks pretty simple to duplicate... The only thing I havent figured out is how he has the needle attached to the shaft...

[foam27]

How about an electric solenoid that actuates the needle?