DIY vinyl cutter for DIY MDF router table!

[PropNut]

Thought I would share this; I built a DIY vinyl cutting head for my MDF router table by using a needle holder from the roland Stika cutter and making my own insert out of aluminum.

Roland blade holder: Cheap chinese knockoff (perhaps?) on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

The project overall was very simple and works perfectly.









The holder is a simple aluminum rod bored out to allow the spring (ball point pen) and retainer (PC motherboard standoff) to rest and compress when the needle pushes up against any uneveness of the material. This allows the needle to float over the surface with an even pressure.

total price: 17.00

Edit: The tool fits into a 1/2" collet.

[Arbo]

Nice work, and definitely adds to all the things a machine can do.

What do you do to generate the cutting? Normal CAD/CAM, just tell it that it is engraving?

[PropNut]

Odd....I was notified that Arbo left a post, and the email said what the message was but I get an error when I try to view the thread. All I can see is my original post.

Well...I will just answer his question anyway

I use V-Carve Pro and have it cut on the vector line using a profile cut. I set the cutting depth to .001. When I zero the job I put Z down just enough to start to compress the cutter up into the head. This is, perhaps, a bit more work than a professionally made vinyl cutter would take but I can also cut a vinyl graphic big enough to make a firebird emblem for a 72 TransAm (now I just need to get the wife to let me buy a 72 TransAm, lol.)

[Arbo]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, what happened to my post? Forum glitch I guess.

[cxixer]

I'm interested to learn what you do with this setup! I have done the cnc thing and still am doing the vinyl thing - it was much more setup programming the cnc than it is just to use a dedicated vinyl cutter. Do you cut a lot on this? Any vinyl pics?