Vinyl Cutter

[Ursine]

Is there a low cost blade that can be chucked up in the router to allow me to cut vinyl signs? I saw one on ebay awhile back but it was $150.00.
I can cut vinly (PVC) signs in my laser but it releases chlorine gas. Posionous as well as corrosive to the laser.

Dave

[LaserImage]

Dave,
There are several settings that a vinyl plotter has that you won't have available in a cnc router so I don't think you'll get a great result going that route. If you do vinyl often the you may be better off looking into a plotter instead of making do with your router. I bought a used plotter with a bunch of vinyl for about $1,500 - it was worth about $5k if new.

Gary

[Ursine]

I've toyed with the idea of a plotter but for just the occasional small window sticker I couldn't justify the cost.

Dave

[joecnc2006]

yes you can make your own drag blade, set the tool to touch top of vinyl, then cutting depth will be thickness of vunyl film, make a file just like you would cutting and machine online.

http://www.cuttingedgecnc.com/vinyl.htm

Joe

[LaserImage]

Originally Posted by joecnc2006 yes you can make your own drag blade, set the tool to touch top of vinyl, then cutting depth will be thickness of vunyl film, make a file just like you would cutting and machine online. http://www.cuttingedgecnc.com/vinyl.htm Joe

Funny, the link you provided proves just how difficult it really is and in the end a plotter was the solution. I say save your time, effort and money and buy a used plotter...

Even though vinyl should be of uniform thickness, you'll find it varies quite a bit. You need an adjustable blade holder to account for that. You also need to adjust the offset amount so that a corner is square, not rounded. Speed is critical, fast for large letters with lots of straight lines and slow for smaller letters or lots of detail.

Obviously a plotter could be made, someone else did it, but for the amount of time needed to create a truly usable machine, you could just buy one.

An alternative is to find a sign shop that needs cnc work and trade time. If you were close to me I would gladly cut your "once in a while" stickers for pretty darn cheap. It's not my main business, I do laser engraving, dye sublimation, sand carving and cnc routing. The plotter is mainly for cutting sand carving masks.

Just my .02

Gary

[Anaerin]

Alternatively, you could get something like a Cricut machine (Search EBay, they're available much cheaper there) and the "Sure cuts a lot" software (3rd party, not supported by Cricut, who want you to pay $90 a piece for their font carts rather than using TTF fonts on your PC!), which will then give you a full CNC cutting station.

[Bdanyeur]

You don't need the whole cricut just parts. I belive part of success is combo of mat and blade. The mat is Teflon coated or something which makes knife blade glide easily. Also they use solinoid arm to vary pressure. If you somehow springload the cricut blade holder you might acheive same function. Their blade is held in magnetically and has an adjustment to vary the amount the blade sticks out of holder.
If someone tries this let me know if it works. Bill