DIY Stencil Cutting Drag Knife Solution - Update 4!

[airnocker]

Build your own inexpensive DIY swivel drag knife for your CNC mill.

To make your own DIY Swivel Drag Knife Cutter all you need are:
1. one .25" x .125" rare earth magnet from Amazon.com
2. one 5mm OD, 2mm ID bearing from http://www.bocabearings.com
3. one 4mm OD, 1.5mm ID bearing from http://www.bocabearings.com
4. one 3/8" x 12" brass tube from Hobby Town USA or your local hobby store
5. three Carl Goldberg 3/16" wheel collars from Hobby Town USA or local hobby store
6. one spring that slides easily down the 3/8" brass tube, has an ID > .25" and a compression force of 80-150 grams when compressed 3/16"
7. Roland replacement blades 45 or 60 degree from Ebay.com
8. A copper pipe cutter such as a Rigid Model 104.
9. A tiny amount of thin CA (Cyanoacrolate also known as Super Glue)
10. A tiny amount of Loctite 609
11. Digital calipers (very helpful)

To read the complete article go to:

http://www.buildyourtools.com/forums...rb_v=viewtopic

airnocker

Everything depends on everything else.

[cad01]

or just buy one of the cricut blade holders. Could you really make it for much cheaper?

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/p...ODID=xprd74845

[airnocker]

Originally Posted by cad01 or just buy one of the cricut blade holders. Could you really make it for much cheaper? http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/p...ODID=xprd74845

Buying a replacement blade holder may be the best solution for many people, but then one must make a threaded mounting adapter for the retail blade holder so it mounts on their particular CNC mill.

I made TWO swivel knife blade holders that mount easily in my CNC mill for under $15. So, yes, it can be done cheaper and be of better quality for those wanting vinyl/stencil cutting ability with their CNC mills.

I bought a Roland replacement blade holder for $20 and it doesn't pivot nearly as well.

Thanks for posting the Joann web link though. I'm always interested in learning new sources.

[airnocker]

Originally Posted by airnocker Build your own inexpensive DIY swivel drag knife for your CNC mill. To make your own DIY Swivel Drag Knife Cutter all you need are: 1. one .25" x .125" rare earth magnet from Amazon.com 2. one 5mm OD, 2mm ID bearing from http://www.bocabearings.com 3. one 4mm OD, 1.5mm ID bearing from http://www.bocabearings.com 4. one 3/8" x 12" brass tube from Hobby Town USA or your local hobby store 5. three Carl Goldberg 3/16" wheel collars from Hobby Town USA or local hobby store 6. one spring that slides easily down the 3/8" brass tube, has an ID > .25" and a compression force of 80-150 grams when compressed 3/16" 7. Roland replacement blades 45 or 60 degree from Ebay.com 8. A copper pipe cutter such as a Rigid Model 104. 9. A tiny amount of thin CA (Cyanoacrolate also known as Super Glue) 10. A tiny amount of Loctite 609 11. Digital calipers (very helpful) To read the complete article go to: http://www.buildyourtools.com/forums...rb_v=viewtopic airnocker Everything depends on everything else.

There is a typing error in item #3 - the OD should read 5mm not 4mm.
Also item #5, Carl Goldberg wheel collars are not available any more but similar collars are available from Dubro or Great Planes brands. As you might have guessed I have these CG collars for a very long time.

This correction has been made in the buildyourtools.com forum as well.

I apologize for this oversight.

[MikeSinclair]

Originally Posted by airnocker There is a typing error in item #3 - the OD should read 5mm not 4mm. Also item #5, Carl Goldberg wheel collars are not available any more but similar collars are available from Dubro or Great Planes brands. As you might have guessed I have these CG collars for a very long time. This correction has been made in the buildyourtools.com forum as well. I apologize for this oversight.

Does anyone know of a swivel knife compensation software package/processor/library? By compensation I mean what is described here

http://www.a2mc-cnc.com/downloads/do...g%20Knives.pdf

as well as a way to specify the blade's initial plunge angle for a free-swivelling blade.

Perhaps the most useful method of compensation would be to post-process a vector file (such as svg, wmf, dxf, etc) before sending it to the cutter. This would remove the cutter vendor dependency.

We were going to tackle this ourselves but thought if one existed...


Thanks for any help. -Mike