Planning to build fabric cutter

[jakobvels]

Hi everybody first post

Since i dont have $30k to spend on a fabric cutter i plan to build my own like this one... (Carlson Pro)

Carlson Design – Plotter Cutters – Pro Plotter Cutter

Since this will be my first build i need some advice on motor and drivers.

X-axis is driven by 2 motors - one at each end of gantry, direct drive on track.
Y-axis is 1 motor - direct drive on gantry track.
Z-axis will be pneumatic up/down.
Tangential control of cutter head will be motor driven.

See vid in above link for details.

What i need is some advice on what type and size of motors and drives to use, from one of you more experienced guys.

Any ideas out there ?

Cheers
Jakob

[dorinspeedy]

Welcom to Forum!
You may inspire from Mech Mate projects, only for fabrics, you make a machine much lighter, depending on fabrics you want to cut, is necessary a vacuum table and a tangential oscillating knife, software for driving the machine and software for nesting and CAD, all of this may cost you pretty much.
How big you intend to build your machine? Aluminium profiles, guides, drivers and motors, belts and rack/pinions are very expensive if you want a big machine, for precision you need a stiff machine, is possible to spent almost 10k eu depending on sources for materials and some labor if some parts you not be able to do in house.

[jakobvels]

Thanks dorinspeedy.

I will only be cutting leightweight nylon ripstop (spinnaker).

Size will be 1,9m wide with an active working width of 1,65m. Table will be 6-8m long, I am not totally decided on length yet. Im thinking cutting/idle speeds of up to 0,2 m/s (.66 fps)

I have the table design covered, and I plan to copy the Carlson design with a single aluminium rail on each side with traction belt glued to it, and a traction wheel directly mounted on the two X motors.

Here is some details on what materials Carlson use as traction belt and wheel..
Carlson Design – Plotter Cutters – Plotter Accessories – Spare Parts – Direct Drive Wheel
Carlson Design – Vacuum Tables – Table Accessories – Supertrack – Track Belt

Since this is a hobby project i dont need nesting sw. I allready have intelliCAD with DXF capabilities. So what i really need is CAM sw and mach3, and teach my self skills to use them.

I had a quick look at Mech Mate site as you suggested, but that thing is way too solid as I see it, but I will have a look through the site for inspiration.

Well, back to my original question..
I am fairly confident about what I need and how to design and manifacture what I want - the only thing I dont have clue about is which motors and drivers to choose - here I really could use some pointers.

Cheers
Jakob

[dorinspeedy]

I d'ont know what sources of motors you may have, I will use on X axis, 2 motors with 3Nm and the same on Y axis, on A axis (tangential) 1.5-2Nm, drivers independent on each axis ones with 4-5Amps will do the job and a board (with some relays on it for other commands) for connecting all with computer on parallel port. Using separate boards may help you with troubleshoting later. You may search on eBay.