Tangential Knife Cutters
In one of my favorite posts about the Sketch Chair software, there is a video demonstrating the software. The presenter uses a little automated paper cutter to make a scale model of the chair. I started investigating the paper cutter and found that they cost anywhere between $150-$250 for the size they used. That was more than I wanted to spend considering most CNC routers like mine can be fitted with a drag knife and do the same thing for a lot less.
I also remember seeing the tangential knife settings in Mach3. I pretty much understood how that would work from the name, but never looked into any further. This time I did some searching and found that the machines are fascinating to watch. They can cut a lot thicker material than the drag knife machines. Most of the versions I saw on YouTube also include an “Oscillation” feature to improve the cut quality. See the videos after the jump. There are also a lot more on YouTube,
[…] in the works are a tangential knife cutting head, Pen plotter and Dremel tool head. The entire system is open source and well documented. […]