Cutting sail material with Shopbot?

[jzarski1]

I was asked by a family member if I could cut some patters out of an old sail with my Shopbot. Well the question I have is can I do this and how would I go about it? I would like to do this with limited costs as this is a freebie for a family member. Now I did ask if it would be better to just do it by hand, then they dropped the bomb that they need 100's of these patterns cut. So if any one has a suggestion I am all ears. O I have a 48x96 PRT alpha.

John

[myxpykalix]

I can't imagine any scenario where trying to cut a cloth material with a spinning bit wouldn't end with disaster!:eek:

Have you thought about using a dragknife?

[jzarski1]

I was looking at those. They look good for vinyl but not sure if they can cut material. Any one use a drag knife for cutting material?

John

[myxpykalix]

I have seen them used to cut cardboard. The thing with that is it is stiff material and with cloth, as you cut it you lose your ability to hold it if you are holding the sides.
I might suggest some type of vacumn table that holds the material down to the table which would keep the cut edges from coming loose.

It may be easier as a non shopbot operation. Do some research into some type of industrial electric scissors (shears)?:confused:

[bob_dodd]

I would spread out your cloth on the bot that has vacuum hold down , cover cloth with thin plastic and vacuum both , cut with drag knife.
I've tried this it works , some good videos on you tube

[cabnet636]

I have owned several "solings" and had quite a few sails Made over the years,, I have seen their machinery and it is done with a cnc similar to this,, if you can Vac it down you could probably use a drag knife,, I have also seen them use a cnc to mark it with a sharpie then cut them by hand,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAXpiDlZryw

[Brady Watson]

My advice would be to use the Widget Works Sharpie marker attachment and mark the fabric. Then cut it out with carbide electric shears, like this one: Electric Scissors (http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=2286&familyName=EC+Cutter+Electric+Cordless+Scissors)

They cut as fast and effortlessly as you can push them. I've cut over 100 yards of 9oz S-glass with them & they are downright awesome.

-B

[donek]

We have a cardboard creasing attachment for the drag knife in development. The logical extension of that is a mod that holds a Fiskars rotary cutter. It can be done. I'm not familiar enough with sail cloth the know how rigid it is. As long as there is no kevlar in the cloth, our drag knife should cut it. You may want to take a similar approach to cutting the fabric as many take with tabs. A relatively heavy gauge (.020in) plastic over the surface would likely make it very easy.

[dlcw]

I was asked by a family member if I could cut some patters out of an old sail with my Shopbot. Well the question I have is can I do this and how would I go about it? I would like to do this with limited costs as this is a freebie for a family member. Now I did ask if it would be better to just do it by hand, then they dropped the bomb that they need 100's of these patterns cut. So if any one has a suggestion I am all ears. O I have a 48x96 PRT alpha.

John

John,

Since it is an older sail, I'm sure it will be full of wrinkles. I'm also pretty sure, since it is an old sail, that there are little tabs sticking up around the existing seams. These will catch a drag knife or a sharpie pen and probably cause the material to be dragged or the end of the sharpie broken off. These will not sit well on the CNC table for either sharpie or drag knife as far as I can tell. Brand new sail cloth sits VERY flat and cuts very nicely with a drag knife (seen these machines in operation).

Because of the probable condition of the sail, I don't see how a CNC could be used for this operation.

[khaos]

I would spread out your cloth on the bot that has vacuum hold down , cover cloth with thin plastic and vacuum both , cut with drag knife.
I've tried this it works , some good videos on you tube

This. Do not forget the plastic!!

as an aside ... 100s for free? I wouldn't think so. :(