Question on Carpet Cutting

[bcondon]

I received a call from a fellow that will be cutting carpet which is a low pile carpet with a 1/8" rubberized backing.

Anyone ever cut carpet before and what bit.speed would you recommend.

He has 6000 units to cut, will probably need a vacuum table (the pieces are around 50"x50"). He would like to purchase a machine but may be ooking to outsource some or all of the work. We are in the Massachusetts area.

Thanks

Bob Condon

[myxpykalix]

$%^$@#... don't know where my post went...anyway you wouldn't want to cut with a spinning bit but rather tangential cutting with stepper motor knife.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY3h352Lhn4

[bcondon]

Thanks Jack,

so this begs the question does the Shopbot Alpha deploy enough pressure to do the job.

I know that WidgetWorks sells a vinyl cutter but I am not sure if it has the strength of carpet cutting -or- if the Alpha has the downward pressure or movement strength...

Any thoughts?

Bob

[harryball]

Cutting carpet with a router bit? Can I watch... from far away? I can't imagine where that would ever be a good idea. I've seen both a rotary knife and a water jet cutting carpet. The water jet is the only one that would be good at curves.

Maybe with a pressure foot, the carpet downside up and a VERY sharp drag knife... maybe.

I have cut carpet on a bandsaw before, a very smooth blade. Maybe with a wood template, some guides and gang cutting he could get 6000 without too much pain.

/RB

[feinddj]

Wouldn't recommend a spinning bit to cut the carpet. The fibres wrap around the bit rather readily.

They do sell a bandsaw blade that looks like a electric carving knife. It is for foam and carpet.

http://www.trongkamol.com/filehtm/pdf/Band%20Knives.pdf

[knight_toolworks]

I have a knife for my machine. I can cut 1/2" cardboard. but the toolpaths have to be planned well. the knife will rotate with a curved cut but it needs to be rotated in the right direction to start the cut. so all straight cuts are just straight overlapping lines with the start point all in the same place. I have x cuts and y cuts and circle cuts. the blade is offset a fair amount to be able to turn so cuts start before the line and they don't quite get to the end of the line.

[michael_schwartz]

CNC Cut Templates, a box of carpet blades for a utility knife, and minimum wage labor should do the trick.

[knight_toolworks]

I was thinking along the same lines. may even be faster too.

[bcondon]

The fellow has 6000 to make...

SO the question is does the steppers have enough power to drive a
carpet knife through the material. This may be a simple welded
plate that can hold a tangential cutting blade that can turn.

Use a similar blade as Jack's youtube video while using the xy and z access to
make the cuts (hence no spindle...)

Thoughts?

Brady could probably answer the power question...

Thanks
Bob Condon

[knight_toolworks]

it may still be faster doing it by hand. I made this to cut 1/" cardboard. this is a old pic I had to move the blade back so it had drag so it could turn. but I don't know how fast it can cut I usually only cut at 2ips.
but I think you could do it faster by hand. this is limited to making straight cuts in one direction then manually rotating it for the other cuts . well getting the blade in the right direction. to work well you really need to blade controlled .
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s266/knighttoolworks/cnc%20jigs%20and%20parts/knife.jpg

[harryball]

I would hope with 6000 units there would be enough financial reward to cover a few tools and labor

I would EXPLORE gang cutting options

Try out a straight knife...
http://www.allbrands.com/products/abp11759.html
http://www.allbrands.com/products/abp00834.html

See if it will practically cut following a pattern and 4, 5, 6 at once.

If you can cut 6 at one time that's 1000 cuts. I would think 50 cuts = about 300 per day would be reasonable, but if you figure 5 days that's 200 pcs per day or about 34 cuts.

/RB