HicWic dragknife

thingiverse

I made a few key changes to the bearing housing, including incorporating a hicwic quick change mount. Onshape project files are available here: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/318be77f87f391bd0d83a29d/w/fa8da952d822f3b48df6fb32/e/7aaa239783b57998f7639466 If you want to see the original design that I remixed, check out this thing on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2494258. I've run a few test cuts with my modified bearing housing and have to admit that I'm not entirely satisfied. It's possible that my blades are at fault, or maybe there's an issue with dxf2gcode's ability to create corner actions for dragknife. Alternatively, it could be a problem with my settings in dxf2gcode, or perhaps the nature of drag knives just isn't well-suited for this type of project. Even with corner actions enabled, I found that the corners were far from perfect and even the straight cuts weren't as smooth as I would have liked. The issue might be due to the 8mm bolt not fitting snugly into the bearings. I plan on doing some more experimenting with gcode improvements and shimming the bolt so it fits better. However, given that I already have a needle cutter, spindle, and laser at my disposal, I don't really see the need for a drag knife like this. It's supposed to be a quieter option than the needle and spindle without the smoke of the laser, but so far I'm not impressed. If you're only cutting materials that don't require sharp corners and aren't too thick, then this modified bearing housing should work fine. But if you're looking for something more precise, like me, then it's probably not worth it.