Plotter cutter blade mount for 3D printer or CNC

thingiverse

UPDATE: This is probably a bad design as it eliminates the blade-length limitation function of the holder housing. This spring-loaded mount for Roland-compatible plotter blade holders is designed to cut paper and vinyl efficiently. The plastic spring is made from ABS, so use ABS for compatibility. If you have an MPCNC, I've created a modified version that's compatible with your machine. I'm using this design with a cheap blade holder. You might need to adjust the measurements if you're using a different type of holder. The mount features four M3 screws that attach to an auxiliary tool clip on your 3D printer's print-head or CNC. I used a tool clip designed for my DaVinci 1.0a; ensure your screw holes are in the correct position if you create your own tool clip. This design includes a strip with two M3 screws that holds the blade holder securely in place, along with a cap (which might be a bit too tight). I attached a cut-down light-adhesive Cricut cutting mat to my DaVinci's print bed using some quick-and-dirty clips. For software, I combine Inkspace's HPGL export with my gcodeplot Python script package, which is designed for use with gcode-based 3D printers. You can probably make this work with the gcodetools extension for Inkscape, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet. Software Instructions Figure out the corner XY coordinates of your cutting area by attaching the cutter and moving your printhead using your preferred control software. Ensure the printhead can move freely around the cutting area without bumping anything. Clip an adhesive cutting mat to your print bed. Move the printhead down carefully so the blade just makes contact with the cutting mat. Move the printhead back. Place paper or vinyl on the cutting mat. Convert your Inkspace file to paths (Select All, Object | Object to Path). Make sure the page size matches your cutting area size. Save the file as an HP Graphics Language File in Inkscape, using the second tab to set overcut and the distance of the tip of the cutting blade from the swivel point. Create a gcode file using python gcodeplot.py --area=x1,y1,x2,y2 filename.hpgl > filename.gcode. Replace x1,y1,x2,y2 with the corner coordinates (in millimeters) of your cutting area. Send your gcode file to your 3D printer using your preferred print utility. Alternatively, you can send it directly with gcodeplot.py if you have pyserial installed (pip install pyserial): python gcodeplot.py --area=x1,y1,x2,y2 --send=portname filename.hpgl. For example, on my Windows laptop, portname was COM3. gcodeplot.py can also be used to adjust the exact blade z-positioning before printing. To do this, use: python gcodeplot.py --area=x1,y1,x2,y2 --pause-at-start --send=portname filename.hpgl. The script will initialize your device and then give you a command-line interface where you can send simple commands before drawing starts. For instance, z11.3 moves the head to 11.3mm. You can also do incremental moves with z+increment. Thus, to move the head down by half a millimeter, do z+-0.5. To move the head to a safe height above the work, use zsafe. To return to the pre-defined work-surface, use zwork. Finally, once you've figured out where you want the print head to be for safe work, do: work=z and resume your work with c. Print Settings Printer: XYZ DaVinci 1.0a with Repetier Resolution: 0.35 Infill: 50%