Sipe Cutting Tool

prusaprinters

Sipes are slits in rubber treads (tire or shoe) that can increase the friction on smooth hard surfaces. Truckers and racers will cut sipes in their tires to increase traction. I designed this to increase the traction in my old court shoes with worn treads. Unlike actual grooves in your treads that increase traction on mud or other loose surfaces, the edges of sipes are better at grabbing onto smooth, hard surfaces.This slitting tool holds up to 6 single-edge razor blades, spaced 0.2" apart. A single clip holds all six blades in place. I've posted two versions: one that cuts 1/16" deep and the other cuts 3/32" deep. Just insert your blades, install the clip and then drag the tips across your rubber tread. I've also included a blade guard to use for storage.I printed this in PLA with 0.2mm layers, but most any material and reasonable settings should work.CAUTION: Be careful when using this tool. Make sure all your body parts are out of the flight path when this breaks free from your tread. Your cuts may only be shallow, but the ER will have a hell of a time stitching up six slices in parallel!