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Object of Desire: A CNC Blade-Dragging Machine

By Rain Noe - October 24, 2011

in Materials | Tech | Hand Tools

I like cutting two-by's with a chop saw. Or slicing tubes with a pipe cutter, or trimming veneer with a router. Because all of those materials are rigid and you get nice, clean cuts that are exactly what you intended. But as someone who's new to fabrics—I just re-upholstered the stool above for my studio—I absolutely hate cutting soft materials by hand. The required steps of making and tracing patterns seems like an inefficient expenditure of time and paper; I'm also clumsy with shears and the fact that the material moves when you're trying to cut a precise curve drives me nuts.

So admittedly I may be more excited than you'd be to come across this PT-72 CNC cutter, designed to carve intricate patterns in marine canvas, upholstery vinyl and the polyethylene you see in the video below. It's an interesting variant on a CNC tool in that it uses a directional blade that drags across the surface to make a cut, rather than using a bit that rotates at high speeds (which of course would not work with fabric). And I kind of like the THUMP noise the device makes when engaging the fabric, as it seems more soothingly analog than the banshee-like wail of a CNC cutting through hard stuff.

The PT-72 is produced by Carlson Design, an Oklahoma-based manufacturer of plotter/cutters. Since it rings in at 30 large, I will continue making clumsy cuts with hand shears. But it's nice to dream.

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Edwin

13 years ago

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I have worked on a ton of marine projects before, and having a machine like this for cutting interior upholstery would be awesome. A lot of wasted material comes from people not using templates or just cutting away without thinking.

I think it would be a lot easier for someone to jump onto a CAD program and draw out a template as opposed to the old template way. The problem is, you need a computer with the right software on hand to be able to do this, which is what a lot of shipbuilding yards have these days anyway.
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BrucenW

13 years ago

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If you want to see how the professionals do it with an infinite variety of industrial fabrics, head up to Baltimore tomorrow for the international Expo Americas 2011 where hundreds of cutting, RF welding, sewing and related fabrication will be demonstrated. Lots of samples too.
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