Sticker Cutting Machine, Vinly Cutting, Homemade Stickers

Home
CNC Machining
RC Helis & Planes

-Cutting Stickers! -

I have always wanted to cut custom stickers for my projects; either for the RC airplanes, helicopters, lettering control boxes, or just for fun! Intrigued by vinyl cutting machines, I figured now that I have a CNC mill, all I need is the correct blade and blade holder :). I've tried the 360 degree Xacto blades with little success, offset is too much. Finally, I bought 2 Microcarbide, 0.25 mm offset, 45 degree "drag" vinyl cutting blades that fit the Roland Stika machines. The blade needs to swivel in a holder to follow the tool path. Here are the steps to my "sticker experiments;" constructing a smooth blade holder and hopefully a machine.

*** CLICK TO GO RIGHT TO THAT SECTION ***

Blade Holder; Try 1
Blade Holder; Try 2
Blade Holder; Try 3
Blade Holder; Try 4

Blade Holder; Try 5 with weighted holder !!!!!!! This is the one!

US Cutter PCUT 25" Machine

Cutting Machine

Here is what the blade looks like. Buy the from ebay and UScutter. They are very cheap there.

Blade Holder...Take 1

Bearings? I used tiny bearings that I had left over from an RC helicopter for this project. They are 6x3x2 mm (however "take 5" uses 6x3x2, get those). I turned an "inner" piece out of aluminum to fit inside them. The blade is then inserted in the aluminum holder which was drilled with a 1.98 mm drill bit (its a little loose). The bearings and blade are held on by a TINY amount of blue Loctite (don't get this in the bearings!). If this works well, I will make a better holder, possible one with adjustable tool depth via a setscrew!	Here is a super-duper close up picture :) Before throwing away an old scanner I scrapped it for parts. One thing I found was a very nice lens that focuses around 1". Here is a picture of the blade and bearings in the aluminum holder through the digital camera. Pretty cool!! Get the blades from ebay and UScutter. Awesome price!	I drew a toolpath in Rhino3D (love this program). I peeled the backing off of the vinyl and stuck it to some plywood. I let the blade rest at the top of the vinyl and then tightened the chuck over the bearings. Here is the machine cutting out the letters! The vinyl ("trim sheet" for you RCers out there :) is only 0.08 mm thick, not much room for mistakes! 6-26-02
Its Gorgeous! Since it can cut out these small letters with great detail, cutting out larger ones will be a breeze. (I did find the wood was also cut, I think the weight of the blade holder actually plunged into the material slightly before the whole process even began.	My FIRST sticker! Here you can see it on my control box! I'm in love :) 6-26-02	UPDATE: Do not cut on top of wood or any hard material like this. If your blade plunges below the vinyl sheet it will catch the grain making it more difficult for it to pivot and will killing the tip sooner. Keep the backing on the vinyl and mount it to the machine.

Blade Holder...Take 2

Blade Plunge Must Be Exact I found the cutter has to be exactly 0.08 mm into the material, no more and no less to cut effectively. To much and the letters lift off, too little and you can't get them apart. Playing around with 0.08 mm movement is not much! The holder has to be able to compensate for the tiniest of differences in the material or mount Here is how I solved this problem...or so I hope :)	A new holder with a setscrew at the back to adjust blade height, it works beautifully! I also made a longer blade holder for the bearings. The new holder is made to slide across the vinyl, helping to push it down for the blade. A sliding copper tube design helps to make sure the blade is always on the vinyl via a tension spring.	Here is the holder on the mill. I just taped it on to see if it would work. It works well but catches the edges of the stickers. It's to large and I will have to make another to fits in the chuck as before. The constant pressure from the spring and depth gauge does seem to help....somewhat.
Here is the sticker (third try :) I found cutting it is "easy" but getting it removed from the surrounding material is hard! Peel carefully and next time I will add "removal lines" to aid in removing the extra material, very nice! Size 80x70 mm. 7-1-02	It started off with "CCPM GPH 346," but I couldn't get it removed! It cut perfectly but not fully. I need more patients and experience in removing the stickers. Sticker is Very thin and only 10mm high! Lots of detail in this sticker! 7-3-02	UPDATE: The holder to be to large and having to make a mounting system for it seems to be more work then I care for right now:) It works ok but I need something that is smaller, simplier and can fit in the spindle. 7-01-02

Blade Holder....Take 3

Here it is! Many hour of work but it's done. I am really staring to feel the strain of making "precision parts." Its Tough! As you can see it's a similar design except the spring goes inside the holder. The setscrew in the back controls blade depth and a full ring around the back holds the entire assembly in the endmill holder. I have stopped using Loctite which makes it very difficult to remove the blade. Instead, I just pinched the housing so the blade fits snug.

Here is the unit partially together with original CAD drawing. I milled a slot in the holder to give "endpoints" for the inner part. The spring is pushing the part out. It all installs on the Sherline 3/8" endmill holder and its good to go! Can't wait to try it out.
7-01-02

UPDATE:

It worked out "ok" but there is to much play between the parts. No good.

Defeat accepted, for now :)
My blades tip broke off and the cutting is done. I found the holder still has to much play and needs to be simpler. I think its from all of the experimenting and poor handling that the tip broke.

Blade Holder...Take 4

Here is the newest try. I figured instead of buying the blades first, I'd try to design a holder for an X-Acto #11 blades. The #11 blade is 0.52 mm thick and the offset for tracking still needs to be 0.25 mm.

Here are the parts. I am using larger bearings, ones that fit servos (6 mm inside diameter). The holder is cut with a ridge that the blade rests against, putting it 0.25 mm behind the rotation point. The holder is also cut so the blade sits 0.26 mm (half of the blade) lower so the point is centered. A plate and two 2 mm screws hold it together. Breaking the blade is quite easy, just hold it in a pliers and snap off what you need. Be Careful, wear safety glasses!

Here it is assembled. If everything is made correctly the point should be perfectly centered with a 0.25 offset. Let's see how it performs!
7-5-02

UPDATE:

No good, the blade tip is not strong enough to take the punishment. Looks like the right way is the only way and the more "expensive" way :)
7-5-02

Time to order more blades, this time I am going to get the 45 degree ones and treat them like gold :)

Again, these are drag knifes, 2mm diameter, MicroCarbide, 45 degree vinyl cutting blades made for the Stika type machines.
Get them off ebay (USCutter sell them cheap).

Blade Holder...Take 5 YES YES!!! THIS IS THE ONE!!

Finally a Great Holder

I think I have done it! Last night at about 1:00 am it hit me- Lets make another holder! Needless to say I went to sleep around 2 am :)

3-7-03

Looking for Tiny Micro Bearings? Check out:

Boca Bearings

Simple, precise, adjustable!
Instead of the 3mm ID bearings I have been using, I am now using 2mm ID ones. These are 6x2x3 (from my ECO 8's tail blade holders). I found 6x2x2 are a little loose on the blade so do get the 3mm width. The carbon tube is a piece of tailboom from my MS Hornet, a perfect 6mm ID. I have also found metal arrow shafts, bored out just a little, to work perfectly! That way you don't need a spacer like the one shown (brass tube above).
3-7-03

NOTE: You don't need to make it adjustable, keep it very simple.

Here is a measured drawing. The casing should be right around 20mm. The 2 most important parts:
1) Make sure the bearings are new
2) The blade must pivot on a hard flat surface.

UPDATE:
After using it, I have found the adjustability in the blade is not needed. Keep it simple and it will work very well. It's limited by your imagination and setup.

Here is a Heli Sticker I cut. I actually used a picture that I found on ebay for practice. I traced it out in Rhino3D. It came out "ok." The machine nor blade has any problem cutting the graphics but I still can't get it consistent enough to where you can just pull it apart. Getting there, slowly.
1-20-04

SUCCESS!!!!!!!
Finally! It works perfectly! The surroundings just peeled right off and its perfect! With some playing I am getting better at setting up the blade to the sticker top. It really is all in the setup. I am holding the trim sheet on the mill's table via scotch tape.
1-20-04

"tauscnc Sticker!"
Finally, a sticker I used! I cut it out, peeled it and transferred it to the Raptor canopy. To transfer the letters, I used scotch tape which I first stuck to our dusty water heater to decrease its grip. Perfect! 1-25-04

Heeeee, man those are fight'en words! Ok, Ok, it's a Joke, a joke! I fly planes too :) Check out how clean the cuts are! A sticker for my toolbox to represent the only heli fliers at this time at our field...me! I designed the heli in rhino and then got that phrase from my good friend Jon. Almost there in easy peeling.1-26-04

WEIGHTED BLADE HOLDER FOR TAKE 5 ! WORKS BEAUTIFULLY!

Keep it simple, a tube in a tube design with the right about of weight and wa-la it works great!
And to think, Roland dude told me this could not be done :)


	Here is the weight of my inner tube and weight.

A tiny but very detailed 2" sticker!

Another sticker on the canopy.

I was a little worried on this one but the cutter flew right through it! It took me forever to weed it out of the material.

The large sicker shown in window to your upper right. Came out great!

TRANSFERRING the Sticker
I use cheap clear tape or electric tape. Just stick it to the ground so it can get dust all over it (reduces its bit). Run it over the vinyl and transfer it to your part!
UPDATE: Buy Contact Paper from walmart, meijers, etc. Works great! You can find it in the kitchen drawer liners section.

Check out my T-Rex here
2-07

UScutter PCUT 25" Machine

I finally broke down and just got a machine. What an awesome buy!! I won off ebay for $255...you can't beat that (really, for what it is, it's almost "free" at that price).! This machine is cheap (price), well build, comes with an awesome stand, software, everything.. I could not be happier. Also the software automatically makes the g-code so it really is: draw-load-cut. I am VERY happy with this purchase! Check out ebay and do a search for vinyl cutting machines or UScutter. Also just buy the blades from the, they are cheap! 10-30-2007

Here is the machine. Very well built if you ask me. 10-30-2007	I was very surprised to see that the cutter holder is almost NOTHING different that what I made. 2 bearings...the only difference is there is a magnet at the top to hold the blade in. Cool!	This is the Roland holder. It is NOTHING different than I what I figured out in my "Take 5 Holder." In fact I am amazed at how simple it is and that the bearings fit somewhat loosely.	Transfer Material Contact paper used for covering book (well back in my day) and kitchen drawers works GREAT for transferring your stickers. Cheap too! Get it at walmart, meijers, etc.
	LETTERS NOT CUTTING COMPLETELY FIX: I found if you don't have enough pressure the cutter does not fall down fast enough before the machine starts moving. This causes the object to not complete close on the cut. To fix this I added a washer to the cutter and was able to add more pressure to the system.	UPDATE ON PROBLEM It has been determined the solenoid might not be working properly. They are sending me a new replacement head. Cool. UPDATE: Solenoid replaced, all working great!
The antenna and f-16 EDF,, simple!

Lets Make a Real Machine just for this Project!

I found using the CNC Mill was just to difficult and has limited space for cutting larger stickers. I need a plotter type machine or a router type for more useful space.
Here we go! This machine is being designed to cut trim sheet commonly found at hobby stores for RC Airplanes.

I bought surplus steppers for only $5! They are bipolar (have 4 leads) and are working great. They get pretty hot and I wonder if the setting is a little to high on my drivers for them. Will look at it later. Only thing I wish was that I had bought 3 or 4!
American Supply and Surplus

Here is the design. It works well and tracks great! The vinyl will run across the top as most cutting machines work. I still want to gear it down to keep the resolution high. Some of the parts are from an Apollo printer.
7-20-02

Here is the machine so far, time to start on the other axis. Of course in aluminum I won't need all of the supports.

Time to start on the next-final version!

I need to slow the movement in order to keep the resolution high. In order to do this I made a coupler and shaft to hold RC car gears and cut the steppers shaft in half. I made these out of a shaft from the printer and the steel was Absolutely Wonderful to work

Here is the assembly and this will allow me to slow the feed down and give me the opportunity to experiment with different gear ratios. I soon found the gears in the printer are the same pitch as the RC car gears I have, 48 pitch. Did I ever tell you I love these machines ? I found this STEEL easier to work with on the lathe then aluminum. It has to be some nice free machining steel. wow!
7-22-02

Here is the lower main brace being made. I am finding keeping the chips out is more important then using oil. In fact, this entire piece is cut with no oil and it cut out very nice. I still have to learn how to mount pieces, here I super-glued an aluminum block to the plate and then had the
milling vice hold it.
7-24-02

Here is the piece cut. A hole at the top is to be there for the upper pinch rollers but for some reason my calculations where not right. I will cut out the second piece and then drill both together. The bearing fits PERFECTLY, almost to tight!
7-24-02

Here is a mock up of the machine with the gears and pinch rollers. The shaft is cut out of brass with spaces for the 3 rollers, this way they track well and will not move around. It works well!
7-30-02

UPDATES:
Cancelled, using K2 router with holder 5.

UPDATE 11-01-2007
Bought a UScutter PCUT 25" off ebay. Awesome!!!!