Magnet cutter

[James Burke]

Again lots of ideas but how can I actually get something produced. Should I call George's friends at InventHelp? LOL

In addition to tooling, concept engineering costs are typically the most expensive up-front costs you'll run into. Find a waterjet shop in your area and show them this thread and see what they can do with it. Don't write my idea off just yet...I'm drawing on nearly forty years of manufacturing experience.


JB

 

[eahicks]

How would you tell where the center is? You have to be able to center the cutter onto your print.

Cut your magnets first then overlay the prints.

 

[myront]

Don't like that option. It would take a lot more time and too much of a margin for error. You'd have to be really accurate.

 

[gabagoo]

My Gerber Envision cuts the Gerber mag material... pricey but worth it.

 

[myront]

My Gerber Envision cuts the Gerber mag material... pricey but worth it.

We have a Gerber too but the magnetic material is too thin for vehicle magnets.

 

[gabagoo]

We have a Gerber too but the magnetic material is too thin for vehicle magnets.

They sell fridge magnet material and vehicle grade...the vehicle grade is thinner than conventional but is supposed to hold even better from what their literature stated years ago

 

[JR's]

this works good, (Martha Stewart Simple Circle Cutter) and this one Ek success.

 

[myront]

this works good, (Martha Stewart Simple Circle Cutter) and this one Ek success.

Yep, looked at Martha Stewart one too. Biggest problem with that one is that it only goes to 5 1/2". Our typical magnets are 8" and 10". Another problem I see is that their isn't a good way to line it up to your print. I suppose one could still use the blade from it though.

 

[SightLine]

Another option....

Get a cheapo Chinese cutter off eBay or at least the cheapest one you can get that will work with your print/cut software. Use it to contour cut the magnetic material. Do not have it cut all the way through. Halfway is plenty. Then they easily break out. Works very well once you get it all figured out and then its also easy to set other ones up. Its very hard on the cutter though - that why I say get a cheapo cutter. I'm not going to do this on our expensive Summa S160T but a $300 cheap junk machine is nearly disposable....

 

[myront]

Yeah, thought about using our Mimaki plotter but still would have a couple of problems.
1. Our magnetic material comes on a 24.125"w X ? roll. You have to incorporate registration marks in the print whereby cutting your usable space down significantly. We can get 3 - 8" magnets manually on the width but would only be able to do 2 doing it with the plotter.
2. Material is too heavy to cut through enough. We'd go thru a boat load of blades too.

Yes, it's very important that it cut all the way through. If you "tear" it out it creates a very fine jagged edge and the edge would catch too much wind whereby ripping it right off the car. I know this from experience.

Keep the thoughts coming though. I really appreciate everyone's thoughts and/or advice.

 

[2B]

what about modifying an exiting cutter, like the Olfa? Yes they have a pin for centering the cutter.
This is where the modifying comes in, attach a non-slip pad to the pin. this way you can still easily align the cutter but do so without damaging the imprint.

I'm thinking why reinvent the wheel when you can just change the type of tire to do the job

 

[Brian27]

Like someone else mentioned, why not just make a jig/circle and cut around it? Make it out of clear so you can see through it and line up your center point.

Edit: Or better yet, have jigs like the attached laser cut out of 1/8" clear polycarb. The slots would be the exact thickness of your razor blades. You could change the design to make the outer circle much larger to increase the surface area on your media to decrease the changes of it moving while you cut. Or put a bunch of low profile bumpons on the bottom of it. Or hell, glue some neodymium magnets to the bottom of it.

You'd have to have one for each size you need but it wouldn't cost much to have a bunch made.

Edit 2: Orrrrrrr even better. Go get yourself a sheet of steel plate, put your magnetic print on it, get a large neodymium magnet and incorporate your original design into it, stick it on your print and the steel plate below will keep the cutting jig from moving. We made a circle cutting jig for our plasma cutter that is the exact same principle. =D

 

[myront]

Olfa? How would you find the center? See attached. You have to have four reference points as in my original illustration.

Templates? How is that any easier? You still cutting by hand. And a shaky one at that. Too much margin for error. It has to be made in such a way to allow ANY person to cut. If you use a template method you'll still need significant amount of strength to keep it steady.

Study my design in the first post. Set the desired radius of you cut. Then line up over the print that you've already applied to the magnetic material using the four reference points then press down on the center and spin the blade around.

 

[J Hill Designs]

Olfa? How would you find the center? See attached. You have to have four reference points as in my original illustration.

Templates? How is that any easier? You still cutting by hand. And a shaky one at that. Too much margin for error. It has to be made in such a way to allow ANY person to cut. If you use a template method you'll still need significant amount of strength to keep it steady.

Study my design in the first post. Set the desired radius of you cut. Then line up over the print that you've already applied to the magnetic material using the four reference points then press down on the center and spin the blade around.

wouldnt that put a mark in the magnet, and hole in the material, creating a point of failure?

 

[myront]

Yes, the suggestion was to use this Olfa type cutter and modify the pin part to be a blunt point of some sort.

 

[Brian27]

wouldnt that put a mark in the magnet, and hole in the material, creating a point of failure?

Yeah... Instead replace the pin with a neodymium magnet and do all your cutting on a metal table.

 

[rossmosh]

The one issue with 4 cutters is getting all the cutters to cut exactly the same distance from the center point. I wouldn't say it's impossible, but it would definitely be difficult. I would definitely recommend switching to 2 or 3 cutters. It will make your life much easier.

As for making a prototype, someone with a laser or CNC could whip up something pretty easily out of acrylic or wood. Maybe you have a friend with either of those machines that wouldn't mind helping you out.

 

[Brian27]

Yes, the suggestion was to use this Olfa type cutter and modify the pin part to be a blunt point of some sort.

It sounds more like you're trying to develop a product to sell and seeking input on your design vs. solving a problem with your workflow and seeking ideas on how to easily solve it.

 

[myront]

On the contrary, I thought maybe there was something out there already on the market that would help speed the production. We've been cutting circles from magnetic material by hand for over 10 years. Since I couldn't find an answer I looked at making my own. Although I appreciate everyone's input, I have yet to see a viable solution. A template is the same as were're doing now and all the other cutters out there require that you have a mark at the center. They also use a pin at the center which would damage the magnet. We could pre-cut the decals then apply to pre-cut round magnets but that's a longer process still.

Show me a way to precisely center a cutter then with little effort make the cut in one motion.

 

[Brian27]

Show me a way to precisely center a cutter then with little effort make the cut in one motion.

A CNC machine? A Laser cutter? If you've been cutting circular and/or custom shaped magnets for 10 years and it's such a significant part of your business, I don't see how you could not invest in one or the other. In the time it'd take you to hand cut 100 magnets, a laser could do in 2000 if not more.

https://youtu.be/EP7m4xdGBKA?t=59s