Cut-Craft Machine Design

Cut-Craft is a multi-purpose automated cutting machine, aimed for cutting ‘Semat’ (bamboo lid) for Balinese traditional and artisan craftsworks. For more details about the project, you can visit the week 10 group page. Here, as a refresher, I’ll provide a brief overview of the machine as it relates to how I design its mechanical system.

Concept

Background

At Fab Lab Bali, one of the ongoing projects is the Canang Shooter: Semat/Bamboo Stapler for Canang (Balinese offerings), aimed at creating tools to ease the process of making Balinese offerings and crafts using natural bamboo sticks (semat), without resorting to metal staplers that could harm the environment.

A key aspect of this project is to provide pre-cut ‘semat’ (bamboo lid) to serve as ammunition for the bamboo stapler. Therefore, we’re using this opportunity to design and build a machine specifically for this purpose, while also ensuring it is versatile for other tasks beyond cutting semat.

Application

Cut-Craft is a multi-purpose automated cutting machine, aimed for cutting ‘Semat’ (bamboo lid) for Balinese traditional and artisan craftsworks. This machine enables you to automatically cut semat, wire, or similar materials to your desired length and quantity.

Powered by an Arduino Uno, Cut-Craft features essential components such as a Stepper Motor for wire advancement, a Servo Motor for cutting, a Rotary Encoder for inputting cutting parameters, and an OLED Display for user-friendly parameter selection.

We design and 3D print a mechanical system to linearly feeds and advance wire, and holds and actuates the cutting pliers. With CutCraft, precision cutting becomes a straightforward task, tailored to our specific needs.

References

To do this, we’re drawing inspiration from wire-cutting machines. Here are some of our main references:

• DIY Wire Cutting & Stripper with Arduino 1
• DIY Wire Cutter Machine using Arduino 2
• B-strip: Open-source high-speed wire cutter and stripper
• Wire Cut & Strip with lasercut design
• Wire-cutter & stripper - compact integrated

System Overview

Based on the references above and more research, this is essentially how the overview system of the machine will look like:

As you see, there are 2 main systems that needs to be mechanically designed, actuated, and automated which are:

1. to feed and advance the inserted semat stick;
2. to cut it.

We plan to use a stepper motor and ball bearing to advance the wire and high-torque servo motor to move the pliers arm.

Parts & Components

• Input:
  • Semat/wire spool
• Advancer System:
  • Stepper Motor
  • Ball bearing
• Cutting System:
  • Wire cutter (plier) holder
  • Cam mechanism for the lever that controls the cutting plier arm
• Control Panel:
  • Rotary Encoder
  • OLED Display
• Microcontroller:
  • Arduino UNO
• Power:
  • CNC Shield 12V

So overall, this is the skeleton plan of our machine:

Here, I’m in charge to design the mechanical system to linearly feeds and advance wire, and holds and actuates the cutting pliers.