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Effortless Cutting Blades?
knewter asks: "I've recently come across an application in a machine that my company is building in which we need to be able to cut a piece of hardened plastic without jolting the item from which we're cutting it. We've researched (mildly) some alternatives, and right now we're looking at ultrasonic knives. Unfortunately, these tend to be rather expensive, and as we're a robotics engineering firm, we'd like to keep the cost of the extraneous pieces of machinery negligible (this is a convenience feature). We've also looked at cutting it with a hot wire, but I personally am worried that this would taint the test results (it's in a sort of a plastic vial that is drained for testing purposes). Does anyone here have any ideas on what would be proper for this, or even some ideas on cheap nano-machinery (not in the sense of manipulating small particles, but in the sense that the blade has been refined to an extremely small point and will not require repeated sharpening)?" Of course, the obvious answer is a laser of some sort, but lasers aren't necessarily cost effective. How about high pressure water cutters?
Just use 10Kv across the chassis.
- A.P. (it's a joke, a sly one)
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* CmdrTaco is an idiot.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
It's my opinion that the case did not deserve to be cut up and buried. If you can't find a use for it, find someone who can. That said, I doubt if the case contained any lead. The electronics mounted in the case no doubt use lead/tin alloy solder but the case is probably just steel and recycled dinosaurs, i.e. plastic.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
(Really) small pieces of glass shot through a pressure gun in an enclosed containter. The auto shop at my school uses somthing like it for polishing - but if it's concentrated, then it will cut...
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!
SIG: HUP
They teach a plethora of cutting techniques. I strongly recommend Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon for a further demonstration of the Wudan's cutting techniques.
One word of advice: if you do attend the Wudan school of martial arts then stay away from the edge of the bridge. The railing isn't very high and it's easy to jump/fall/float off.
Keeping
Abrasive (or non-abrasive depending on the material you're trying to cut) water jet would do what you want quite well. These are not cheap systems either, though. check out http://www.usjetting.com or http://www.woma.de for systems (I've not purchased from them nor am I affiliated with them).
There are also very thin abrasive cutting blades that might do what you want. The problem with water jet cutting is the water, which for some applications produces unacceptable contamination (not all materials like water). Abrasive cutting blades are easy to replace and have good cutting life on softer materials. Check out http://www.dynacut.com
Using cut wires is probably the cheapest solution provided that you have the capability to produce those. If you're using hot wire cutting, it might not be worth it depending on the material your trying to cut.
Lastly and out on a limb, if the plastic is conductive (or if you wanted to try your hand at fabricating a microwave torch instead... all the one's I've used are DC but I've seen specs for microwave torches for chemical applications) you could try using a plasma torch on it. You can get a .01" kerf on
a good one (for cutting 1/4" plate steel) and
they are a dream to cut with -- as good as a laser
with the convienence of a torch.