Repurposing Plotter into Laminate Cutter Advice

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello All,

I have a basic knowledge of electronics and have read enough on the arduino platform to think it could be very well suited for a project I have in mind. I have a small copy shop and periodically get large laminating jobs. Our laminator streams sheets between an upper roll and a lower roll of laminate film, 250 feet per roll. The laminator has trimmers on it that make a top and a bottom cut in the same direction as the stream. The cuts perpendicular to the stream are tedious and slow. I would like to re-purpose an old plotter into a machine that makes those cuts; the cuts need to be clean and straight and allow the 1/8 inch margin from the sheet itself. I have a donor machine, I have removed the old control electronics.

**Description of a plotter: ** The plotter has a pen attached to a rail, drive belt and motor. Pinch rollers apply pressure downward onto the paper directly above a drive roller attached to another motor. The drive roller moves the paper forward and back through the machine while the pen gets moved left and right.

**Idea for new functionality/purpose: ** In my head, we should be able to trade the pen for a rotary blade (like a pizza cutter), and trade the paper for the “laminated sheets of paper stream.” Add a couple of strategically located optical switches to detect the lead and trailing edges of the sheets and then figure out the programming.

The loop would be;
1.) drive roller motor forward
2.) properly located sensor (lead edge) detects lead edge of sheet
3.) drive motor stops
4.) blade motor sends blade across for lead edge cut
5.) blade motor stops when limit reached (or number x of steps)
6.) drive roller motor forward, again
7.) properly located sensor (trailing edge) detects trailing edge of sheet
8.) drive motor stops
9.) blade motor returns blade to home position making trailing edge cut
Repeat

Bells and whistles: If it's possible I'd like to add
1.) speed control dial for drive motor
2.) speed control dial for blade motor
3.) emergency stop button
4.) led's to indicate progress through loop

Thanks in advance; looking forward to ideas and input.
Jake

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2

I don't know what sort of blade would be required to cut through a laminated sheet, but I've got a paper cutter which consists of a large base plate with a smaller plate mounted above it leaving a gap for the paper to be fed through. There is a bar mounted above it, and a cutting wheel in a housing which can be slid along the bar manually to make the cut. I guess this is similar to what you have in mind. It's designed so that when the cutter assembly is moved away from the 'home' position the two plates are pressed together, clamping the paper lightly. This makes it much easier to cut without dragging or distorting the paper and you might want to use something similar with your setup.

Do you need a powered cutting head to cut laminated sheets, or would a simple unpowered circular blade be sufficient?

3

jake292:
I have removed the old control electronics.

I guess the first thing to do might be to put the old electronics back. Then get a standard laminate cutting knife, put it in the penholder, install a cheapo, or better, freebie CAD, and you are off and running.