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How to make a vinyl cutter media basket for cheap!
PixelPusher posted a topic in Instructional Contributions
Hello, this post will be a work in progress as I brainstorm (and fumble) my way through a process to make a working media basket for my Copam CP-2500 vinyl cutter on a low budget. The goal here is to get others to make a similar media basket for their cutters, regardless of brand (unless they've purchased a factory stand that already includes a media basket). I'll edit this post to be more concise and proper once I work through some design challenges (like how to mount it to my existing stand), what sizes and dimensions I'll use etc. It is not intended on being an instructional article per se (at least off the start), but rather a bit of motivation for others to use to make one themselves for their cutters. We can also brainstorm and post ideas on how to overcome design challenges and make improvements since others may have better ideas than myself. This post may be rewritten as a "How To" though if I make some satisfactory progress in the period of time to come. Running cost total so far: $19.99 CAD So far the materials I've sourced out include: 1 - IKEA shoe rack called LUSTIFIK for $7.99 CAD that I will disassemble and cut and drill accordingly to make the basket frame and arms. There are ample metal tubes included in this shoe rack as it is. It will easily fit a 38" or longer (or shorter) plotter stand since the pipes can extend horizontally or lengthwise depending on how you're positioning them. Also, IKEA sells these metal tubes separately in their Drapery section of the store for $1.99 or more (I can't remember what the larger tube piece cost). I will need to buy two more "arms" in the future so I have 4 in total (you get 2). 1 - 54"x84" 60% Polyester and 40% Cotton Window Curtain for $12.00 CAD from a discount merchandiser for the basket material. I wanted a material that was as static friendly as possible in it's blend since we all know that static and vinyl cutters are no fun and pure Polyester is a static unfriendly material. I looked this up on the web and I was led to believe that the more Polyester blend, the worse off you'll be since it holds a negative static charge. Cotton on the other hand seems to be neutral in static charge. The material had to be strong enough to take some abuse but not heavy enough to cause other issues. I'll obviously need to get someone to cut and sew this material into a suitable looping "W-shaped" basket but that's where I'll employ my Mother to help I also chose a brown color for the basket since my Copam is beige and the store didn't have a black curtain available at the time I was buying. I have attached some pictures of what I've got so far and I'll add more pictures as I go along... I have also attached some images of a USCutter stand (from this website) so those images are Copyrighted by USCutter and all credit goes to them accordingly. I'm sort of emulating the USCutter stand as a template to work from. My plan is to cut the curved/rounded sections of the bars exactly in half to make identical sections for the front facing frame section as well as for the rear facing frame section. The arm extensions simply slide into the curved pieces as well. I'll need mounting brackets of some type too and the goal is to slide the basket arms forward and backward as needed to allow room for the media to come off the cutter into the basket. Of course, I think they should be able to retract so not to take up space when not needed. Anyhow, this is Day 1 of my design challenge. I'll post more as I progress. Stay tuned! Your comments and feedback (good or bad) are encouraged. Let's make this design something functional and decent but not too "ghetto looking".