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Plastic cutter made of 3.5'' floppy disk

A project log for Hacks and tricks

a bunch of small things I want to share, mostly tool related

deepsoicDeepSOIC 06/10/2016 at 21:059 Comments

It's a tool I've been using for ages. A disk from a floppy diskette attached to a motor.

It can cut plastic quite well, yet is completely incapable of damaging metal. This combination of capabilities is super handy in some situations. Examples: stripping a wire; taking connectors apart for repair... and plain cutting plastic =)

In my recent project, I am making a motor with 3d printer. I use plastic to help me wind the coils, then wick the coils in superglue, and cut off the plastic with this tool.

What if you don't have floppy disks to tear apart? Well, actually, you can use other kind of plastic films for making the disk. Transparent sheets for printers work. Even paper will do, although it doesn't last long.

Why does it work?

I believe it cuts by melting the material through friction. It can cut anything that melts easily. PLA, ABS, PVC, POM, polystyrene, and other thermoplastics are all cuttable. Epoxies are not. Polyimide is not.

It can cut rosin. It can also cut solder, but not great (probably because of its high thermal conductivity.

Discussions

jaromir.sukuba wrote 06/11/2016 at 16:01 point

I guess now you can't format the floppy disk to 1,44MB anymore.

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DeepSOIC wrote 06/11/2016 at 10:50 point

Wow, so many comments! Thanks!

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johnowhitaker wrote 06/11/2016 at 08:12 point

This is great! Making one as soon as I get home. 

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Anool Mahidharia wrote 06/11/2016 at 07:25 point

okay, this is so seriously cool, i'm gonna make a quick blog post about it on the Hackaday Blog.

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DeepSOIC wrote 06/11/2016 at 16:18 point

Thanks =)

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RoGeorge wrote 06/11/2016 at 01:59 point

Wow, now this is a hack!

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Eric Hertz wrote 06/10/2016 at 23:11 point

Holy shit, Jaw Dropped through the entire vid.

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Eric Hertz wrote 06/11/2016 at 00:49 point

where do we go from here?

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