I thought about it for a bit, looked up some parts, did some research, and ended up buying a Silhouette Cameo for about $200 instead.
Worth it!
this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2025
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I went down that road first building a plotter attachment then trying to attach a knife on an ender 3. Kinda got it to run by simply extruding svgs into a 1 layer body that i could then "print" with a standard slicer. In the end i build myself a laser, and let me tell you, everything before was a huge waste of time :) the laser cuts like a beast, much faster and cleaner. Would not recomment using a knife in a laserworld.
Can this laser attachment (safely) cut vynil, tho? (Serious question)
Standard Vinyl that contains PVC should never be heated with a Laser. It will create corrosive chlorine gas.
Any advanced Vinyl like PVB, PVA or any variant that does not contain chlorine can be cut with diode co2 and fiber without issues.
So... no to laser, right?
Well depends on the actual material you are using. Just google PVC free vinyl, you can buy the stuff in any form. If you find sth for your application a laser is perfectly fine.
I did it with my ender 3, using a printed bracket to hold the knife. It's a hassle to use and I barely use it because it's such a pita. I managed to make a few nice cutouts though so it's definitely possible. I just wouldn't recommend it.
Sheesh. Did you get a different plotter or just didn't plot anything anymore?
I just didn't plot anything anymore tbh. I originally wanted to make stencils for electro-etching but I realized that I don't really have that much of use for it.
Yeah, it's more of a tool for an artistic purpose.
However, my T-shirts are rapidly declining in structural integrity and I'm over all that nerd shit. I wanna make a crow Design and put it on a shirt.
I’ve never done a cutter but I mounted a pen to my printer to make into an plotter
You pretty much just have to make a carriage that can hold whatever the thing is and then dial in z depth. I would imagine the hard part for a cutter is getting enough force to cut but not so much that you mangle shit, but that’s probably just experimenting a bit. You’ll need some kind of cutting mat to put on the bed I would think
I knew someone that had a cricut and that was just a xy cutter that used a few different tool heads. It had one that looked like an exacto knife and one that looked like a pizza cutter but I don’t know what their functions were, I think vinyl vs fabric?
Since you mention the Ender 3, mine came bundled with a laser cutter attachment. I have never actually gotten around to using it, so I can't offer much other than to say that such an official accessory does exist and might be less of a hassle than some of the DIY options you are considering.
Idk, a dragknife seems like less of a hazzle than a laser, but what do I know? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Might not be worth sacrificing my only working 3D printer for a project I don't know I will (be able to) follow, amiright?
True... but i mean lasers are cooler by virtue of being lasers. 😁
Personally, I'd be worried about subjecting the printer to the lateral forces and torques a knife would put on a printer that was never designed to contact the workpiece, if you ever wanted to use it for FDM printing again. But maybe that would be a good project for a printer that was already beat up a bit.
Alright. After I've built my Voron, then. ;)
Tap for spoiler
I'll get back to you in 2036. /j
IME these multipurpose machines (especially the DIY ones) just end up causing frustration because they end up doing none of their tasks well.