After the success of the DIY diamond drag bit, I wondered if I couldn't use the same mount to create a vinyl cutter. Cut vinyl is used to create permanent "stickers" that you see on cars, signs, advertisements, walls, and t-shirts.
A desktop vinyl cutter costs around $400. It's certainly cheaper than a CNC machine, but if you already have a CNC machine, why not innovate? A vinyl cutting blade only costs a dollar or two.
I started small, testing the concept on a sample piece of vinyl with scrap fabric. It turned out okay! The cut was good, showing small details, but my ironing application needs practice.
Time for something bigger! I created a larger t-shirt design. You can't really see a difference when the vinyl is first cut -- it still looks like a solid piece of vinyl until the excess pieces are "weeded" out.
After weeding, the vinyl is placed face-down on the fabric, flipping the image. (It's important to print all text backwards for this reason.) This is iron-on vinyl made for fabric, but vinyl also comes in self-stick.
A few seconds under the iron, then the backing peels off and the shirt is done!
The process was fun and rather simple. You can even do multiple colors by layering them. It's very inexpensive -- a sheet of vinyl costs under a dollar and I bought this blank t-shirt at a thrift store. So for a couple dollars, you could make one-off shirts for special occasions. Lots of good possibilities that I'm excited to try out.
Edit: For those interested in doing this themselves, this seems like an inexpensive, easy way to mount the blade if you want a less DIY appoach.
