If you are a user who is using an oscillating knife cutting machine, you may encounter this situation-why do you configure a vacuum suction system, but during the cutting process, there is still a problem of material movement?
Why is this? Is the power of your vacuum adsorption system not enough? So how to solve this problem? This article will tell you the answer.
In order to ensure that the material is firmly fixed on the surface of the working platform to avoid displacement during the cutting process, we have equipped each oscillating knife cutting machine with a vacuum adsorption system, but some customers still tell us that the material cannot be perfect adsorption, they will wonder if the power of the vacuum adsorption system is too low?
It was even concluded that the vacuum adsorption system cannot achieve good material fixation.
Based on customer feedback, we have divided it into three situations, and made a detailed explanation for each situation, and how to improve vacuum adsorption.
How to Better Fix the Material for Oscillating Knife Cutting Machine
The first situation: the customer’s understanding of the vacuum adsorption system is incorrect.
For example, We have a customer who after receiving the machine, placed a piece of A4 paper on the surface of the working platform, and found that the material could not be fixed at all, so he concluded that the vacuum adsorption system could not work perfectly.
Is this really the case? To understand this problem, we must first understand what the working principle of the vacuum adsorption system is.
The vacuum adsorption system uses atmospheric pressure as the force to form a closed space between the platform and the material. A certain amount of gas molecules are pumped out by the vacuum pump to reduce the pressure and form a pressure difference between the inside and outside of the platform. Under the action of this pressure, the material is absorbed and held firmly.
Through the above passage, we found that if we want to firmly adsorb the material on the workbench, we must form a vacuum area between the material and the platform, so how to form a good vacuum area?
- First, the entire surface of the working platform must be covered with material during machining.
We try to cover the surface of the entire working platform with materials as much as possible. Only when the working platform is fully covered can it be isolated from the outside space. At this time, use vacuum adsorption to discharge all the air inside to form a good vacuum. In the area, the material is firmly adsorbed by using the air pressure difference. Rather than the customer I mentioned earlier, just place a piece of A4 paper on the work platform, and its adsorption area is 1600mmX2500mm. At this time, 90% of the working platform is exposed and not isolated from the outside world. Therefore, even if the vacuum pump is in working condition, a vacuum area cannot be formed on the surface of the material and the working platform, so the role of fixing the material cannot be realized.
the entire surface of the working platform must be covered with material during machining
- Second, choose a suitable vacuum adsorption system.
When the customer finds that the material cannot be firmly adsorbed, the first reaction is to increase the power of the vacuum adsorption system. Is that really the case?
We will configure a suitable vacuum adsorption system according to the size of the processing area selected by the customer. The basic principle is that the larger the work surface, the greater the power of the configured vacuum adsorption, so as to quickly remove the gas inside the platform and form a vacuum state.
If the customer’s effective processing area is less than 1600X2500mm, according to our experience, we will configure a 380V, 7.5KW vacuum adsorption system for the customer, which can perfectly realize the adsorption and fixation of materials; if the working area is 1600X3000mm or larger, we will A 9kw or 5.5KW X2 vacuum adsorption system will be configured for customers.
If there is no special processing requirement (such as multi-layer cutting), we do not recommend configuring a super-powerful vacuum system for a small working area, because this will increase the cost of buying and using the machine for customers, and the effect is not much different.
The greater the power of the vacuum adsorption system, the stronger its ability to generate negative pressure instantly, which is very necessary for large-format cutting machines. But we cannot simply think that the displacement of the material during processing is caused by the power of the vacuum adsorption system being too small, because as long as a vacuum area is generated between the material and the working platform, the material can be firmly fixed.
Some customers will ask: How can we know whether there is a good adsorption effect? In fact, we have equipped a negative pressure gauge on each vacuum pump. When a vacuum area is formed between the working platform and the material, the negative pressure gauge will display pressure data, which means that a vacuum has been formed between the material and the platform. With a good vacuum area, the material can be firmly adsorbed on the work surface.
a negative pressure gauge on each vacuum pump
Through the above two points, we can understand:
As long as we cover the entire working platform and choose a suitable power vacuum adsorption system, we can guarantee a good adsorption effect. On the contrary, if the working platform is not completely covered during your work, even if you choose a high-power vacuum adsorption system, you will not be able to achieve perfect adsorption.
The second case, the size of the processing material and workpiece varies;
In order to meet the processing of materials and workpieces of different sizes, the customer chose a super large format oscillating knife cutting machine. In the actual use process, when customers process large-sized materials, they can cover the work surface completely, so as to have a good adsorption effect, but when customers process small-sized materials, they cannot be well adsorbed.
How to solve this situation?
The traditional solution is the “covering method”. We ask customers to cover the exposed working area with an air-tight film to achieve good adsorption. Using this method can solve this problem very well, but customers will think that this is too much trouble and want to have a more intelligent solution.
This is also possible, that is the “partitioned adsorption method”, which means that the working platform is divided into several independent units, which can be closed and opened by the control system to process materials of different sizes and achieve the best adsorption effect. The mode of partition adsorption is divided into four modes: manual partition, partition by map, follow partition and one-zone follow mode.
So how does each mode work? How should customers use it? Let me answer for you.
Manual zoning: Customers can manually select which areas to turn on adsorption, which areas to turn off adsorption, or all areas are in the state of opening adsorption according to the size of the processed material before starting cutting. This mode is mostly used for materials that cannot cover the entire processing area, and the size of a single cutting pattern is larger than the size of a single suction area.
Partition according to the image: The machine automatically opens the required adsorption area according to the size of the processed image to achieve the best adsorption effect. This mode is suitable for cutting very large graphics.
Follow the partition: The machine will automatically open the adsorption of this area and the nearby area according to the change of the position of the cutting tool to ensure smooth cutting. This mode is suitable when the size of the material is large but the size of the cutting workpiece is small.
One zone follows the zone: It means that the machine automatically turns on the adsorption function of the area according to the area where the cutter is located, so as to ensure that the material in the area is cut. This mode is suitable for cutting small-sized, densely nested graphics.
Sub-zone suction system for oscillating knife cutters
Through the above description, you will know how to solve the problem of poor adsorption when large machines cut small materials. We use the working area to divide the adsorption area and set which positions to turn on the adsorption and which positions to turn off the adsorption according to the size of the material, so as to ensure that the vacuum area is formed between the material and the working platform, so as to fix the material on the work surface.
Is that the method of partition adsorption that can solve all the problems of poor adsorption? The answer is no, when we cut airtight materials, we can use the partition adsorption method to enhance the vacuum adsorption ability. However, when the material itself has air-permeable properties, this method cannot achieve a good fixing effect. This is also a misunderstanding by many customers. so even if a partition adsorption system is installed, the adsorption capacity of the machine cannot be improved at all.
The reason for this phenomenon is that in addition to the fact that the customer did not really understand the principle of vacuum adsorption, there is another very important reason, that is, the factory that produces the machine does not understand the material characteristics of the customer, so it cannot provide the customer with the correct solution.
So, is there a solution for breathable materials?
The answer is: yes.
The third case: how to improve the adsorption effect of air-permeable materials;
When we use an oscillating knife cutting machine to cut air-permeable materials, due to the air-permeable characteristics of the material, it is difficult to form a vacuum area between the material and the working platform, so the material is easy to move during the processing, resulting in the cutting being unable to proceed smoothly.
We can classify this situation as follows according to the different materials:
- Textile and fabric materials. For this kind of material, we can use special custom-made cutters – round ten-pointed blades, which can effectively reduce the stretching of the cutter on the material during the cutting process to ensure smooth cutting;
- Sheet materials. For example, polyester acoustic panels, such materials have the characteristics of good air permeability, and cannot be processed by special tools, so that they are easy to cause displacement during processing.
The initial solution is to use the hard object blocking mode, using the high hardness of the material itself, to block around the material, so as to avoid the displacement of the material. Although this method can solve the displacement problem of standard-size materials, it is not suitable for non-standard-size materials. Standard-size material does not hold well and does not account for uneven boards. So not a perfect solution.
Blocking fixed material for oscillating knife cutters
In order to better solve this problem, the R&D engineers of AMOR CNC have developed a set of followable covering systems after many simulation experiments. One set of covering systems is installed at the front and back of the machine beam (Y axis), and there is a running track that can move back and forth with the crossbeam and shrink freely. When the front material is cut, the rear cover system is opened. When the rear material is cut, the front cover system is opened to enhance the adsorption.
The system attached to AMOR is very convenient to install and disassemble. After the oscillating knife cutting machine finishes processing, the customer can remove the covering system on the front side of the machine to facilitate material collection.
Through this cover system, the problem of fixing the breathable sheet is completely solved, ensuring that the material is firmly adsorbed on the surface of the working platform during the processing so that customers no longer need to worry about the displacement of the material during the cutting process.
The above are the three situations and solutions that we have summarized that the vacuum adsorption system cannot perfectly fix the material. I hope it can be helpful to you. Which vacuum adsorption method is more suitable for you? I believe you already have the answer. Or you can also contact us to provide you with professional guidance.
for the oscillating knife cutter
