I'd love for an Industry professional section with intros much like ours, but for what their company offers.  Never really needed it as a small shop since I couldn't meet MOQs very often but in my new position, I'm always looking for new/different things to try. Best-way-to-contact info would be great since some companies are stellar about emails but suck at phone calls, etc.

I have never participated in one, but the open-source/collaborative design idea has always intrigued me.  Bringing a half dozen interested minds together on a single creation...still not sure the ins and outs of them or if they're a waste of time or not.

Open source CAD files for learning are awesome too.  I learn a lot from studying CAD files of products that I know as a finished good too, since I'm fairly new to the computerized design side of things.

i am also trying to figure out the simplest way to make a small back pack.

And oldie but goodie for pack making:  http://gearmaker.org/index.php?topic=510.0

Tutorials? Open source CAD? More industry personalities participating?

If you intend on using and arduino or a raspberry to control the lengths it could be awesome to ditch the usb part and be able to use some kind of web interface (hosted on the controller) and access it via wifi, so you can configure all your cuts on a computer or even from a smartphone.

Great suggestion, i did originally want to have an app/interface on the pc and i will still work on it after completion of my dissertation. The reason for the usb was a time thing, i have till april to complete the full machine + the report + my other coursework while sewing.

For the Microcontroller at this point in time i will be designing my own board using an atmel chip, i have been advised by my supervisor (PHD assigned to keep each of us on track) to design a system to the specs required and if a after market board such as an arduino if it also meets the same specs and is cheaper to construct then i will be allowed to use them, so far i think the Arduino Micro is looking like it will be perfect possibly lacking on RAM, ideally somthing like the MKR1000 which already has a wifi chip would be great.

To reduce the fumes you should set a temperature not too high, that melt but not burn the nylon. The temperature will drop each time you cut something and you'll need some kind of filtering on your temperature sensor values to prevent overshoot since your blade will have some thermal inertia.

agreed, for the temperature control it is what i am focusing on the most at the moment, i have pretty much finalised the feeding, cutting and electronics but the hot knife temp control i have revised 4 times now to make it more accurate and efficient.

The temperature will be controllable by the user but the default will be the ideal setup for melting mil-w-17337 and A-a-55301 webbing, still waiting on texcel and mmi getting back to me to see if they have more detailed specs for there narrow goods to make research a little easier.

Also you would need some guides to prevent the webbing (or anything) to go sideways, and if the feed rate is rather high and your roll is on a stand you'll need to limit the rotation of the roll or your webbing will continue to unroll.

my plan was to always have the guides A to always provide a 90 degree cut and B also means for example you want to cut 1" webbing you can set up multiple rolls and just add more guides so they all feed at 90 to the blade.

Thank you for the response Fouinard


as an addition to the control via wifi my goal seperatly to the dissertation was to have the device communicate with an excel file (what i use to keep stock count) and automatically reduce the stock count as it cuts, i will do it after completion as nothing beats not having to manually reduce stock

Cord shouldn’t  be an issue, currently my thought is to have a roller with a spring to apply pressure with a motorised roller underneath for the actually feeding, two motorised feeders would be ideal but currently to cut cost and also over all side that is the basic concept still early doors so could change.

BergspitzeCustoms, thanks for mentioning that I had been so focused on the actually build and programming of the machine that the fact of elastic stretches hadnt crossed my mind haha I think it should be fine but won’t know until initial function testing, by any chance do you know what causes the fault with the big cutters at yours

and yeah I am the same diy stuff is always interesting, would love to buy a shieffield cutter but the cost and size was a big killer for me at the moment plus needed to come up with something for the dissertation haha

Thanks for the responses guys 

The ability to cut from a profile will be a great feature.

Not sure on the mechanical issues involved but would there be a way to cut cord as well as webbing?