Rabid Chimp's Projects

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Customer of mine has been making soap for a few years now, and has been ramping up to turn it into a business.  He told me that he was doing small batches, which he was cutting by hand, one bar at a time.  He wanted to step up production, and told me he was thinking about buying a soap cutter that allows one to cut roughly 120 plus bars in a short period of time.  Pic 1:  Built my cutter using a couple pics from another company's site.  This is their version.   I told him I'd save him a few hundred, and build him a similar tool from a couple of pictures, no blueprints.Pic 2:  Finished product.  He purchased a mold that would produce a block of soap about 12x12x12.  After a good bit of trial and error, R&D, I finished the project.  The material in the brown wrapping is plexiglass, and the protective film was left on to protect it from scratches, etc during shipping. A piece of 1/4x3 steel flat bar is attached to the plexiglass base, to which CNC pillow blocks are attached. The uprights are 1" OD precision ground stainless steel.  The frame is 1.5"x1.5"x3/16" HRS angle.  High quality linear movement bearings are attached to the sides of each cutting frame, and act as perfect guides for the frames to move through the block of soap. Fairly close tolerances in these bearings ensure straight, square cuts every time.  Pic 3  I had a local plastics company CNC mill some 1/4x1/4 grooves into a piece of sanolite (cutting board material). The brick of soap (about 50 lbs worth), gets set on top of this piece, then the frame is lowered through the soap. .030" thick stainless steel wire is the cutting medium, and comes to a final resting point at the bottom of these grooves, after its gone through the material. Once the 1" wide pattern is cut, the material is set aside, the cutting frame is removed, and the sanolite is flipped over to show a different pattern.  The other company's cutter had two different pieces for the wire grid pattern.  I figured it could be done on one piece, to save money and a bit of time.  Next, a different cutting frame goes through the material, and the result is 100 + bars of soap that measure 2.5x3.5x1.Pic 3:  These elevator bolts are threaded, and allow for height adjustment of the cutting tool's base. There are elevator bolts at each corner of the tool.  Thanks Home Depot! ~$2.00 beats Fastenal's ~$6 ea plus shipping.  Pic 4:  These green bolts are hollow, purchased on the cheap from a company that makes bicycle hardware.  The cutting wire is anchored on the opposite sides of the cutting frames, then fed through the holes, and secured with a small nut and bolt. Tension is applied to the wire by backing out the green tensioning bolts. The finished version has jam nuts to lock the bolts in place once proper tension is achieved.  After the tensioning bolt holes were drilled, I used my drill press as a ghetto mill to tap the threads.  I just opened up the top of the 17.5" Jet, and turned the spindle by hand, power off, with a ratchet.  Worked like a charm.Pic 5:  Close up of the CNC machined aluminum pillow blocks. A little overkill, but I wanted the stainless round bar to be square to the cutting tool's base. The groove closes up just a touch when the pinch bolt is tightened. You can see the hardware by which the flat bar is attached to the base.Here's a short vid of the cutter being tested.  Got Cheddar?http://www.facebook.com/video/video....50653178439584-Aaron Attached ImagesJet 17.5" Drill Press1942 South Bend 16x84 Lathe1980s Miller 320A / BP --- 2013 Power Mig 2562012 Jet 7x12 Horizontal BandsawVictor O/A Setup
Reply:Last pic from previous post.-Aaron Attached ImagesJet 17.5" Drill Press1942 South Bend 16x84 Lathe1980s Miller 320A / BP --- 2013 Power Mig 2562012 Jet 7x12 Horizontal BandsawVictor O/A Setup
Reply:Wizzin'
Reply:Awsome job CHIMP! I give it 5 banannas  I hate being bi-polar it's awsomeMy Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Reply:Good job! When can we see it work?...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:so, we're clear on rule number 1 and rule number two?  Even if we're in "it" soap makers on Paper St. do not want us talking about it.awesome soap cutter.
Reply:This is cool but let me ask it and then it will be done....Is there any potential for bacteria to live on the steel and get into the soap thereby infecting all soap cut on this device? Meaning should the steel be stainless? Also aren't the bolts gonna mess up dudes kitchen counter (or what ever)? Despite these  comments very cool and well thoughtout. Looks very well made too, good work.Miller thunderbolt 250Decastar 135ERecovering tool-o-holic ESAB OAI have been interested or involved in Electrical, Fire Alarm, Auto, Marine, Welding, Electronics ETC to name a just a few. So YES you can own too many tools.
Reply:Zap, there is a link at the bottom of the OP for a vid, testing the action on some cheese -http://www.facebook.com/video/video....50653178439584Stump, I'm sure bacteria is on the wire, and everything else on this planet.  Haha.  Cutting wire is .030 stainless.  Forgot to mention that the four handles I used for this contraption are from a Dewalt grinder.  8x1.25 thread pitch.  Found those online for about six bucks each.  Used my Lincoln 175 for the mig work.Five bananas!  Thanks Mike!-Aaron, heading back to the jungle.Jet 17.5" Drill Press1942 South Bend 16x84 Lathe1980s Miller 320A / BP --- 2013 Power Mig 2562012 Jet 7x12 Horizontal BandsawVictor O/A Setup
Reply:One of my customers wanted a roof rack on his 5x10 trailer.  He'll be hauling light lumber, and ladders.  My chop saw is dead, so the material was slowly cut on my horizontal Jet.  Material is 1" square tube .120 wall.  Brackets are 1/4 HRS, bolted to the frame, with silicone behind the brackets, so water doesn't get into the trailer.  Ends of the horizontal tubes are capped.  Rattle can Rust Tough paint (about $5 a can, took about 3.5 cans).  The stuff lays down really nice.  Had to build the thing to be removeable, since it had to be painted.  If I had to do it over, I'd have used single sections of material for the uprights.  Less time and material.  -Aaron Attached ImagesJet 17.5" Drill Press1942 South Bend 16x84 Lathe1980s Miller 320A / BP --- 2013 Power Mig 2562012 Jet 7x12 Horizontal BandsawVictor O/A Setup
Reply:Looks nice.
Reply:Thanks, jblackwell.  Now the guy wants me to reseal the roof and grease his wheel bearings.  Heh.-AaronJet 17.5" Drill Press1942 South Bend 16x84 Lathe1980s Miller 320A / BP --- 2013 Power Mig 2562012 Jet 7x12 Horizontal BandsawVictor O/A Setup
Reply:That's cool! Bonus bananas for repurposing bike parts and grinder handles!!!Bacteria growing on soap.....isn't that an oxymoron? :0 200amp Air Liquide MIG, Hypertherm Plasma, Harris torches, Optrel helmet, Makita angle grinders, Pre-China Delta chop saw and belt sander, Miller leathers, shop made jigs etc, North- welders backpack.