Looking for a type of cutter that I don't think exists

Crafts
1

I’ve bought a thin sheet of foam rubber. Now I need to cut with an exacto blade small cross or X cuts across the whole sheet. Then 1/4" acrylic rods will be able to be pushed through the cuts. But I have to cut a lot of them. My first few cuts went fine but take a lot of time. I was hoping that someone made a punch with two thin perpendicular metal blades with the ends sharpened. Then I could push it in to the sheet over and over saving me time.

Went to Michael’s and they had nothing. I refuse to shop at Hobby Lobby because of their awful CEO. Amazon has everything but none of my search terms have worked.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

2

If you really have lots of “X”'s to make maybe try purchasing 2 thin long bladed knives, sharpen the other side on each and then cut a slot down the top by the handle on one and then a slot from the tip back on the other. Slip them together and then using a couple of copper wires sharpened to points put a few spot welds( using a 12V car battery ) down the joint from the tip back.

Then it should be just jab jab jab jab…

To cut the slot, you might need to find a hacksaw blade without the undulations down the length to keep the slot thin.

3

A Dremel abrasive disk will probably make a thinner cut than a hacksaw.

There are x-acto-compatible chisel blades with flat tips that you could just press down twice instead of once. A #17 chisel blade is 1/4" I think. Looks like there are plenty of vendors.

2 Likes
4

Thanks I’ll look in to those blades.

5

…when I saw this I immediately thought of a food chopper like this:

Doesnt look like this is exactly what you need but maybee you can find one that does.

An insane idea?
A razor blade on a cnc collet adapter.
No spindle rotation, spindle locked
Repeated plunge cuts down a column
Move the blade 90 degrees lock spindle
Cut the same column again

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6

The onion chopper is the right idea but way too big in diameter. I went ahead and ordered a five pack of the #17 chisel blades.

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7

I wonder if this sort of 4 flute counter sink bit could have the flutes filed to more blade like edges for punching straight down?

SNAG-0008

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8

Bits usually are hardened steel and a file will skate right over them. But a an abrasive wheel on a rotary tool (dremel) might work!

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9

A high speed steel tool blank and a bit of time with a bench grinder could do the trick.

Blanks are available in a variety of sizes but here’s the first result on Amazon as an example: Amazon.com

Even a cheap-o bench grinder like this Wen would work: Amazon.com

This isn’t as convenient as an off-the-shelf blade but at the end you’d have a bench grinder and a new skill!

10

No idea how deep your cuts would have to be but if you would by some break offcutter blades , and use a 0.5mm cutter to cut parallel grooves into a baseblock inserting the blades there would give you a comb with parallel knifes… and after cutting one direction you could turn your comb device to cut the perpendicular direction (so if I would have understood your problem…)

11

Something like this, and you just make an x ?

Oblong Punch
Oblong Punch1200×1200 58.1 KB