Finished design of my slab soap cutter

[Cal43]

View attachment 37723 Finished the “Mach 1” this afternoon. It’s obviously rough—no sense in committing resources until I know that it works. The sliding motion works, but it needs to be a little smoother. I have some ideas for accomplishing that in the “Mach 2.”
I’m hoping to get the energy to make a slab to try it out. Gosh, I havent’t made a slab of soap in about 2 years for lack of a way to cut it. I’m not even sure where to start...

You know I was anxiously awaiting this right? She is beautiful!!! How did you cut the groove for the wire to more back and forth? What special tool did you use?

Another question? What size slab mold do you have that would fit this shab cutter?

Oh boy sorry for annoying you. Can I see the bottom of the cutter?

 

[DWinMadison]

You know I was anxiously awaiting this right? She is beautiful!!! How did you cut the groove for the wire to more back and forth? What special tool did you use?

Thanks for your interest. Nothing high-tech at all for the groove; I eased my skill saw in carefully to cut the length. I widened it and finished squaring the ends with my jig saw. Then I used sandpaper in a shoe-shine motion to smooth the inside. I used 1/2” conduit for the rails. I drilled 5/8” channels through the 2x4 block (actual 1.5” h x 2.5” w) to pass the rails through. I’m not happy with the fluidity of motion. There’s got to be a better way....I’m noodling over that. It’ll work fine, but can be improved upon.

Another question? What size slab mold do you have that would fit this shab cutter?

My preferred bar size is 3.5 x 2.5, so I have a 12-bar slab - 3 @ 3.5 wide (10.5”) x 4 @ 2.5” (10”) so...
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The cutter tables is 14” wide, so it will easily accommodate that as well as my loaf mold, which is 13.5” long for turning sideways and cutting bars from that.

You may have noticed, I forgot to cut the groove for the spacer bar on the back rail, so Ill need to take the rail off tomorrow and fix that, so I can cut the 2.5” heights of my bars as well as the 3.5” widths, which is the default width. I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting a bar wider than 3.5.”

Oh boy sorry for annoying you. Can I see the bottom of the cutter?

Here’s the bottom view. LOL, you’ll also see that I originally drilled the channels for the rails on the wrong face of the 2x4. Oops. The metal bar was my solution for attaching the cutter wire on the bottom.

 

[Cal43]

View attachment 37734
Here’s the bottom view. LOL, you’ll also see that I originally drilled the channels for the rails on the wrong face of the 2x4. Oops. The metal bar was my solution for attaching the cutter wire on the bottom.

These oops are good to know. Thank you

 

[DWinMadison]

These oops are good to know. Thank you

LOL. This is why we build a mock-up. I also think I need to chisel a deeper channel for the string anchor. It may be part of the reason I’m getting drag on the push-back as it is awful close to the tabletop. Off to church, then slab pouring this afternoon. Blessings.

 

[Cal43]

LOL. This is why we build a mock-up. I also think I need to chisel a deeper channel for the string anchor. It may be part of the reason I’m getting drag on the push-back as it is awful close to the tabletop. Off to church, then slab pouring this afternoon. Blessings.

These small details are a great help for me and others. Have a bleeding day.

 

[Clarice]

@DWinMadison - I am super impressed with your planning and building expertise! Way to go!

 

[Cal43]

These small details are a great help for me and others. Have a blessed day.

 

[DWinMadison]

Inspiration comes on Sunday! I resolved my rail/friction problem with these. 1/2” metal sleeves from the screw/hardware aisle at Lowe’s. Now to make some soap!

 

[Amy78130]

Sorry. To export to DWG I have to upgrade to a higher version of Sketchup for 119. Don't see how that makes sense.

Your design looks awesome.. Did you try an online conversion site to convert it to DWG without having to upgrade? Something like https://cadsofttools.com/pdf-to-dwg-online/
I don’t have experience with dwg files, but convert 3d print files similarly. Hope this helps!

 

[DWinMadison]

Your design looks awesome.. Did you try an online conversion site to convert it to DWG without having to upgrade? Something like https://cadsofttools.com/pdf-to-dwg-online/
I don’t have experience with dwg files, but convert 3d print files similarly. Hope this helps!

I have not but will check into it. Thanks.

 

[Deadgroovy]

Iv'e built one very similar to this .... no CAD or Sketch up involved!

 

[DWinMadison]

Iv'e built one very similar to this .... no CAD or Sketch up involved!
View attachment 37771

Very nice.

 

[DWinMadison]

Here’s the design specs I promised with measurements. I’m providing a link to my new (very rough) soap blog. The post has 3 PDF files (top, base and cutter). If you need more specs like hole sizes, just let me know. I think they are pretty intuitive...at least enough if you wanted to print and give them to a friend to build it out. I’ll detail them a bit more as I get the time. That’s the beauty of putting them on a blog site...I wont need to constantly repost them here, and y’all can be done with my prattling on about it. Blessings for a great week!

https://www.myweaverweb.com/Soap/2019/04/01/slab-cutter-design/

 

[Amy78130]

Here’s the design specs I promised with measurements. I’m providing a link to my new (very rough) soap blog. The post has 3 PDF files (top, base and cutter). If you need more specs like hole sizes, just let me know. I think they are pretty intuitive...at least enough if you wanted to print and give them to a friend to build it out. I’ll detail them a bit more as I get the time. That’s the beauty of putting them on a blog site...I wont need to constantly repost them here, and y’all can be done with my prattling on about it. Blessings for a great week!

https://www.myweaverweb.com/Soap/2019/04/01/slab-cutter-design/

You are awesome!!! Thank you!

 

[DWinMadison]

Here is my ultimate solution for lining the channels on the bottom of the cutter arm (that the rails pass through). You may find a better solution. If you use this approach, you’ll need 3/4” holes to insert them, then glue them in place. https://www.amazon.com/Bunting-Bear...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B01G8X6WI6

 

[reeeen4]

If you ever decide to change the sliding mechanism design you could try using telescopic roller or ball baring draw rails for the sliding mechanism, they are really smooth and very strong too and I've seen other designs of cutters using them.

 

[DWinMadison]

If you ever decide to change the sliding mechanism design you could try using telescopic roller or ball baring draw rails for the sliding mechanism, they are really smooth and very strong too and I've seen other designs of cutters using them.

Thanks. I’ll check into them.

 

[DWinMadison]

If you ever decide to change the sliding mechanism design you could try using telescopic roller or ball baring draw rails for the sliding mechanism, they are really smooth and very strong too and I've seen other designs of cutters using them.

I found linear ball bearings on Amazon. They will require me to reduce the size of the tails to 1/4” but that might actually work better. Thanks for the suggestion. Will follow up asap.

 

[DWinMadison]

So, as I was awake all night dealing with the searing pain associated with my "wine-tasting related foot injury" my brain came up with the bevel cutting jig to use with my new soap cutter. It uses the cutting wire to make 1/16" bevels on all sides of 1" thick bars. You could also use it to trim whole slices/multiple bars of your loaf or slab so long as the slices are also 1" thick. Obviously, if you cut thicker, you could adjust the size of the jig slightly to accommodate other thicknesses. Note: For visual effect, I hid the back cutter rail in this PDF, but the jig abuts the back stop rail eliminating the need to affix it to the table top. All you have to do is take off the guide bar using the knob and set it in place. I have another integrated beveling idea that I'm working on as well. More to come....

Not sure why this would only attach as a pdf instead of imbedding the image. Sorry.

 

[Cal43]

You are on a roll. That’s awesome!! ? Does the jig sits over the “rail thingy” that allows you to guide the soap slab ?