What Is a Vibrating Knife and What are its Benefits

A vibrating knife is a new type of knife cutting method. The principle is to complete the cutting by the blade vibrating up and down quickly. Compared with traditional knife cutting, the vibrating knife is faster and has a smooth cut. With the help of a modern intelligent control system, it can achieve high-precision cutting.

Vibrating knives are very popular in the field of non-metallic material processing. They can cut various materials such as cloth, leather, foam board, PVC, KT board, corrugated paper, etc. They are widely used in many industries such as advertising, clothing, printing, leather making, soft furniture, and automotive interiors.

What is the amplitude of a vibrating knife

The amplitude of a vibrating knife refers to the amplitude of its up and down vibration. It usually needs to be adjusted according to the thickness of the processed material, and the specific parameter setting of the amplitude is closely related to the physical properties of the tool itself.

According to the principle, vibration knife tools can be divided into pneumatic and electric. Pneumatic vibration knife is powered by compressed air, while electric vibration knife drives the blade by motor.

The amplitude of pneumatic vibration knife is larger, up to about 10mm, while electric vibration knife usually has a smaller amplitude, ranging from 1 to 3mm; the frequency of pneumatic vibration knife is slightly slower, up to about 12,000 times per minute, while the frequency of electric vibration knife is faster, up to more than 20,000 times per minute.

The differences between pneumatic and electric vibration knives determine the different processing directions of the two tools. The amplitude mainly affects the processing thickness, and the frequency mainly affects the cutting speed and the hardness of the cuttable material.

Pneumatic vibration knife: suitable for cutting flexible materials with high thickness, strong toughness and high elasticity, such as sponge, foam board, etc..

Electric vibration knife: suitable for processing materials with certain hardness and low thickness, such as PVC, KT board, corrugated paper, etc.

Of course, there are many materials that both tools can process, and then cost or other factors need to be considered. There are also significant differences in cost and power between the two types of tools. In addition to the tool, the pneumatic vibrating knife also needs an additional air compressor, and the air compressor also needs electricity to start, so the purchase cost and use cost of the pneumatic vibrating knife will be higher, but the power of the pneumatic vibrating knife will be stronger in comparison.

In general, the amplitude of the vibrating knife is mainly related to the type of tool. The two types of tools have their own advantages. The specific choice should be determined according to your own processing needs.

Compared with laser cutting, what are the advantages of the vibrating knife?

When cutting flexible materials, since the laser cutting machine uses the instantaneous high temperature generated by the laser to melt the material to be cut, black edges and burnt edges may be generated when cutting fabrics, and the properties of the cutting edge of the material will be destroyed, and the smell is also unpleasant.

If the flexible material is thicker, laser cutting efficiency will be relatively low. Taking leather fabrics as an example, the laser cutting machine can only cut a single layer, but the vibrating knife cutting machine can cut multiple layers.

Therefore, the vibrating knife cutting machine is mainly aimed at cutting flexible and semi-rigid materials. Compared with laser cutting, vibration knife has less pollution, faster speed, no edge blur, and replaceable blade.

Because vibration knife cutting relies on the high-frequency vibration of the blade, similar to the principle of saw blade (no saw teeth), it does not produce powder or high temperature, and is more environmentally friendly to use. In addition, the vibration knife cutting machine can choose the appropriate blade head according to different materials, such as round knife, half knife, drag knife, bevel knife, milling cutter, etc., with rich application scenarios.

In short, laser cutting and vibration knife cutting have their own advantages. For cutting metal materials, it is recommended to choose laser cutting machine. Vibration knife cutting is applied to more flexible materials due to its cold cutting characteristics. The actual selection also needs to be determined based on the material properties, edge quality and cost.