Your old blades....

[talanhart]

If anybody has some old blades sitting around that you aren't going to use anymore, would you be willing to send them to me. I am going to figure out how to sharpen them. I work in a Tool and Die shop and we sharpen our Carbon Steel cutters all the time for our CNC mills. I imagine you could send it in a regular envelope taped to a piece of paper. PM me for my address if you are willing to send them to me.

[sambobbitt]

If you figure it out let me know how you do it. I work at a skills training center that teaches people how to use CNC mill and lathes as well as manuals- one of our supporting companies has a drill bit sharpener- I thought about having them try to shapen but I am just on my first>>>>???? (it needs to be changed) These are basically a small version of a paper cutting cnc.....huh?

[talanhart]

Sam,
We don't use a drill bit sharpener to sharpen our cutters. We use a special grinder. My boss is the guy who would actually be sharpening the blade. When I get a blade or mine gets dull, I will let you know how it works.
Our Cricuts work more like plotters than CNC mills.

[talanhart]

Sam,
I checked out the machine that we use to sharpen our cutters. It is a Gorton. It can hold the cutters at the correct angle. We are using a Famco grinding wheel. I have yet to get any cutters from anybody, so I don't know if it will work. The boss says no problem.

[lindamac]

I have two blades I can send you. Just tell me where and I will put them in the mail today. Let me know how they turn out. A few months ago on a digital scrapbooker's blog, she said she sharpened her own but I can't remember who she was.

[talanhart]

This just in.

I had some time today to get with one of our toolmakers and we sharpened the two Cricut blades that were sent to me awhile ago by Linda (Thanks again Linda). The one blade was really in bad shape. It had to be reground with one of our grinders with a Diamond wheel. The other one was not as bad and only needed to be touched up to take off the bur. To do this we used what is called a Ruby Stone. Ruby stones can be purchased at Gesswein or Otto Frei or probably on Ebay. You won't want to purchase a big stone, because they are expensive. A midget file is what I am seeing in the catalog and you can get one for less than $10.00. If you are tired of buying blades, you might try using a Ruby Stone and sharpening your old blades. Remember, you are just removing the bur. If the blade looks really bad, then you aren't going to be able to sharpen it without a diamond wheel.

[sambobbitt]

Thank you-I will talk to my "guys" about this...anything to save money!

[susibi]

to spruce up the blades of my Robo if needs be I make a small pad of kitchen foil, take out the blade holder and slowly and gently draw it through the foil several times. I don't see why it shouldn't work for Cricut - if there's any serious damage it would need to be reground, but if it's just a bit dull then this will help.

Susibi

[CherBear]

thanks for the tips. my husband is a tooly, I'm going to ask him to do that for mine.

[lindamac]

Hey Todd, I was wondering what the outcome was on the blades. I'm happy I was able to provide you with a couple to experiment with. Was there some kind of holder used to keep a grip on the blades or did he just hold it in his fingers? They are so small. Also was a magnifying glass needed?