Howdy, I searched and searched and while I did run across a couple of videos for index cutting.
I apologize for the suboptimal video quality. I am more a welder than a computer guy…lol. I just did the best I could with my Iphone.
index cutting 1 of 2 (software side)
2 of 2 (mechanical aspect)
The most promising one that people have referred me to actually was not successful and the only other one I found just wasn’t helpful at all. I read as much as I could here and elsewhere to figure out how to do it. Today I made the attempt and I think it was highly successful. I have been stressing over it for the last 3 weeks. Im glad its done and worked out ok. Next time it wont be so intimidating. I made two videos of the process. The video of the software is relatively quick. The main parts that are very important is modifying the design after breaking it up into individual same sized pieces. You do not want to inadvertently cut your full sheet into three pieces so you will need to remove the horizontal lines created when breaking up the design. Next its helpful to be methodical in how you name the files so that it is easy to determine which files need to be loaded and cut in which order. There are three components necessary to achieve index cutting in my opinion. First, You must have a straight edge guide mounted on you table, along with a perfect immovable reference point you can easily see and align your metal to as you slide it through the table for the different cuts. Second, It is necessary to break your initial large design into smaller designs. There is no set in stone size they must be but whatever size you decide to break the full size design down into it needs to be consistent for all pieces. That way you know exactly what distance you must move each time between cut files. Third, You must be very methodical and consistent in your moves. It is imperative that you move the material through the machine keeping it square the entire time and don’t get in a rush. Make certain of your alignment before every single cut. good luck and let me know what yall think!!