Hi - I am looking to cut some nylon ripstop for a lamp project I am working on. I am trying to avoid a rolled seam at the top and bottom by cutting with a hot knife and sealing the fabric in the same process.
Is there a hot knife cutter in the space? or does anyone have one I can borrow? Or able to give me some advice. Thanks in advance!
I don’t think there is a proper hot knife.
You could use the laser cutter. Otherwise you could borrow a lighter.
They’re also useful for marine fabrics. Sailrite are my goto for guides and they use hot knife cutters. I feel a tool proposal coming on… but it would also need a suitable cutting surface and risk assessment to use in the space. I’m unable to look into this for a couple of weeks.
Have you thought about using the blade attachment on a soldering iron?
Absolutely no plastics on the soldering irons please (sorry to jump in).
The heat set/ plastic welding iron does not have a blade attachment. You could make one.
Some interesting ideas - thank you. I have a TS100 solder pencil with an additional element to heat and push threaded inserts into plastic… Then I bought some small brass blades I thought would screw into the element (unfortunately I need to machine an adapter first). However I suspect the soldering pencil approach would be practical for short cuts only. For 1-2m marine fabric I would prefer the cutter Sailrite use, it has a larger curved blade.
For clarity; I’m not suggesting a 110V US cutter, I just follow Sailrite (USA) because they publish some great how-to guides.
PS: I remember now, I was making boat curtains with some synthetic fabric. After cutting it with scissors, random threads would break from the edge even with very careful handling.
I tried a wedge shaped cutting blade that came with a portable gas soldering iron. While I only need the lowest setting for soldering, even with the iron roaring it wouldn’t cut the fabric cleanly. It kept catching, I felt it wasn’t hot and/or smooth enough
Use the laser. Im assuming its a lightweight ripstop?
A hot knife 1. wont give you the accuracy/clean edge 2. They’re quite a fire/injury hazard and produce a lot of fumes when cutting so would require fume extraction.
Very handy for cutting webbings though! I have one.
The laser is your best bet - If youd like some help drop me a message 