Micro-cutting machine for forming cuts in products
First Claim
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1. A method of cutting a plurality of cuts along a length of a stock material to form a product, comprising the steps of:
- (a) moving the stock material to a first position along an X-axis;
(b) moving a first cutting member to a first Y-axis location and a second cutting member to a second Y-axis location to create one or more relative gap distances between the first cutting member and the second cutting member;
(c) moving the first cutting member and the second cutting member along a Z-axis while maintaining the one or more relative gap distances to cut into the stock material to form each pair of opposing cuts among the plurality of cuts and a resultant beam having one or more widths approximately equal to the one or more relative gap distances;
(d) controlling an angle of the stock material; and
(e) moving the stock material to a subsequent X-axis location;
(f) repeating steps (b) through (e) until each pair of cuts has been formed; and
(g) rotating the angle of the stock material based upon a desired variance in anticipation of each of the subsequent X-axis locations.
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Abstract
Micro-cutting machines for forming cuts in catheters, guidewires, and similar products, are disclosed, including a micro-cutting machine that can directly control the dimensions of the resultant beams being cut into products, and that can capture images of each cut for feedback control and accuracy verification.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of cutting a plurality of cuts along a length of a stock material to form a product, comprising the steps of:
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(a) moving the stock material to a first position along an X-axis; (b) moving a first cutting member to a first Y-axis location and a second cutting member to a second Y-axis location to create one or more relative gap distances between the first cutting member and the second cutting member; (c) moving the first cutting member and the second cutting member along a Z-axis while maintaining the one or more relative gap distances to cut into the stock material to form each pair of opposing cuts among the plurality of cuts and a resultant beam having one or more widths approximately equal to the one or more relative gap distances; (d) controlling an angle of the stock material; and (e) moving the stock material to a subsequent X-axis location; (f) repeating steps (b) through (e) until each pair of cuts has been formed; and (g) rotating the angle of the stock material based upon a desired variance in anticipation of each of the subsequent X-axis locations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification