Cutting machine having roller blade guide

摘要

A cutting machine having a table on which multi-ply layups of sheet material are positioned during cutting operations utilizes a reciprocating cutting blade that is suspended in cantilevered fashion above the table and lowered into cutting engagement with the material during cutting. The sheet material and blade are moved relative to one another while the blade is oriented to remain tangent to predefined cutting paths followed through the material. A blade guide is mounted in a presser foot which slides over the material, and several guide rollers in the blade guide engage the sides and trailing edge of the blade to control blade positioning immediately above the sheet material.