In MMD 170221, Gordon Ramsey inquires about the use a "Cricut"
die cutting machine in fabricating various parts for player piano
mechanisms.  My response, with some authority, is that this is not
the machine for these tasks.

Cricut cutters have enjoyed popularity in the "cropping" community.
I have a niece who has owned several iterations of these machines, and
I bought one of her "retired" ones with the same thoughts as Gordon is
having.  "Cropping" involves cutting and pasting images to create
custom greeting cards, invitations, thank you cards and the like, and
for this purpose it serves well if not ideally.  My niece produces some
beautiful and creative, professional looking cards, but she is limited
to materials of not much thicker than heavy card stock (0.020" or so.).

Cricut works on a principal known as "drag knife".  You can think of
this as an X-Acto knife blade (similar to a #11) which is pivoted
vertically and "dragged" around the cutting field by an X-Y plotting
gantry.  In my experimentation with the one I have, it was not possible
to make very small holes such as the screw mounting holes in the
typical valve gasket made of blotter paper.  And it would not process
heavier, denser materials such as fiber board for separator disks.

But there's a bigger problem that I don't believe has been solved.
Cricut machines operate with proprietary "software" cartridges that
can only be purchased from Cricut, and contain images that cannot be
edited.  Unless something has changed, you cannot "input" and then cut,
a custom shape which _you_ have created.

This was not always the case.  After the machines first came out,
A company produced a software program called "Sure Cuts A Lot" (SCAL)
that _did_ allow the creation of custom image files that would work
with the cutter.  Cricut was not amused that you no longer had to buy
their image cartridges and filed a patent infringement lawsuit.  They
won, and "Sure Cuts A Lot" was forced off of the market.

Even if you can find a copy of it somewhere, all subsequent machines
have built-in software to recognize and reject attempts to circumvent
their cartridges.  And if your original Cricut has ever had a "firmware"
update, it also will no longer work with SCAL.  Though I haven't
checked recently, if Cricut has, or ever does release a version that
allows custom, customer generated image input, it will still have the
mechanical restrictions mentioned above.

For my money, the better tool for this task is a laser cutting machine.
I am fortunate to have inexpensive access to an 80 watt CO2 laser
cutter with a 2' x 3' cutting area, with which I have been making
custom items for over two years.  I have image "files" for most of the
"popular" valve gaskets.  I can do various poppet "guides" from fiber
board (aka fish paper), and such things as acrylic tempo plates,
expression and regulator "grids" and similar low volume parts.

I also have access to several 3D printers and am gearing up for more
complicated parts such as transmission frames and turn switches.
Whether or not this turns into general production beyond my own
personal needs remains to be seen.  Documentation of existing parts and
creating the necessary CAM/CAD files to operate the various machines is
challenging, as John Tuttle and others have noted.

If Gordon pursues the use of the Cricut cutter, I hope he will share
his experiences with us.  Maybe it will be less challenging than I have
made it out to be.

John Grant