Aeronaut's Mikron cutter sets the benchmark for entry level automated cutting systems. It's also tough as old boots.
The Mikron is Aeronaut's entry level cutter and while it costs about the same as other entry level cutters on the market, the Mikron is a truly rugged industrial strength machine.
A quick look at the Mikron tells the story
Unlike other low-cost cutters, the Mikron is fast, accurate, powerful and very low maintenance.
And unlike other low-cost cutters, the Mikron is built from 5 axis CNC machined billet aluminium, rigid anodised aluminum extrusions, stainless steel and engineering grade plastic and the Mikron uses high quality motors, bearings, electronics and pneumatics.
Unlike other low-cost cutters, the Mikron's motion controller is a stand-alone unit connected to the PC via a USB cable. This means that the cutter is independent of the computer. Aeronaut cutters have a very long working life and it doesn't make sense to tie a cutter to a PC which may be obsolete within a few years and which in any case is the cheapest and least reliable link in the chain.
The Mikron also uses stand-alone electronics to drive the motors. In the unlikely event of a drive failure, you only need to replace the one low-cost unit, not the entire control board.
The Mikron features Aeronaut's Cam-lock quick change tooling, so blade changes can be done off the machine and any tool from the Cam-lock range including rotary blade cutters, drag blade knives, creasing tools and drill punches, can be fitted in a matter of seconds.
Unlike on other low-cost cutters,Aeronaut's standard concentric pen holder accurately aligns any marker pen so that seam allowances are accurately placed with reference to cut edges. Almost any size pen from ball points to large felt tip markers can be accommodated without changing tool offsets.
The cutter shaft and pen slide are precision industrial bearings to maintain the same high accuracy over a long working life.
The Mikron uses Aeronaut's Cat drive system which guarantees low maintenance, very low backlash with minimal maintenance and excellent power transfer. The drive system uses oversize 25mm (1 inch) drive belts throughout and is highly resistant to dirty working environments.
The Mikron is designed to fit onto almost any existing cutting table or onto commercial tables such as Phillocraft, Grip-Tex or National vacuum tables. Aeronaut supplies illustrated, simple and easy to understand instructions for installing and commissioning the Mikron cutter and can supply full instructions for building your own vacuum table or converting existing tables into vacuum tables.
Aeronaut can ship the Mikron anywhere in the world for a very reasonable price. To keep costs down, it's expected that people who buy the Mikron will want to do their own vacuum table and installation. For that reason, Aeronaut will not be supplying vacuum tables, installation and training ex-factory.
Aeronaut distributors can supply installation and training as well as additional software and CAD tools.
If you want a full turn-key installation with an Aeronaut supplied vacuum table, then see the Elektron Mono LC and other Aeronaut cutters.
The Mikron cutter is manufactured in cut widths of 1550, 1650 and 1860 and 2020 mms and comes in a standard length of 7.2 metres which can be extended in 1200mm increments.
The Mikron cutter comes bundled with a basic version of Tangent nesting software and we've organised a range of interesting bundles with sail design software and digitising equipment. Please contact Aeronaut sales to get up to date details.
Features
- High performance, high accuracy plotting and cutting.
- Tangentially steered Cam-lock tools with twin instrument ball races for precise cutting.
- +/- 5mm of vertical tool travel, handles uneven table surfaces.
- Low-backlash X axis Cat drive.
- Large size high power micro-stepping drive motors.
- The Mikron takes low cost off-the-shelf pens and blades
- Precision ball slide on pen carriage
- Large diameter precision ball spline on the cutter shaft.
- Self centring pen holder ensures quick changes and accuracy with all marker types.
- Runs from Macintosh or Windows PCs
- Very low maintenance
Advantages
- Heavy duty construction
- Oversize drive belts and motors for long term reliability.
- Cam-lock quick change tooling future proofs your investment.
- Stand-alone motion controller and drive electronics.
- Simple to use