Cutting operations using blades appear in several different industries such as food processing, surgical operations, gardening equipment, and so forth. Many practitioners of cutting operations will notice that it is easier to cut something by pressing and slicing at the same time versus doing each motion individually. They will also notice that certain angles or certain blade geometries make it easier to cut certain materials. As our society continues to increase our technological prowess, there is an ongoing need to better understand the underlying causes of simple tasks such as cutting so that cutting operations can be performed with more precision and accuracy than ever before. For many applications it is not possible to achieve the most optimum cutting force, cutting angle, and push to slice ratio and a compromise must be made in order to ensure the functionality of a cutting device. A means of objectively and efficiently evaluating cutting media is needed in order to determine the optimum parameters such as cutting force, cutting angle, and push to slice ratio for certain applications. The approach taken in this work is to create a testing apparatus that uses standard cutting media and performs controlled cutting operations to determine key parameters to specific cutting operations. Most devices used for performing experimental controlled cutting operations are limited to a single axis of motion, thus not incorporating the effect of the push to slice ratio. The device created and discussed in this paper is capable of performing controlled cutting operations with three axes of motion. It is capable of accurately controlling the depth of cut, push to slice ratio, and angle of cut in order to accurately capture motions seen in typical cutting operations. Each degree of freedom on the device is capable of withstanding up to 1550 N of cutting force while still capable of maintaining smooth motions. The device is capable of controlling the velocity of the push and slice motions up to 34 mm/s. Depth of cut, for both pushing and slicing, the reaction forces, and the angle of cut are all controlled and measured in real-time so that a correlation can be made between them. Data collected by this device will be used to investigate the effects of the push to slice ratio and angle of cut on cutting force and overall quality of cutting operations. Preliminary testing in wood test samples evaluates the effectiveness of the device in collecting cutting data. This device will also be used to validate several finite element analyses used in investigating cutting mechanics.
