teacherben

So you’re right that the trapezoidal piece is what mounts it. I cut a circular hole into it that was just a tiny bit too small. Then I cut a slot from the hole to the edge of the wood so that when I inserted the nibbler and squeezed that slot shut there was some clamping force to hold it in place. I recommend you watch Izzy Swan’s video on YouTube as that’s what mine is based on. I just simplified it and made it fit on the B&D workmate. Once you see his video (it’s a more complicated build) mine will make more sense. I’ve got 4 workmates in the makerspace and have all sorts of custom things that I’ve built to fit on them—bike repair mount, router table, sanding down draft table... they are so handy because the tools and the workmates can hang on the wall until I need them. Good luck …

So you’re right that the trapezoidal piece is what mounts it. I cut a circular hole into it that was just a tiny bit too small. Then I cut a slot from the hole to the edge of the wood so that when I inserted the nibbler and squeezed that slot shut there was some clamping force to hold it in place. I recommend you watch Izzy Swan’s video on YouTube as that’s what mine is based on. I just simplified it and made it fit on the B&D workmate. Once you see his video (it’s a more complicated build) mine will make more sense. I’ve got 4 workmates in the makerspace and have all sorts of custom things that I’ve built to fit on them—bike repair mount, router table, sanding down draft table... they are so handy because the tools and the workmates can hang on the wall until I need them. Good luck with your build. I’ve seen a bunch of people make them similar to mine and people have been having a lot of fun with them...

Great instructable. Using it with my students (grade 3) and having them cut their own blocks with small hand saws. Can you please check the URLs and see if you can relocate the resources you included? They could be very handy.

Accucur can do custom dies but they’re not cheap. I use a company called Oliverco. in Singapore as they are just up the road from me. Very affordable. Great customer service. They will turn a napkin drawing into a die if you can’t do the designs yourself. Might ship internationally if you ask nicely.

Love how the pieces fit together. Nice touch.

Accucut does custom dies: https://accucut.com/pages/custom-dies but they aren't cheap. I live in Singapore where I use a company called Oliverco (https://www.oliverco.com.sg/). They have been great. I can send them a doodle written on a napkin and they will turn it into a die for me and a few days. For the above project I got them to do a whole bunch of different cam shapes. I bet you can find someone similar in most big cities, but they might be tricky to find. Their clientele will mostly be for boxes mostly... Pizza boxes, stuff like that. I will post another couple of Instructables soon that will feature some more dies I have had made for me.

I just bought 1600 Citiblocs for my school, sold on the claims of absolute precision manufacturing and it turns out they aren't so perfect after all. In just about any handful of planks you can easily see differences. Good on you for making them yourself.

It cuts very smoothly--surprisingly cleanly, particularly with more rigid material. PP plastic sheets came out great. Thin wood (a lot of tongue depressors) very clean. Dry flat cardboard is great. But if your cardboard is coming from a box that has been dented and kicked around a bit or absorbed moisture, it might tear a bit. I'm in Singapore so the cardboard absorbs some moisture and gets a bit mushy... it feels dry to the touch but isn't as rigid. That's not so good to cut and can actually clog up the nibbler.

The maximum thickness is 3mm. The cutter is 6mm wide. So a 30mm piece of material cut in half will give you two 12mm pieces.

You will want the nibbler to just barely poke up and I think you wouldn't want any gap around it. I wouldn't go buying a router table for this... If you have one, maybe take a look. This build only took a couple hours though and there are lots of ways to include the kids in the process. Makes for a nice family activity on a weekend afternoon. Let me know if you try.

I need to experiment to work out how high we can go before it gets wobbly. I started with an 18cm prototype and the 3 teachers so far chose to stick with the same measurements.

Please do.