Media cutter and slicer mechanism for a printer

A printer for creating specialty-sized prints where media is advanced through the printer in a media advancement direction, the printer comprising:

• a printing mechanism configured to place a desired print on the media;
• a cutter mechanism configured to cut the media transverse to the media advancement direction;
• and
• a slicing mechanism configured to cut the media parallel to the media advancement direction, wherein the slicing mechanism includes a slicer module having a blade configured to selectively engage advancing media, and an actuation mechanism configured to rotate a cam to push against a contact spring of the slicer module thereby urging the blade into contact with the advancing media, wherein the contact spring is a leaf spring.

A media trimmer for a printer, comprising:

• an input roller for driving media through the printer along a media pathway;
• a cutter mechanism positioned along the media pathway to cut media received from the input roller;
• a slicer mechanism adjacent the cutter mechanism along the media pathway, the slicer mechanism being positioned to slice media after the cutter mechanism;
• the slicer mechanism having at least a first cam and a second cam on a common camshaft, and at least a first slicer module and a second slicer module, corresponding to the first cam and second cam respectively, the first slicer module being interposed the first cam and the media and the second slicer module being interposed the second cam and the media, such that each slicer module is selectively individually actuable upon rotation of the camshaft;
• an output roller configured to pull the media from the slicer mechanism;
• and
• a motor configured to position the camshaft such that the first cam is in a contact position and the second cam is in a non-contact position, where in the contact position the first slicer module engages and slices media and where in the non-contact position the second slicer module does not engage media.

A media trimmer for a printer, comprising:

• an input roller for driving media through the printer along a media pathway;
• a cutter mechanism positioned along the media pathway to cut media received from the input roller;
• a slicer mechanism adjacent the cutter mechanism along the media pathway, the slicer mechanism being positioned to slice media after the cutter mechanism;
• the slicer mechanism having at least a first cam and a second cam on a common camshaft, and at least a first slicer module and a second slicer module, corresponding to the first cam and second cam respectively, the first slicer module being interposed between the first cam and the media and the second slicer module being interposed between the second cam and the media, such that each slicer module is selectively individually actuable upon rotation of the camshaft;
• an output roller configured to pull the media from the slicer mechanism;
• and
• a motor configured to position the camshaft such that the first cam is in a contact position and the second cam is in a contact position, where in the contact position the first slicer module and second slicer module simultaneously engage and slice the media in two positions.

A media slicer mechanism for a printer comprising:

• a media advancement mechanism adapted to direct a media web through the slicer mechanism;
• a plurality of cams on a common shaft, where at least one of the cams is selectively positioned such that rotation of the common shaft aligns the at least one cam in a contact position;
• a motor attached to the common shaft configured to move the at least one cam between the contact position and a non-contact position;
• a plurality of blade holders interposed between the plurality of cams and the media web, where at least one blade holder has a blade and a contact spring, where when the at least one cam is in the contact position, the at least one cam engages the contact spring of the at least one blade holder which is actuated to slice the media web.