0-120V power supply for a carbidizer?

M

MavKnives

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Oct 23, 2018
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I made my first frame lock, but it has the inevitable lock stick unfortunately. I don't want to spend $400 on a carbidizer if i dont HAVE to. I have a 0-120v dc (0-1a) power supply for anodizing titanium, and i've seen a video on youtube of a guy using the same one at 60v to carbidize the edge of the knife.

Has anyone used a power supply to successfully carbidize without jeopordizing your power supply? I would just use a dremel engraver and old carbide endmills along with the power supply
 
I made one that works great. It costed about $150 CAD to make. If you have any questions let me know. I can email you plans tonight if you want.
 
Stang Bladeworks said:
I made one that works great. It costed about $150 CAD to make. If you have any questions let me know. I can email you plans tonight if you want.
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I was hoping to utilize my anodizing power supply. I've read people using them but they likely had very high amps and almost burnt right through the ti. My supply is only 0-1amp and 0-120v. I was thinking of hooking up dremel engraver to it at around 50-55volts and seeing how it reacts. Best case it works, worse case I have the engraver and have to make a power supply specifically for carbidizing
 
You should be ok. The current is dictated by the voltage and the impedance so it shouldnt matter. As long as you can sustain the voltage while carbidizing you will be ok. I find 40v is good. If your supply is weak use a lower voltage and gradually ramp up until your happy. You can test on scrap steel until your ready. Be sure to use the dremel on the lowest setting.
 
This is exactly what I do. The hardest part is keeping an alligator clip on your engraver. I don't do it often enough to put any effort into finding a better way.
 
Stang Bladeworks said:
You should be ok. The current is dictated by the voltage and the impedance so it shouldnt matter. As long as you can sustain the voltage while carbidizing you will be ok. I find 40v is good. If your supply is weak use a lower voltage and gradually ramp up until your happy. You can test on scrap steel until your ready. Be sure to use the dremel on the lowest setting.
Click to expand...
I've seen one person do it with the same supply on youtube doing an entire kitchen knife edge, I just want to do a lockface to my first frame lock, and then I will likely purchase a dedicated carbidizer in the future when/if i get more orders for them. Mainly so I dont worry about ruining my power supply overtime. Well see how it goes tonight! I figure if it works for the price of the engraver since i have the power supply its worth doing that for the time being!
 
kuraki said:
This is exactly what I do. The hardest part is keeping an alligator clip on your engraver. I don't do it often enough to put any effort into finding a better way.
Click to expand...
You use a 0-120v power supply? I have the TP12001X supply, which i believe is the most common used by knife makers/titanium anodizers
 
I use an ac variac. Then i built a converter box with a bridge rectifier and capacitor to get a smooth dc signal. The variac allows for adjustment and can be cheaply replaced if needed. As far as a gator clip falling off just solder your lead to a drill stop collar and use that with a set screw.
 
Make sure you use a rectifier supplying DC, you don't want to use AC.
I do it just like Derek Stang just wrote.
 
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