CAD work

jdm61

jdm61

itinerant metal pounder
Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Messages
47,357
What is the least painful (read costly) way to get blades scanned into a CAD file for stuff like waterjet cutting?
 
Usually if you have all the exact measurements on you hand drawn sketch and scan it the water jet company can convert it or find someone with cad...
 
Iv got some experience drawing blades on cad for waterjet feel free to pm me if i can help we can work something out.
 
Check with the water jet company, I just send a scan of the blade with a tape measure next to it, I just set the blade and tape on the scanner and make a PDF, or Jpeg. They can usually scan this into their machine to do the cut out. I have never sent a CADD file.
 
Make a kydex, plexiglass or G10 model of what you want made and send it to your waterjet source.
Any good shop can reverse design and verify geometry before machining.
Fixed blades are less painful than folders but generating a clean usable CAD file is not the place to scrimp.
 
I have sent cardboard cut-out patterns as well as drawings. Never had a problem. Making knives is what I do.......Converting these to CAD for their system is what they do.
 
bladsmth said:
I have sent cardboard cut-out patterns as well as drawings. Never had a problem. Making knives is what I do.......Converting these to CAD for their system is what they do.
Click to expand...

cardboard or paper patterns are not as accurate as a template made from plexiglass, kydex, g 10 or even 1/16" aluminum sheet. if you draw out a pattern and use a sharpie, the chances of that part being exactly what you want are slim to none. it is a lot easier to make a duplicate from a 3 dimensional pattern compared to a drawing or cardboard cutout. you might get by if you are maknig a fixed blade and send in a cardboard pattern.

if you make a template of a folder for example from any of the materials H2Oknife mentioned and the template is exactly what you want and all the dimensions are correct, the parts you get will be correct. if any of YOUR dimensions are off when you make the template, then the parts you get will be off so it is important to make sure YOU are satisfied with what you send in to get waterjet cut.

if you want a pattern to be made a little bit oversize for cleanup, you need to specify that. any holes that need to be reamed need to be cut undersize to allow for final hole reaming.
 
Thanks for the input, guys. One of my concerns is this. I may want to do a couple of versions of the same model, say one with a spear point and one with a clip point. What MUST remain the same are the handle dimensions so that if I get to the point where I am CNC'ing the scales, i can do one size for any model. Can changes of that type be easily made once you get the thing scanned into the system?
 
To my knowledge they do not create a CADD file, maybe they can create a CADD file?? The way it was explained to me is all files get converted to a special file that provide the movement of the waterjet. The answere to your question based on my experience is no, you need to have a template for each type of blade you want. I did 3 different sizes of chef knifes but with the same handle, I just drew the largest on paper, made copies and then modified the blade of each leaving the handle the same. They came out fine.

In my experience you need to leave more material, the edge is not a finished edge and has a slight angle, water jet gets it close but not finished and also I do not have the water jet cut my pin holes, it makes a small mark where I drill the pin holes myself.
 
jdm61 said:
Thanks for the input, guys. One of my concerns is this. I may want to do a couple of versions of the same model, say one with a spear point and one with a clip point.
Click to expand...

You may be able to "cheat" by only making one spear-point prototype, perhaps slightly over-size, and having all your blades cut like that. When you want to do a clip-point version, it will only take seconds to grind it down to final profile... they're probably going to need a little clean-up anyway. Everything else will of course be very, very close to the same, allowing you to machine all the scales and bolsters/guards etc. to the same dimensions.

It takes a little away from the efficiency of having them WJ profiled, but then again it should balance out by saving a little cash and only having one large order cut, rather than two or more smaller ones with different set-ups. It also gives you a lot more flexibility for offering blade options, without inventorying every possible style... (what if you sell out of spear-points and are stuck with a big pile of clip-points no one wants?)

That's my theory and plan for a similar project, anyway.
 
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