Carbidizer DIY

Stang Bladeworks

Stang Bladeworks

Joined
Feb 19, 2018
Messages
660
I have been looking into tooling up to make framelocks lately and I have been having a hard time finding a carbidizer. The ones I can find are backordered and cost $600ish. I figured I would build one. I have found bits and pieces of info around the web but have not been able to find a complete tutorial.

I plan to design and build a simple carbidizer for around $200 CAD and post up a detailed build along here.

Before I can post i need to make sure it works. I plan to test it for both carbidizing and anodizing. I have purchased all the parts and I plan to get building soon. Im not ready to make framelocks yet and all the knives I own are devoid of lockstick. I am hoping someone has something with bad lockstick that they can send to me to get carbidized. I am willing to carbidize and anodize free of charge for the purpose of making this tutorial. I will ship the knife back to you when its done.

Obviously this is my first attempt and with a new machine so there are no guarantees. Im looking for a cheap knife with bad lock stick. Maybe a chinese clone or something similar.

If no one feels comfortable with this I would be willing to buy a knife of somebody but my budget would be $30ish. Maybe I could do a giveaway here once its done.

Let me know what you think and if this tutorial would be of value to anyone.
 
I think I might have what you're looking for. Of course, I'm not too clear on laws y'all have on shipping certain knives across the border. Post your email on my profile & I'll hit ya back with the info.
 
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Just a heads up... make sure to anodize then carbidize (or mask the carbidizing during ano), otherwise the carbide will react during anodizing;).

~Chip
 
I have built the carbidizer and it seems to work. I have tested it on some scrap cpm154. When I test it with a file it skates. The surface is noticeably harder. The steel is in an unhardened state. I tried testing it with my rockwell tester and it only yields 20ish hrc but its not an even surface so the readings are not exact. Based on the file test it seems much harder. Based on my research it seems it should be 70hrc. I assume the underlying media affects the readings. The steel is unhardened and measured much lower before the carbidizing. I am hopeful that it will serve to remove lock stick. If i get some scrap titanium i will run some more tests to see the hrc boost. I have a video of the unit up on my instagram. I have some anodizing stuff coming in the mail so I should be ready to test the full functionality soon. Once I am sure it works I will post a tutorial on how to build one in a cost effective manner.

My annealed steel didnt even register on the c scale so if I can get a similar boost out of the titanium it should work great. I know its more complex than that but for now all I can do is hope it works out. I will update when I know more. I hope this eventually helps someone.
 
valknut said:
Found this on YouTube seems super simple and cheap
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This looks like a good method. I hope that when mine is done it will work for anodizing as well. In order to do the anodizing you need fine adjustment of the voltage. My cost has been a bit higher because i am learning along the way and I live in Canada so things are a bit more expensive on average. I would guess it would cost 100 to 200 usd to build my version. I will include a detailed parts list once I have everything sorted.
 
Dogdrawz said:
I think I might have what you're looking for. Of course, I'm not too clear on laws y'all have on shipping certain knives across the border. Post your email on my profile & I'll hit ya back with the info.
Click to expand...
Just a heads up. I just got the knife and if all goes well i should be able to start working on it this weekend.
 
Sweet! I'll be doing a first time DIY annodizing this weekend. I gotta extra FF Crux that needs some flare. Good luck to us all!
 
Dogdrawz said:
Sweet! I'll be doing a first time DIY annodizing this weekend. I gotta extra FF Crux that needs some flare. Good luck to us all!
Click to expand...
This is what I ended up with. Its a light blue ano tumbled. I was also able to carbidize the lock. The stick is much better. Still if you go full tilt it will stick a bit. Let me know what you think.

20190310_161122.jpg
 
Stang Bladeworks said:
I have been looking into tooling up to make framelocks lately and I have been having a hard time finding a carbidizer. The ones I can find are backordered and cost $600ish. I figured I would build one. I have found bits and pieces of info around the web but have not been able to find a complete tutorial.

I plan to design and build a simple carbidizer for around $200 CAD and post up a detailed build along here.

Before I can post i need to make sure it works. I plan to test it for both carbidizing and anodizing. I have purchased all the parts and I plan to get building soon. Im not ready to make framelocks yet and all the knives I own are devoid of lockstick. I am hoping someone has something with bad lockstick that they can send to me to get carbidized. I am willing to carbidize and anodize free of charge for the purpose of making this tutorial. I will ship the knife back to you when its done.

Obviously this is my first attempt and with a new machine so there are no guarantees. Im looking for a cheap knife with bad lock stick. Maybe a chinese clone or something similar.

If no one feels comfortable with this I would be willing to buy a knife of somebody but my budget would be $30ish. Maybe I could do a giveaway here once its done.

Let me know what you think and if this tutorial would be of value to anyone.
Click to expand...

Check this video out you might like it. It has some good info on this subject.

 
Mine is a cheap one like fhe hf one. I think i might try to anodize the knife again. The finish isnt perfect. If you have a color preference let me know. Or if you like it as is let me know where to send it back to.
 
Keep working on it if you feel you need to. I'm in no rush to get it back. Still no preference on color.
 
Saw the vids & pics. Sah-weeeet! The color is awesome. Is it the gold/yellow around the 50v margin? You can return it to the return address on the box I shipped to you. If you don't still have it, I can PM the address.
 
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