CNC Milled custom Blades

C

CJ882

Joined
Apr 30, 2013
Messages
1
I am trying to find someone that can produce blades using either a CNC machine or the water jet method.

I've been watching this Forum far a while now and have some ideas on blades I'd like to get made. If you know of anyone, please let me know.

Thanks
SC
 
Just so you're aware, a water jet is only really good for profiling the shape of your blades. You'll still have to machine your bevels into them somehow. The cut edges will also need to be refined, then you'll still need to heat treat and do final sanding/polishing, attach handles, etc...

In other words, a waterjet is really only beneficial if you have a complex (2D) design, or if you're having a lot made. Otherwise, I'd save the money and just cut them out the "old school" way.

A CNC mill can get you much closer to your 3d design, including bevels and other details, but it's going to cost significantly more than waterjet. You'll still need heat treat, some final finishing (to what degree depends on the competency of the machinist, quality of the machine, methods used, etc..), final assembly, etc...

Are you wanting to do some of the work yourself? Or are you looking for a finished knife delivered to your door? You may be better off just commissioning a knife maker to make the knife/knives for you if the latter. A knife maker who's looking for some work will likely be a bit lower on price than a machine shop who's not looking for work, and you'll probably get a better end product besides.
 
P.Brewster said:
As someone with expertise in this field, can you expand on this?
Click to expand...

There's an incredible boom in demand and shortage of capacity right now in all manufacturing near as I can tell, but particularly in welding and machining. Not enough people to fill open spaces. Work, profitable work, being turned away by a lot of shops because they simply can't do everything available to them.

I'd hire 30 people this month if I could find them. If I get 15 this year I'll be ecstatic.

The upside is that this is raising prices and wages, which have been stagnant for some time. Since the late 90s really depending on the area.
 
I can’t speak for kuraki, but around here, most or all of the well established shops stay plenty busy with their regular customers like the local mills and other industrials. If and when they can fit your job in, you’re probably not getting a discount. Something like a finished knife is gonna eat up some billable shop time, I would imagine. I would also imagine your hourly rate being quite a bit higher than what the average knifemaker charges (which is somewhere around $2.75 an hour, amirightguys??).
 
P.Brewster said:
As someone with expertise in this field, can you expand on this?
Click to expand...
I regularly get calls from recruiters for manufacturing operations management jobs and see many openings on a consistent basis for skilled operators, which tells me that there is a skilled labor shortage.

kuraki kuraki , I haven't seen salary increases yet in the SoCal region. In general I tell the recruiters to tell their clients they need to pay more.
 
Do what a lot of makers do, contact Weknife.

They are set up to do exactly that.
 
knife to a gunfight said:
I can’t speak for kuraki, but around here, most or all of the well established shops stay plenty busy with their regular customers like the local mills and other industrials. If and when they can fit your job in, you’re probably not getting a discount. Something like a finished knife is gonna eat up some billable shop time, I would imagine. I would also imagine your hourly rate being quite a bit higher than what the average knifemaker charges (which is somewhere around $2.75 an hour, amirightguys??).
Click to expand...

$78.50/hr for the machine I'd put that on fwiw.

HSC /// said:
I regularly get calls from recruiters for manufacturing operations management jobs and see many openings on a consistent basis for skilled operators, which tells me that there is a skilled labor shortage.

kuraki kuraki , I haven't seen salary increases yet in the SoCal region. In general I tell the recruiters to tell their clients they need to pay more.
Click to expand...

I just got wage data for my area. From 16 to 17 machinists went up 12% and welders 20%. I expect to see them go up the same or more in 17-18. We're rolling out a new compensation package this week that includes more pay, more PTO, and now covering 100% of deductibles on our health insurance.
 
Sounds about in line with prices around here. I wanna say the last quote I was given by a machinist a while back was around $75 per hour.
I’m sure quotes will vary from shop to shop, but so will the hours put in to complete the project. That $25/hr quote sounds great, until you learn it took 18 hours to do what the $75/hr shop would have done in 3. :D

kuraki said:
$78.50/hr for the machine I'd put that on fwiw.



I just got wage data for my area. From 16 to 17 machinists went up 12% and welders 20%. I expect to see them go up the same or more in 17-18. We're rolling out a new compensation package this week that includes more pay, more PTO, and now covering 100% of deductibles on our health insurance.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, and then depending on the type of shop you have to consider what they're billing hours for. Generally we're not billing for non-value add, ie programming, setup, special tools. Because we're quoting multiple parts per order/multiple orders per year.

The $25/hr guy is likely always quoting one off work and he's shooting out a rough guess at total time invested.
 
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