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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
CNC restoration, hard-milling knife blades and more!
- Thread starter aarongough
- Start date
Nathan the Machinist
KnifeMaker / Machinist / Evil Genius
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Is that six blades (one tool) in 7.5 hrs, or is that cycle time 7.5 hours per blade? <--- could be read either way...
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it has to be 7.5 hrs for a setup of 6 blades....1.25 hours each blade, pretty sure Aaron has a 6 blade fixture setup and the "cycle" to complete the set = 7.5 hours
as you know, 7.5 hrs per blade would be incredibly slow (even at that hardness) and no longer economical,
Frankly IMO, 1.25 hrs isn't that economical even at a bargain machine rate of say $45 per hour machine time.... but I know, it's unmanned, he gets to do other stuff while running it etc etc. And I think Aaron enjoys the tinkering and problem solving
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I like seeing your process.
But for production water jet and a grinding jig for that design would allow a lot more blades with less cost and less time.
Have you ever thought of doing a different design that could be advantages by using a mill?
But for production water jet and a grinding jig for that design would allow a lot more blades with less cost and less time.
Have you ever thought of doing a different design that could be advantages by using a mill?
Nathan the Machinist
KnifeMaker / Machinist / Evil Genius
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2007
- Messages
- 17,505
it has to be 7.5 hrs for a setup of 6 blades....1.25 hours each blade, pretty sure Aaron has a 6 blade fixture setup and the "cycle" to complete the set = 7.5 hours
as you know, 7.5 hrs per blade would be incredibly slow (even at that hardness) and no longer economical,
Frankly IMO, 1.25 hrs isn't that economical even at a bargain machine rate of say $45 per hour machine time.... but I know, it's unmanned, he gets to do other stuff while running it etc etc. And I think Aaron enjoys the tinkering and problem solving
Well yeah, that math doesn't work well for a commercial enterprise, but it can work okay for an individual. Lets say someone is making two knives a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year. If a person can make (and sell and ship) 500 knives a year he'd be making more knives than most makers on this forum and earning a decent living doing it. Utilizing a machine that's paid for. *shrug*
A mill doesn't need to produce insane output to work. It's probably not the bottleneck in the operation.
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It's "single workpiece flow"it has to be 7.5 hrs for a setup of 6 blades....1.25 hours each blade, pretty sure Aaron has a 6 blade fixture setup and the "cycle" to complete the set = 7.5 hours
Multi stations on the fixture, they all get some ops and need to be held differently at different times.
At the end of the cycle, you move them all to the right, so you put a new blank one in position 1, move 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, and 4 is ready for hand finishing/glue up.
The other stations on the fixture are for handle bits. Same idea.
One finished piece for 7.5 hours, not six