Criticism? First folder/ acrylic model. WIP

[hlcourt]

Hey guys, I'm new here and saw a post yesterday where a maker modeled a folder in acrylic to test out the fit. I've been playing around with a design for awhile, it's pretty interesting and I think it looks like a whale. The darker parts on the handle are where a chamfer would be cut and the scales. Would be contoured.

After drawing this, I went and bought a small sheet of acrylic, copied the paper and cut out templates for the blade and scales. Then, I glued them onto the acrylic and rough cut them with my jigsaw (highly unreccomended. I would have used my bandsaw but we lost the key and I didn't want to have to deal with hot wiring it again. I then drilled the pivot hole and quickly learned that acrylic needs slow speed drilling (notice the crack near the pivot). Next, I bolted the scales together and clamped them in my bench to smooth out with my angle grinder. (I really need a belt grinder) I didn't expect the acrylic to sand so quickly and ended up with the scales way too smal for the blade. So, I clamped my grinder sideways in the bench so the open wheel faced me. It was much easier to profile the blade to a much smaller size. The model looks similar but much smaller than I envisioned... The swedge also needs to come up the handle. More. Like in the drawing.

I didn't model the lock or stop pin because this was just for seeing how it fits together and where those comments need to be. Once I get some more time I'll probably follow this up with a better and more accur
Let me know your thought/ criticism/ advice! Thanks!

 

[Robert L Sr]

 

[Greenberg Woods]

Personally i would take out that hollow from the belly and bring the tip down a little more to make it more usable.

 

[Varga Knives]

That's some serious acrylic abuse! Angle grinder, really? Lol. You'd be better off with a hack saw and files. Before you try another template I'd suggest you work out the drawing a little more then go to cardboard (not corrugated).

It sure does look like a whale! A couple of things to consider are the lockbar and stop pin. Also, the bevel height is not realistic even with a full distal taper. Put a little belly in the blade.

Keep at it. Redraw again and again.

 

[NC Biker]

Yeah, acrylic modeling may not be the best choice. With the software available today, I find computer modeling to be ideal for folding knives. You don't need to use CAD, but simple two dimenional drawing programs like Illustrator, or Coreldraw work just fine. There are even some free programs like Gimp that will work, or an older version of Coreldraw can be gotten on ebay rather cheap. Learning the software is not too difficult and there are lots of tutorials online to help you out.

Here is an example of a friction folder design modeled using Coreldraw:

[video=youtube;ucmvvqI0TO8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucmvvqI0TO8[/video]

 

[hlcourt]

Yeah, acrylic modeling may not be the best choice. With the software available today, I find computer modeling to be ideal for folding knives. You don't need to use CAD, but simple two dimenional drawing programs like Illustrator, or Coreldraw work just fine. There are even some free programs like Gimp that will work, or an older version of Coreldraw can be gotten on ebay rather cheap. Learning the software is not too difficult and there are lots of tutorials online to help you out.
]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the input. I know how to use CAD but my program wouldn't let me set a pivot for some reason so I opted for hand drawing and then using card stock paper before the acrylic

 

[hlcourt]

That's some serious acrylic abuse! Angle grinder, really? Lol. You'd be better off with a hack saw and files. Before you try another template I'd suggest you work out the drawing a little more then go to cardboard (not corrugated).

It sure does look like a whale! A couple of things to consider are the lockbar and stop pin. Also, the bevel height is not realistic even with a full distal taper. Put a little belly in the blade.

Keep at it. Redraw again and again.

Thank you, yeah, I didn't realize how much material my grinder would take off. Not super smart of me... And yes my next step was to figure out lockbar and stop pin. I was just working on kpgetting the most blade into the handle that I could, sorry i didn't respond sooner. I've been off the forums all weekend because I've had a project. But I really really appreciate the input, thank you!