• The rules for The Exchange can be found here. Please read and follow them. Stop using Paypal Friends & Family and follow our best practices to prevent getting ripped off or having a bad deal.

Emerson ThumbDiscs in G10

BOOMER52

BOOMER52

Feedback: 46 / 0 / 0
Joined
Feb 27, 2013
Messages
1,048
I just received my latest tooling order and in that I purchased some 1mm diamond burr end mills. These are the smallest diameter mills I have ever bought. I thought to ATTEMPT to design and machine some G10 thumb discs as these have been a frequent request.

I spent some time last night with my CAD application trying to come up with some test designs. The fact that these are going to be milled from sheet stock rather than machined from rod stock which I believe is the typical approach... I may be biting off more than my machine can chew. These thumb discs are rather tiny. I oversized them ala Pete Grey's Monster Discs but they still are very small. Most if not all the discs available out there have a frictive texture on the circumference edge... such as knurling. I will not be able to achieve that. My circumference edge will be a smooth milled surface... with the frictive nature inherent in the discs profile design.

I whipped out two different profiles and two upper surface texture designs for my MK I first attempt versions. Not certain when I'll get a chance to slot these into the current order backlog... but I'll absolutely post up the results... GOOD... BAD... or UGLY...!

KM8LN4F.jpg
 
Those look awesome! I really like the one with the small gears on the far right, let us know when they're up for sale, do you have more colors planned? Some gold ones would be great for me. Good job!!
 
I too like the small gear one on the far right with the smooth groves on top and not crazy about the knurled top let us know when they are available ? Thank you. Ed
 
Last edited:
OK... managed to find a bit of time to machine up a few of the G10 Emerson thumb discs. Learned a bunch... not all good... but that's knowledge in the bank!

These things are really small and push the limits of my CNC and tooling. The machine is capable... however I'm not certain the TIME required to mill these makes a lot of sense. For what they could sell for may not be the best use of shop and CNC time.

I think the best approach will be to batch machine whatever number can be nested onto a sheet of G10 and create inventory as time and material allows. Machining on request is not the correct business model with these discs.

From here I'll tweak the design slightly. The screw hole needs a slightly larger chamfer to flush up the Phillips head... and that's about it.

I did a SEMPER FI disc as a lark... just wanted to see how tight the machine was...!
More as it happens...

XorjVRW.jpg

90WV8t5.jpg

Kp3GS82.jpg

bIfnJtt.jpg

iwSbwTl.jpg

YfSiSjc.jpg
 
Last edited:
Dang man, those are sick! I mean, awesome; I'm not really a fan of the toxic green but the discs are looking good for sure. I agree with you in making a batch instead of one by one; also that is some impressive detail for a hobby CNC machine, you certainly know your way with it; excellent job indeed. Thanks for posting the update.
 
Totally cool my man. Those should be popular. I think it looks the countersink is a little shallow on the first two. Although it seems there may not be much more material to remove.
 
I am so tired, I thought the picture above was a wacky home made Emerson butter fly knife Then I realized it was a clamp.
I am losing it.
 
I also think you should run by batches to keep the cost low which more affordable for us. And since you doing the dumb discs why not backspacer? Just sayin ;)
 
BLK said:
I also think you should run by batches to keep the cost low which more affordable for us. And since you doing the dumb discs why not backspacer? Just sayin ;)
Click to expand...
Yeah... for what these are... tiny little cogged discs of .090" G10... the cost will be just about four times the cost of a stamp. Gray Precision Ti thumb discs are a quality product at $15.00 and the fact that the machining times are probably the same for G10 and Ti... the price point is material driven. No contest there... and I'd be doing Ti if I had the capability.

I actually do machine back spacers for several knife models and recently responded in another thread with regards to those wanting back spacers for the newer standoff CQC-7...
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1256335-No-more-Emerson-Back-Spacer/page2
 
BOOMER52 said:
Yeah... for what these are... tiny little cogged discs of .090" G10... the cost will be just about four times the cost of a stamp. Gray Precision Ti thumb discs are a quality product at $15.00 and the fact that the machining times are probably the same for G10 and Ti... the price point is material driven. No contest there... and I'd be doing Ti if I had the capability.

I actually do machine back spacers for several knife models and recently responded in another thread with regards to those wanting back spacers for the newer standoff CQC-7...
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1256335-No-more-Emerson-Back-Spacer/page2
Click to expand...

Everyone's doing Ti which makes G10 more unique, imo. CF is a option down the road I'm sure a lot EKI fans would love to try that. I can see a small batch testing run very soon. ;)

Did you get those dimensions for the 7 backspacer?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top