Help me find the right equipment

razormaker

razormaker

Joined
Mar 6, 2015
Messages
99
I am looking for a piece of equipment to cut patterns in steel and micarta. I don't have 100k for a full size waterjet or wire EDM, or the space for it. I am looking for a small shop solution to cut blade shapes in steel, handle materials in titanium and micarta.

I'm sure there are production knife makers here who have better than the rudimentary hack saw and grinder to cut blades with. Any advice on type of equipment and specific brands and models will be appreciated.

Thanks
 
You can get a metal bandsaw from Harbor freight for about 200 and leave it in the vertical position. Grizzly sells several levels of metal cutting vertal bandsaws.
 
Robert L Sr said:
You can get a metal bandsaw from Harbor freight for about 200 and leave it in the vertical position. Grizzly sells several levels of metal cutting vertal bandsaws.
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I have a metal bandsaw. I am looking for time saving and precision. I use a waterjet company to cut blades but I am looking for more flexibility.
 
If there was a cheap solution, I suppose we'd all have one.

How much are you looking to spend? You can get something like a Tormach for around 10k or so (probably closer to 15k by the time you get some basic tooling and accessories). You might be able to find a benchtop CNC mill or even a converted knee mill for 10k or less on the used market.
Then there's "light duty" CNC kits and smaller benchtop machines for around 5k, though they probably won't cut metal very well (other than aluminum). I suppose you could try taking very light cuts, but it will take forever.

Water jet isn't too friendly for g10 and micarta, by the way. It can be done, but few shops want to deal with it that I'm aware of.
 
Thanks for the info. You are right, if it was easy snd cheap, everyone would be doing it.

You do very creative work, I'm impressed.
 
Really CNC is what you want. You have to walk that fine like between being capable enough to cut steel and being affordable enough to actually acquire. I doubt you get there under $5k though unless you buy used and do a lot of research. You could always take something like a manual Grizzly mill and do a DIY cnc conversion. You'll have to decide if you want to invest the time going that route though vs getting something turnkey.
 
A $200 plasma cutter such as the Cut50 will make quick work of blade shapes. I just bought one, and am glad I did. If you want CNC, build yourself a table. It can be used for plasma or a router.
 
razormaker said:
Thanks for the info. You are right, if it was easy snd cheap, everyone would be doing it.

You do very creative work, I'm impressed.
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Thank you for the kind words.

I too have been wanting to get some more capable equipment in the shop, but as you can well imagine, it doesn't come cheap. I have a lathe and a knee mill already, but even just converting them over to CNC would be several times the cost of what I paid for them. In the mean time, subbing out the occasional waterjet job will just have to do I suppose, until I save up enough pennies to either buy a used CNC, or convert one of my machines.
 
Has anyone tried mounting a plasma cutter on a freehand frame. Kind of like a cnc without the drives? This came to mind after I read this and I might give it a shot as I have a few linear bearings and slides laying around. It might not be as precice as a cnc but the hieght and angle would be constant. It would seem to give you a little more control. Maybe even set it up where you had a pointer to trace a lexan or plywood cutout.
 
Robert L Sr said:
Has anyone tried mounting a plasma cutter on a freehand frame. Kind of like a cnc without the drives? This came to mind after I read this and I might give it a shot as I have a few linear bearings and slides laying around. It might not be as precice as a cnc but the hieght and angle would be constant. It would seem to give you a little more control. Maybe even set it up where you had a pointer to trace a lexan or plywood cutout.
Click to expand...

Now that's not a bad idea....
 
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