Liquidmetal Question

T

thombrogan

Joined
Nov 16, 2002
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I think that I read R.W. Clark saying that LiquidMetal has been applied to drill bits to greatly extend their life, so I was wondering:

Could Liquidmetal be applied to the tip of a locking bar such as the ones used in a framelock or linerlock folding knife? If so, how could it be done?

Many thanks
 
It could be done by using the coatings devisions spray application. However, LM1 can be reactive to the materials to which it is applied. This was addressed when I looked into coating standard blade steels with LM1. It would be a better bet to just make the frame out of LM1.

This would however create another problem. LM1 can not be bent to form the lock bar. Since it has no grain to fatigue it will just continue to rebound and will not hold the bend. The only way around this is to cast the frame or liner to its finished shape, complete with bend.
 
The other way is some fancy machining of the frame on the lock side without machining the lock bar to leave the lock bar proud of the rest of the frame as if it had been bent. Considering how tough this material is to drill the machining would be difficult at very least.
 
George, if you want to do that much machining to this stuff, more power to you:D. Personally, I don't hate my mill that much.;)
 
I'm not looking forward to it but I am going to give it a try this week anyhow. I figure it could take a full day to make the jig and do the cutting.
 
Well, I hoping that it could be a framelock coating versus a replacement material. I guess that any good coating might work, though.
 
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