Profile cutting tools

Fish30114 said:
Pittknife, I am searching for an easier than port-a-band profiling cutter--water jet is extremely costly AFAIK to own yourself--getting a handful of patterns cut out, I think there are lots of options for that, but quickly and efficiently profiling individual blades for oneself it seems that the plasma cutter might be the best option, within a reasonable cost envelope. I have a port-a-band on a SWAG table and I have been having issues with it as of late--and this and the apparent simple effectiveness of the plasma cutter as an example got me looking for these options.
Click to expand...


There are a lot of waterjet places that will do small jobs for individual blanks. I help a lot of makers do their designs in CAD and get it to waterjet for them. Price is pretty reasonable as long as you fill out your material plate.

I don't think it makes sense to own a waterjet, that I agree is cost prohibitive just for custom knives.

The bandsaw is all about the blades, new blades cut like butter. I stopped trying to get every bit of life from them. Maybe I'll go check out my buddies plasma cutter and see if it works better for me. I suck really bad at welding.... so I always stayed away.
 
kuraki said:
The best use any of us could put an EDM to would be cutting guard holes to cut a perfect press fit without ever touching a file.
Click to expand...

Yep^^^
 
kuraki said:
The best use any of us could put an EDM to would be cutting guard holes to cut a perfect press fit without ever touching a file.
Click to expand...

And for folder knive , too ;) I think that there is no better tool from EDM for making folder .Friend have EDM , maybe this summer I will make one .I wonder if EDM can cut bevel ??? I have some piece of crazy HSS steel ..................
 
Natlek said:
And for folder knive , too ;) I think that there is no better tool from EDM for making folder .Friend have EDM , maybe this summer I will make one .I wonder if EDM can cut bevel ??? I have some piece of crazy HSS steel ..................
Click to expand...

Yes. Well, yes and no. Depending on the machine or the number of setups you want to do I guess. You could finish a folder blade complete in an EDM though, bevels and all, yes.

Speed things up by drilling pre-holes for any holes you're going to cut with wire. Otherwise you'll need to use a sinker or a hole popper to start them if you harden the blade first.
 
Well guys I was out cutting up 15n20 for a customer and figured I would show you how I do it. It's rather simple and as long as you can fallow a line you can cut out a blade. Plasma does create HAZ around the profile but that is all easily removed when I grind the profile to size. Also no concern Of slipping and running your thumb or hand into the bandsaw blade. The blanks are not even that hot after being cut out.

[video]https://youtu.be/QuX8jl4Y5kk[/video]

[video=youtube;QuX8jl4Y5kk]https://youtu.be/QuX8jl4Y5kk[/video]
 
Last edited:
Wow! I imagined the process not being so precise. That's really cool.

What kind of plasma cutter is that, what are the watts?
 
currenthill said:
Wow! I imagined the process not being so precise. That's really cool.

What kind of plasma cutter is that, what are the watts?
Click to expand...

This paranga is CNC plasma cut , it is armor plate steel ............look how it came after cutting .......even no discolor on paint :)

2w4fva9.jpg

64igk6.jpg
 
JTknives said:
That's funny right there, made my day.
I have thought about building a pentagraph that holds the torch and I can trace the template with a little probe. Would make cutting much smoother to trace templates.
Click to expand...
I Work in a plant that produces tank cars. There is track laid through the plant (1040 barstock fillet welded in channel iron) for train cars to roll on. Over time the barstock Will mushroom on the inside edge, and the trucks (what train cars roll on) start to bind.

A couple years ago we built a dolly to hold a torch and trim the edges of the rail, it Worked really slick, but being oxy/acetylene we spent a lot, and I mean lot of time preheating.

The plant is a mile long, half mile wide of tracks laid parallel.
 
JTknives said:
Well guys I was out cutting up 15n20 for a customer and figured I would show you how I do it. It's rather simple and as long as you can fallow a line you can cut out a blade. Plasma does create HAZ around the profile but that is all easily removed when I grind the profile to size. Also no concern Of slipping and running your thumb or hand into the bandsaw blade. The blanks are not even that hot after being cut out.

[video]https://youtu.be/QuX8jl4Y5kk[/video]

[video=youtube;QuX8jl4Y5kk]https://youtu.be/QuX8jl4Y5kk[/video]
Click to expand...

How deep do you reckon the HAZ is? .060? .120?
 
I don't even think it's that much but I will see if I can test it on my hardness tester
 
JTknives said:
Well guys I was out cutting up 15n20 for a customer and figured I would show you how I do it. It's rather simple and as long as you can fallow a line you can cut out a blade. Plasma does create HAZ around the profile but that is all easily removed when I grind the profile to size. Also no concern Of slipping and running your thumb or hand into the bandsaw blade. The blanks are not even that hot after being cut out.
Click to expand...
Hell JT, the plasma guys should hire you as a sales person, that vid you posted has me sold! What type plasma should I go after, what power, maker etc.

Thanks brother--Don
 
How is it on titanium? You can't use oxygen on ti correct?

I am tempted for the speed though
 
I have some Titanimum I can try it on but I can't see why it would not cut as good if not better. As to the brand I REALLY love hypertherm. You get a lot of use out of there consumables. I got the XP30 as it is a dule voltage system which I love. But if your doing alot of thick material you might want to consider the 45XP. Thy also make fine cut consumables which cut an even thinner line. I find the normal nozzle works better for me. You do have slag on the other side but it knocks off really easy. One real nice feature is using it to pop holes in tangs that are hardened.
 
JT , if you want to use your plasma to profile, google up a magnetic profile cutter . Its a bit old school, but you can buy them new if you carn't find one second hand from a old fab shop. Takes up as much space as 2 cartens of beer

We use one at work with an oxy/lpg cutting head . We used to have it hooked up to the plasma cutter with a remote button for the trigger. We mosly now days only use it for basic shapes like when we need to cut 200 10 inch circles from half inch plate ect. Just rig up a bracket to bolt on your existing torch

It uses an arm with a maget on an electric motor to trace around your steel pattern . The plasma sits directly in line with the center of the magnet. The pattern has to be about 3/8 across smaller than you want to alow for the magnet but also take the plasma kerf into consideration too. It also won't do real sharp corners because the magnet has to roll around it. It might be worth it if you can find one cheap used though.

Sorry for the thread hijack guys .
 
wack said:
JT , if you want to use your plasma to profile, google up a magnetic profile cutter . Its a bit old school, but you can buy them new if you carn't find one second hand from a old fab shop. Takes up as much space as 2 cartens of beer

We use one at work with an oxy/lpg cutting head . We used to have it hooked up to the plasma cutter with a remote button for the trigger. We mosly now days only use it for basic shapes like when we need to cut 200 10 inch circles from half inch plate ect. Just rig up a bracket to bolt on your existing torch

It uses an arm with a maget on an electric motor to trace around your steel pattern . The plasma sits directly in line with the center of the magnet. The pattern has to be about 3/8 across smaller than you want to alow for the magnet but also take the plasma kerf into consideration too. It also won't do real sharp corners because the magnet has to roll around it. It might be worth it if you can find one cheap used though.

Sorry for the thread hijack guys .
Click to expand...

There is a guy that makes these for plasma torches, it's all manual but it's only a few hundred bucks.
 
knife to a gunfight said:
I would appreciate that.
Click to expand...

The thing about HAZ, you're going to have a very thin skin where the composition of the metal is in question due to oxidation and temperature, but it's extremely thin when cutting conditions are properly set. Then you may have another 1/32 to 1/8 of heat infiltration that changed the state of the material, but you're going to be heat treating anyway and this will come back to where you want it.

I've cut a few sheets of AR500 targets on both plasma and laser for targets, and HAZ was one of the concerns buyers had, so I shot some on edge. There was no discernible difference between the shots the edge caught and shots on the face.

Now if you're cutting poorly and slowly and putting more heat into the part than necessary, it can get worse. But in general even if you're not the greatest plasma operator ever, if you make sure that on the relatively simple geometry of the edge you make a nice quick clean cut, grinding it back a 1/16 is more than enough.
 
I'm with him ^ ;)

I just tested the edge with my hardness tester. I worked my way as close as I dare go with my diamond penatrator.
First test is about .180 away from the edge to establish a base line of 43rc. Next closest one is .050 and was also 43rc. Then went closer at .035 just inside the dark area and it dropped to 40rc. I then moved even closer at around .020 and it was also 40rc. That's as close as I dare go to the edge as I don't want to mess up my Wilson penetrator. I think people see the dark oxidized area around the cut and think that area is hard. It's not it's just an area that warmed up and not even hot enough to really affect anything except to temper down the hardness of this pre hardened 15n20.

Photo%20Feb%2023%2C%2012%2031%2011.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top