Redesigning a folder forever...

Colinz

Colinz

Joined
Feb 16, 2001
Messages
1,015
I have some questions for you foldermakers/folding knife designers out there:

How much time does it take for you from the intital idea/design to a completed prototype? It would be great if you could take one of your knifes as an example.

Is it an idea that flashes by and you almost immediately draw the final design or does it take a lot of redesigning?

I am going to order my first custom sometime soon. I want a very personal one. So I sat down 5-6 weeks ago and started to draw a folder with all the features that I wanted. I played around with different handle types (I´m going to cut out the handle in wood before I place my order so that I know what it feels like). I then moved over to work on how the blade should look. The last two weeks I´ve been shifting back and forth between drawing the blade and drawing a handle making sure there is room for the lock and pins in the right place(s). I´ll probably finish this design sometime around X-mas ;)

Never realized that it was this much hard work.

/Colinz
 
Colinz:
My folders are designed on Auto Cad 14, all things considered design time on Auto Cad for me is about 3 hrs.
The cool thing with CAD work is that when the design is complete you build the knife to the numbers and you already know that it will work no moving the stop pin around to get the right fit.
I would guess that a maker proficient at CAD could build a knife from conception to completion in a few days, me about 2 weeks.

Kevin
 
Ferret,

Yes it is fun. If I only could get that feeling of "This is it".

K Robinson,

Auto CAD is a bit out of my league. I use a pencil, an eraser and a ruler. I´m working on the 18:th fullscale drawing and the 6:th week, I´m still not quite satisfied. Thanks for sharing.

/Colinz
 
If it works on paper it'll work in steel. I cut out the parts and put a pin through the pivots to make sure that there is room and clearance for everything. Try adding a spring and a whole bunch of new problems arise!
 
striper 28,

I use a similar technique to find out if the blade, lock and pins have enough space. I did have a thought about making it an auto but when I saw a patent of a quality mechanism I just thought - NO WAY! It would probably take about 6 months to a year to get it right. At least for an amateur like me ;)

/Colinz
 
Quickcad is a cheap, scaled down, version of the big boys toy and is worth a look
 
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