the "alphahunter" framelock" wip!! (finished pics!!!)

Ahh, so that's why it looks so good! You just kept mentioning that you still had to blast the handle.

That makes a lot of sense what you said about having the cutout on the outside, hadn't thought of that. I have a spyderco sage here with the cutout on the inside, so that's why I asked. But yeah a corner radius endmill will let you do it all with one tool, instead of flat endmill then ball for the corners, hard to get that to turn out perfect with manual machining.
 
i have a quicker way of cutting the lockbar also. i can use a regular end mill 3/8 radius and i vise the frame upright and simply drill down creating a half moon. i get cobalt bits for 8$ a pop at busybee. i find cobalt easier to use than carbide when working freehand.

and i have 6 of these knives on the go now i was talking about another one i was going to blast.
 
Yep I thought of doing it that way too, that would work great. Just gotta watch out for chatter, did some milling tonight on aluminum in that fashion and it was hard to avoid chatter with the long endmill I was using.
 
Very cool... Very cool... :D


peter r said:
i have a quicker way of cutting the lockbar also. i can use a regular end mill 3/8 radius and i vise the frame upright and simply drill down creating a half moon. i get cobalt bits for 8$ a pop at busybee. i find cobalt easier to use than carbide when working freehand.

and i have 6 of these knives on the go now i was talking about another one i was going to blast.
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peter r said:
thanksguys. i have some ball end mills for future lockbar cutouts but will try the ones you suggested. also, the lock is stronger if the cutout is on the outside. this way the remaining ti is in line with the spot where it contacts the blade. the bar is less likely to fail if the pressure is straight back as opposed to tangential.
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Actually I think cutout being on the inside is stronger.

Imagine the blade tang is ground 45 degrees (stupid yeah I know but easier to imagine in your head what I'm getting at). If I move the remaining titanium further and further to the left (see recent picture of your folder :)) then the force transmitted will be more and more tangential to the surface of the blade tang where it contacts.

Alternatively you can imagine if I move the remaining titanium more and more to the right then the chances of slippage is more and more likely as the force transmitted to blade tang (now assumed to be 45 degrees for ease of imagination) be less tangential and more parallel which makes slippage more likely.

I have this thing where I imagine things in extreme and I like to call this 'extreme parameter analysis' in order to understand things. I may be wrong but I feel the cutout on the inside is theoretically better however I love the look of a cutout on the outside, very xm-18 esque :)
 
By the way, I really really love your folder designs, especially ur scales :)

But I'm stretched thin, 3rd world country and all that you see :)
 
i dont quite understand where your taking me. but i cant figure how it would be stronger.

to avoid chatter im forced to take small passes. its longer but i dont mind.
 
Hey, same mill here so I know what you mean. But say you're making the cutout the way you suggested, with the frame vertical, you take all your rough passes then go to clean it up with a final full depth finish pass which is 0.5" deep and you're only taking away 0.005 to 0.000 material, that's when it sometimes likes to chatter. Though I've never machined Ti yet, haha, so it might be completely different. HSS endmills seem to chatter the worst, carbide is usually better, depends on a lot of things I guess.
 
John Grimsmo said:
Hey, same mill here so I know what you mean. But say you're making the cutout the way you suggested, with the frame vertical, you take all your rough passes then go to clean it up with a final full depth finish pass which is 0.5" deep and you're only taking away 0.005 to 0.000 material, that's when it sometimes likes to chatter. Though I've never machined Ti yet, haha, so it might be completely different. HSS endmills seem to chatter the worst, carbide is usually better, depends on a lot of things I guess.
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I've machined Ti (i'm a professional machinist) and chatter is usually pretty easy to pick whats causeing it...how you clamp it? make sure if it sufficiently secure, for the cut outs you guys are doing I'd do it in a single pass or a rough cut with a single finish pass. Tooling shouldnt be an issue as long as its not too long for the job at hand, you use the right coolant for Ti (coolant is vital) and you have the right feeds and speeds.

I personally would look at your clamping methods, the more rigid everything is the quicker you can put product out the door and the less wear you're putting on the tooling. It saves and makes you $$$ in the long run.
 
feed speeds is a problem for me i do everything manual. literally like a drill press for the lockbars. i have a very steady hand though and have done many lockbars successfully this way. and the groove looks nice when im done. ive been looking into a tormach 1100 lately, im sure ill get one by the end of 2011.
 
I've seen lots of vids for the 1100 and it seems like a very stout awesome machine for an affordable price, well, at least compared most other cnc machines.
 
thats what i was thinking. 10k isnt so bad considering one batch of 20 knives will pay for it. and i have some other ideas of what i can do with it.
 
I had to come back and look at my baby!!! I can't wait to get it!
Guys start planning for group photo at Blade next year!!!
 
Thanks for all the compliments guys! This Collaboration turned out AWESOME!!!

Peter and I have been talking. Would you guys like to see a "Limited Run" of 10-15 Alphahunter Framelocks?
 
Yep that mill can pay for itself no problem, but keep in mind tooling gets expensive and there's quite a learning curve to be proficient at it. But it's fun! I taught myself CNC and so can you, the benefits truly are worth it.
 
John Grimsmo said:
Yep that mill can pay for itself no problem, but keep in mind tooling gets expensive and there's quite a learning curve to be proficient at it. But it's fun! I taught myself CNC and so can you, the benefits truly are worth it.
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Go to larger swap meets, I've seen entire production shops worth of CNC tooling at base prices...the recession is hitting business' hard.
 
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