The "Ask Nathan a Question" Thread

I have the material for it. I have a design for it. I have the tooling for it. But I need an opportunity where the machines in the shop are open and I can set up every operation of every component so that I can efficiently make exactly one to evaluate and make tweaks before making another and another etc. I don't have enough experience with folders to make one to our standards on the first try so I need the ability to make modifications to every component until I get it right and it's just a lot of capacity. Right now we are running pre-orders and I don't have that capacity.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I have the material for it. I have a design for it. I have the tooling for it. But I need an opportunity where the machines in the shop are open and I can set up every operation of every component so that I can efficiently make exactly one to evaluate and make tweaks before making another and another etc. I don't have enough experience with folders to make one to our standards on the first try so I need the ability to make modifications to every component until I get it right and it's just a lot of capacity. Right now we are running pre-orders and I don't have that capacity.
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Yeah folders seem a lot more complicated with all the moving parts, tolerances, screws and whatnot. Perhaps a stupid question, but would 3d printing allow you to test designs enough and that way you wouldn't have to stop the machines while doing so?
 
unwisefool said:
Yeah folders seem a lot more complicated with all the moving parts, tolerances, screws and whatnot. Perhaps a stupid question, but would 3d printing allow you to test designs enough and that way you wouldn't have to stop the machines while doing so?
Click to expand...
I don't think 3d printing gets the tolerance right. If I have to venture a guess Nate will be super critical about the action and that requires lots of tuning
 
Yeah, we're going to be looking at things like shifting the detent hole a couple of thousandth of an inch, or increasing the depth of the chamfer on it by a few thou. Tweaking the location of the lock face a few thou, that sort of thing. 3D printing is a cool process but it's nowhere close to what we would need for process development. Basic simulation can be done in CAD, but actually dialing in a good mechanism is going to require precision machined steel.
 
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