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Thin blade steel showdown!
- Thread starter TexasWade
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2013
- Messages
- 231
I'd be interested in seeing the cnc in action if possible. I've never really had a good look at the process with cnc.
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2015
- Messages
- 2,203
Great thread. Can't wait to see some results.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2006
- Messages
- 1,389
Cool! I will stay tuned and thanks for making this happen...
Best,
salmonkiller
Best,
salmonkiller
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2009
- Messages
- 168
Thanks for taking the time to share. Good stuff.
Didn't get quite as far as I'd hoped today, what else is new? haha...
But I did make some decent progress and should have no problem wrapping up tomorrow.
Starting off today, first and most basic task was sawing the stock to length. No issues here, the roll-in saw is a beast.
Next I got the stuff going on the CNC mill and again no real issues but I did learn some things about the way these steels machine. They definitely have their differences. Here's a quick crappy video showing the end of a facing path and the beginning of the engraving. Took about 5 minutes per part to drill, face and engrave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nfFjNpn8Wg&feature=youtu.be
You can see in the pic below that the ELMAX and ATS-34 came off the mill with a much nicer finish than AEB-L and the 20CV didn't turn out nice at all. They were sitting on the the magnetic chuck on the surface grinder but grinding them all in one shot was probably a bad idea. I ended up finishing them one by one instead. Also I should have left .005" for cleanup instead of .002"
So here's the info gained today regarding machinability...
AEB-L poor finish, wants to warp during machining, is fair for formation of burrs
ELMAX excellent finish, stays flat, fair burr formation
ATS-34 excellent finish, wants to warp, tends to burr heavily
M4 very poor finish, stays relatively flat, forms large burrs
CPM-154 excellent finish, stays fairly flat, fair burr formation
CPM 20CV fair finish, stays reasonably flat, tends to burr heavily
Z-WEAR good finish, stays very flat, tends to burr heavily
3V fair finish, stays very flat, burrs heavily.
I should also note that while some of the pieces were warped after facing one side, they came back reasonably flat after doing the second side. When I put them on the magnetic chuck the all felt like they were laying flat before I turned the chuck on.
I had highly variable results on the surface grinder but it seems stuff just got worse as it got later in the day so I threw those results out. I expect the wheel was getting badly in need of a dress and was causing issues, but even when I first started I could tell there was quite a bit of variation. I definitely need to get a 36 grit silicon carbide wheel if I'm going to do this again. Seems like my red wheel was too darn fine and also went dull quickly. I'm not an expert on the surface grinder, I just know about enough it to get myself in trouble.
So the stuff ain't pretty right now but it's consistently .084" thick in the areas that will remain after the rest of the cutting and will get by for what I'm going to do. Will get some more pics tomorrow after stuff actually starts looking like blades.
But I did make some decent progress and should have no problem wrapping up tomorrow.
Starting off today, first and most basic task was sawing the stock to length. No issues here, the roll-in saw is a beast.
Next I got the stuff going on the CNC mill and again no real issues but I did learn some things about the way these steels machine. They definitely have their differences. Here's a quick crappy video showing the end of a facing path and the beginning of the engraving. Took about 5 minutes per part to drill, face and engrave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nfFjNpn8Wg&feature=youtu.be
You can see in the pic below that the ELMAX and ATS-34 came off the mill with a much nicer finish than AEB-L and the 20CV didn't turn out nice at all. They were sitting on the the magnetic chuck on the surface grinder but grinding them all in one shot was probably a bad idea. I ended up finishing them one by one instead. Also I should have left .005" for cleanup instead of .002"
So here's the info gained today regarding machinability...
AEB-L poor finish, wants to warp during machining, is fair for formation of burrs
ELMAX excellent finish, stays flat, fair burr formation
ATS-34 excellent finish, wants to warp, tends to burr heavily
M4 very poor finish, stays relatively flat, forms large burrs
CPM-154 excellent finish, stays fairly flat, fair burr formation
CPM 20CV fair finish, stays reasonably flat, tends to burr heavily
Z-WEAR good finish, stays very flat, tends to burr heavily
3V fair finish, stays very flat, burrs heavily.
I should also note that while some of the pieces were warped after facing one side, they came back reasonably flat after doing the second side. When I put them on the magnetic chuck the all felt like they were laying flat before I turned the chuck on.
I had highly variable results on the surface grinder but it seems stuff just got worse as it got later in the day so I threw those results out. I expect the wheel was getting badly in need of a dress and was causing issues, but even when I first started I could tell there was quite a bit of variation. I definitely need to get a 36 grit silicon carbide wheel if I'm going to do this again. Seems like my red wheel was too darn fine and also went dull quickly. I'm not an expert on the surface grinder, I just know about enough it to get myself in trouble.
So the stuff ain't pretty right now but it's consistently .084" thick in the areas that will remain after the rest of the cutting and will get by for what I'm going to do. Will get some more pics tomorrow after stuff actually starts looking like blades.
chiral.grolim
Universal Kydex Sheath Extension
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2008
- Messages
- 6,422
These are neat little details, thanks for sharing them, especially including pics :thumbup:
Here's what they're looking like so far. The steel is .084 and the edge is .015. To me, it feels quite thin compared to my Mini-Griptilian. The hollow grind shape is easy to feel but not so obvious just by looking. I may end up making a thicker blade just to show the contours better, we'll see how things look after heat treat and finish work...
Here's a real quick video of the bevel milling. Pretty slow going but they're coming out nice and I feel good about them being all as close to the same geometry as possible. 50 minute run time each, not exactly a mass production strategy, haha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiOWwzR0s7A&feature=youtu.be
Here's a real quick video of the bevel milling. Pretty slow going but they're coming out nice and I feel good about them being all as close to the same geometry as possible. 50 minute run time each, not exactly a mass production strategy, haha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiOWwzR0s7A&feature=youtu.be
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2013
- Messages
- 5,648
Hello, I've been following this thread for a while now. Pretty excited, thanks a lot for the effort and work behind this.
I really appreciate. Just a bit of help, could anyone give me the thickness (shoulder, mainly, or thicker part of the blade) and dimensions of this blades in mm? Or metric units?
I am having a real mess in my head right now w with inches and conversion rules. Thanks!
I really appreciate. Just a bit of help, could anyone give me the thickness (shoulder, mainly, or thicker part of the blade) and dimensions of this blades in mm? Or metric units?
I am having a real mess in my head right now w with inches and conversion rules. Thanks!
