By far the most informative knife making vids on UA-cam. It's been great to watch the journey with you guys. Hope everything is perfect and you guys have a great Blade.
Great videos! Keep putting the mistakes and lessons you take away along with the successes. This is one of the few videos that I have ever seen where I feel like I can learn from someone else's mistakes, instead of having to make the same mistakes myself.
Yes I manually wrote all the lathe code. Pro tip- all the X values have to be cut in half for radius, normally on a lathe I'll program for diameter. Also, each tool uses a G52 offset, I LOVE LOVE LOVE using G52. Glad you liked watching it! I still have a huge ass smile just thinking about it, can't wait to do more turning with it.
Oh wow!!! A sneak peek at my Norseman. Incredible work John and Erik. I can't believe you got my Nuko Head into the honey comb in such detail. I cannot wait to get this bad boy in hands!!!! Safe trip to Atlanta guys! Rock it hard at Blade.
Hi to you both, And a huge thank you for finding time to explain as well as you have and film (Video? Dont'know what to call it) what you have. Nice to see little by little you are managing to do about 10000 things, not least of which is the programming. I can give zero criticism, because you two are the only people who know 'back to front' what is done, the steps made to make things succeed, and what comes next. It is nice that you have the knowledge to set machines and write software
I've had it for just over 6 months and I still absolutely love it. No regrets at all. I'm glad I got the power drawbar, stand, and coolant setup. Wish I would have gotten the ATC but couldn't afford it at the time. I recently got to play with a Tormach that has an ATC, they're amazing, I'm getting one soon. Honestly, they're amazing machines for an amazing price. No one else comes close to their price, quality, and customer service. When you get one, tell them you watch my vids!
amazing man! the most in depth step by step journey of a knife ive ever seen!! hope blade is amazing i have a feeling it will be! wish i could be there!@ good luck on the norseman sales! im gonna start saving!
Watched the whole video very interesting, I really want a mill now but alas i will stick to my 1 by30 to get my blades done until then. Great work man.
I've measured consistent parts with less than 0.0005" tolerance between a batch, I'm plenty happy with that. After a few hours the stepper motors definitely get hot, but the castings don't even get warm, so I doubt there's any growth problems.
Probably not, for the mid-tech approach that we're shooting for having too many options just complicates everything. It would be cool, no doubt. I dunno maybe one day we'll do a super special run of an exotic blade steel.
It's like that because all my operations are set up as subroutines (you probably know this), so it cuts off one pair of tabs then moves onto the next pair of tabs. Changing it up would save all of 2 seconds per handle, which would be cool, but not worth deviating one piece of code from subroutines. Also this way I can hit a button called block delete and now the subroutine only machines one pair of handles at a time, not the whole pallet.
Yep, that tapping head definitely has some wobble because it's spring loaded and slides in and out. At first I was really worried about the wobble too, but it turns out to be normal and not a problem at all, even with these tiny 2-56 taps! The wobble isn't bad enough that the tap will miss the hole, so it's all good.
I know, sorry about that, I do blow my nose all the time!. I had a wicked cold for several weeks, even though it was warm out. But whatcha gonna do, a cold is a cold.
Naw I think most of the problem solving is only really nasty the first few times we do something. After we've figured out how to do it and how not to do it, getting it right every time should be much easier.
Been thinking that same thing too buddy, haven't checked it yet! Definitely need to. I did use a 2" facing mill to face all of my pallets left-right, and the step between passes was extremely minimal, maybe 1 thou, so based on that I stopped worrying about tram. However I'm noticing that cuts at the front of the pallet are sometimes up to 0.010" deeper than cuts at the back, so I wonder if tram is affecting this? I dunno, the pallet was faced flat ON the mill, so I dunno.
Hi John, I've been watching silently for some time now. And enjoy very much. I suggest you try slowing your feed speeds down to improve the finish. Feed and speed calculators are fine for starting point. Good luck at the blade show guys!
Solidcam definitely does have a great simulator, however I rarely take the time to define all my bolts as fixtures, and a lot of the mistakes are because of my hand written subroutine codes and G52 offsets being wrong the first time. My fault, and done outside of solicam just in notepad.
also.. what if u machined the clips vertically starting out by the screws holes and ended by the bolt. then u would never have to worry about the tabs breaking off.. and if they do they will be almost done. just some food for thought
It all depends. Some knives can get away with 0.010"-0.020", you know, sloppy crappy ones. For my knives, I need less than 0.005, preferably 0.001-0.002.
John, This is a stupid question...maybe not.. Have you ever checked the traming on the head? I know my table on my Tormach was off from the factory.. it's minimal so I've never shimmed it. Just a side note.
Hey Man, great stuff. Quick question, on the close-ups of the Tapping operation, it seems like you have quite a bit of 'wobble'. What's going on there? I would have stopped, but you continued, looks like without issue.. But I've just never seen that much deviation Thanks!
Is it wrong for me to have a huge ass smile while watching the lathe operation? LMAO Bad ass man! Did you have to manually write the code for the lathe operation?
You seem to do lots of mistakes that would be easily corrected if you simulated the operations. I use sprutcam with my 770, and it can simulate all the tools and operations. Does solidcam not have such an option?
Just want to ask, when producing these knifes in real production, you have to do these multiple problems solving every single time? I'm so frustrated for you even just watching this. So much work making a folding knife. I'm rooting for you dude. please ware protective gears.
the workflow is pretty inefficient when you're cutting off the tabs. i understand why it's done that way, but do you plan to reflow the tool path later on?
John have you watched any of saunixcomp's videos? He has the same tormach machine. I think you might find some of his info helpfull. You both will probably hit it off well. He has a website nyccnc. I hope you enjoy
Though we can see it is never going smoothly, but these 'errors' will be learned and never done again. I wish I could see you at the blade show, but it is just a little too far at between 3000-6000 miles! I am in the UK. Isn't it always the way, you put yourself through so much pressure, not really knowing for sure if you can get any knives as sample show items and or maybe some sales. Some of the hard work and prepping is learned, relax. Hope you get loads of orders at the show. mrbluenun
Still enjoy watching these episodes, have managed to watch the first 30 so far whilst working on my designs in fusion 360. Miss the music intro music from the early episodes, why did it change?
+Chris Lesutis Thanks! The music changed to try something different, I guess I haven't thought much about it since. Maybe we'll try something new. Have fun in Fusion. Cheers!
By far the most informative knife making vids on UA-cam. It's been great to watch the journey with you guys. Hope everything is perfect and you guys have a great Blade.
Great videos! Keep putting the mistakes and lessons you take away along with the successes. This is one of the few videos that I have ever seen where I feel like I can learn from someone else's mistakes, instead of having to make the same mistakes myself.
All one giant learning experience, it will only get better from here! As always, beautiful knives, and I hope you guys have a great time at BLADE!
Yes I manually wrote all the lathe code. Pro tip- all the X values have to be cut in half for radius, normally on a lathe I'll program for diameter. Also, each tool uses a G52 offset, I LOVE LOVE LOVE using G52. Glad you liked watching it! I still have a huge ass smile just thinking about it, can't wait to do more turning with it.
I've been so interested in watching this process from week 1. Thank's for taking the time to document this.
No problem! It's great to hear that people are enjoying the whole series.
Oh wow!!! A sneak peek at my Norseman. Incredible work John and Erik. I can't believe you got my Nuko Head into the honey comb in such detail. I cannot wait to get this bad boy in hands!!!! Safe trip to Atlanta guys! Rock it hard at Blade.
Hi to you both,
And a huge thank you for finding time to explain as well as you have and film (Video? Dont'know what to call it) what you have. Nice to see little by little you are managing to do about 10000 things, not least of which is the programming. I can give zero criticism, because you two are the only people who know 'back to front' what is done, the steps made to make things succeed, and what comes next.
It is nice that you have the knowledge to set machines and write software
Good luck at blade those knives are SICK!!! Can't wait to see one completely done
I've had it for just over 6 months and I still absolutely love it. No regrets at all. I'm glad I got the power drawbar, stand, and coolant setup. Wish I would have gotten the ATC but couldn't afford it at the time. I recently got to play with a Tormach that has an ATC, they're amazing, I'm getting one soon. Honestly, they're amazing machines for an amazing price. No one else comes close to their price, quality, and customer service. When you get one, tell them you watch my vids!
The fine milling pattern on the blade and the honeycomb handles are the shit. Looks good. Best of luck!
Man that is really one of the nicest pocket clips i have ever seen!!! Great job man!
I know it's such a small element of the knife, but those pocket clips are beautiful! Best of luck at the Blade Show guys
Thanks for the kind comments! Lots of new videos since this one, but you should get some sleep before doing another KMT marathon ;-)
amazing man! the most in depth step by step journey of a knife ive ever seen!! hope blade is amazing i have a feeling it will be! wish i could be there!@ good luck on the norseman sales! im gonna start saving!
u guys have by far the sickest pocket clips..
Watched the whole video very interesting, I really want a mill now but alas i will stick to my 1 by30 to get my blades done until then. Great work man.
I've measured consistent parts with less than 0.0005" tolerance between a batch, I'm plenty happy with that. After a few hours the stepper motors definitely get hot, but the castings don't even get warm, so I doubt there's any growth problems.
Probably not, for the mid-tech approach that we're shooting for having too many options just complicates everything. It would be cool, no doubt. I dunno maybe one day we'll do a super special run of an exotic blade steel.
Ok, I've never worked with spring-loaded ends. Pretty cool- thanks for sharing!
It's like that because all my operations are set up as subroutines (you probably know this), so it cuts off one pair of tabs then moves onto the next pair of tabs. Changing it up would save all of 2 seconds per handle, which would be cool, but not worth deviating one piece of code from subroutines. Also this way I can hit a button called block delete and now the subroutine only machines one pair of handles at a time, not the whole pallet.
you two look like your having so much fun together!
Awesome vid as usual! Can't wait to see the finished Norseman.
Yep, that tapping head definitely has some wobble because it's spring loaded and slides in and out. At first I was really worried about the wobble too, but it turns out to be normal and not a problem at all, even with these tiny 2-56 taps! The wobble isn't bad enough that the tap will miss the hole, so it's all good.
Good luck John! Hope you get everything done and pull off a big win!!! Haha
One of these will be mine! Can't wait until you can start selling them.
Awesome! I hope you do great at the Blade Show!
damn man you guys are animals I would fall asleep where I stand
I know, sorry about that, I do blow my nose all the time!. I had a wicked cold for several weeks, even though it was warm out. But whatcha gonna do, a cold is a cold.
I forget exactly how I did that one, but I think yes I did do G04 P1 for a 1 second delay to get to the next speed.
just heard coheed in the background 25:45, awesome band. one of my all time favorites.
Such a long road to perfection, huh? Best of luck, my friend!
Naw I think most of the problem solving is only really nasty the first few times we do something. After we've figured out how to do it and how not to do it, getting it right every time should be much easier.
That was fun to read through and match up with the video!
I do save everything that looks saveable. I put them in my beater endmill pile. How much does it cost to regrind an endmill? Never looked into it.
Been thinking that same thing too buddy, haven't checked it yet! Definitely need to. I did use a 2" facing mill to face all of my pallets left-right, and the step between passes was extremely minimal, maybe 1 thou, so based on that I stopped worrying about tram. However I'm noticing that cuts at the front of the pallet are sometimes up to 0.010" deeper than cuts at the back, so I wonder if tram is affecting this? I dunno, the pallet was faced flat ON the mill, so I dunno.
No worries, it annoyed me too while editing all the vids. Hopefully this winter won't be so bad.
No, I can't use liners on this knife, but I would like to try it one day with a solid carbon fiber handle on one side.
Hi John, I've been watching silently for some time now. And enjoy very much. I suggest you try slowing your feed speeds down to improve the finish. Feed and speed calculators are fine for starting point. Good luck at the blade show guys!
Solidcam definitely does have a great simulator, however I rarely take the time to define all my bolts as fixtures, and a lot of the mistakes are because of my hand written subroutine codes and G52 offsets being wrong the first time. My fault, and done outside of solicam just in notepad.
I LOVE YOUR WORK!!
sorry, i couldn't control myself :-)
Now works for me, shoot me an e-mail. This run should be done and perfect within the next 2 weeks.
also.. what if u machined the clips vertically starting out by the screws holes and ended by the bolt. then u would never have to worry about the tabs breaking off.. and if they do they will be almost done. just some food for thought
To minimize the burr on the pocket clip you could try climb milling around the profile of the clip working inward to the center of the clip.
Is it possible to do thinner liner on one side and have a carbon fiber handle put on top of it. that will be very nice looking.
it was cool visiting you at bladeshow haha
nice work, really nice work
It all depends. Some knives can get away with 0.010"-0.020", you know, sloppy crappy ones. For my knives, I need less than 0.005, preferably 0.001-0.002.
John,
This is a stupid question...maybe not.. Have you ever checked the traming on the head? I know my table on my Tormach was off from the factory.. it's minimal so I've never shimmed it. Just a side note.
Great video, progress!
Hey Man, great stuff. Quick question, on the close-ups of the Tapping operation, it seems like you have quite a bit of 'wobble'. What's going on there? I would have stopped, but you continued, looks like without issue.. But I've just never seen that much deviation
Thanks!
This is boss. Will you be offering different blade shape/steel variations?
Hey John save those endmills and find a local grind shop to sharpen them save some dough
good luck at blade JG!
what kind of tolerances do you have to hold when making a knife ? ?
So John, when do I get to order one of these. Been watching you working on this far too long to order one.
You guys need a cordless drill for all those screws!
I want one of them knives!
why not do the lockbar on the last sweep?
Is it wrong for me to have a huge ass smile while watching the lathe operation? LMAO Bad ass man! Did you have to manually write the code for the lathe operation?
how much does a set up like this cost generally?
You seem to do lots of mistakes that would be easily corrected if you simulated the operations. I use sprutcam with my 770, and it can simulate all the tools and operations. Does solidcam not have such an option?
I wish I was going to Blade!!!
you could probably just make some badass ti clips for para2 and other spyderco's. i would probably pick up one or two
Just want to ask, when producing these knifes in real production, you have to do these multiple problems solving every single time? I'm so frustrated for you even just watching this. So much work making a folding knife. I'm rooting for you dude. please ware protective gears.
according to the tags it says "tormach pcnc 1100" and that costs 8500$ on tormach . com
the workflow is pretty inefficient when you're cutting off the tabs. i understand why it's done that way, but do you plan to reflow the tool path later on?
Nope, they will just go to family members if they're still serviceable.
Coheed and Cambria, nice!
A LOT, it makes me cringe thinking about how much money I spend on tooling, I try not to think about it too much haha. 10-50k...
Yeah sorry man I guess we all have been there. Sorry for being an ass. Keep up the good work man!
John have you watched any of saunixcomp's videos? He has the same tormach machine. I think you might find some of his info helpfull. You both will probably hit it off well. He has a website nyccnc. I hope you enjoy
Though we can see it is never going smoothly, but these 'errors' will be learned and never done again.
I wish I could see you at the blade show, but it is just a little too far at between 3000-6000 miles! I am in the UK. Isn't it always the way, you put yourself through so much pressure, not really knowing for sure if you can get any knives as sample show items and or maybe some sales. Some of the hard work and prepping is learned, relax.
Hope you get loads of orders at the show.
mrbluenun
Still enjoy watching these episodes, have managed to watch the first 30 so far whilst working on my designs in fusion 360. Miss the music intro music from the early episodes, why did it change?
+Chris Lesutis Thanks! The music changed to try something different, I guess I haven't thought much about it since. Maybe we'll try something new. Have fun in Fusion. Cheers!
Have watched everything up to date again, waiting on an announcement about your new shop!
are you going to be selling any of your mistakes? how much?
11:45 or so : why not cut the "spring" thigny first and then make the pocket that makes the "spring" sprigny ...
Coheed and Cambria!
nice ;P
dude put goggles on!
Nope.
yayyy long vid
at 32 min u were so tired u looked high
no gloves
These kids make me feel dumb....