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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on May 29, 2014 16:03:16 GMT
ive been looking into water jet cutting of my steel sword blanks because it is becoming VERY COSTLY to keep supplying cutoff wheels used in cutting out full sized swords. they work perfectly fine on thinner bar stock and smaller blades, but its nothing to blow through 10-15 of them on a 1/4 inch thick 5160 sword blade, all the water jet providers ive spoken with say they need a DXF, DWG, Ai, or EPS file to work but i hvae no exp in that.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on May 29, 2014 19:10:25 GMT
To create those files, you need graphic or illustration software that creates those AutoCAD extensions.
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on May 29, 2014 20:33:51 GMT
yeah i need someone who knows how to use it
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Post by LG Martial Arts on May 29, 2014 22:29:03 GMT
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Post by timm on May 31, 2014 4:41:17 GMT
Hi Saito. Have you been using a 7-inch angle grinder for the cutting? I can get two 31 inch swords cut out of 3/16 inch 1080 steel with a single cutting wheel. I'd be surprised if it took more than 1 or 2 wheels to cut a large sword out of 1/4 inch steel, but I haven't done it before so could be wrong.
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Post by L Driggers (fallen) on May 31, 2014 4:52:56 GMT
If you are going through 10 t0 15 wheels need to buy better wheels or use a better techique. Don't try to make one long cut make several plunge cuts. Since you have a good 2x72 belt grinder you can use it to profile out a blade too with a good 24 or 36 grit belt it will remove steel real fast. It's what I use to waist the gladius blade and tang area I'm making.
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on May 31, 2014 5:27:26 GMT
Free program called inkscape allows you to save your images as EPS and other Vector files.
I use 6mm stock and usually go through 2.5 to 3 of 125mm x 1mm disks per blank. I hold my angle grinder upside down so I can see the blade easily, and I feel I have better control. Blank is in the vice. Cut are horizontal. Holes for the shoulder are already drilled. I run the blade just outside the scribed line from left to right to make a guide channel. Then I cut that channel over again a couple of times to make the channel maybe 2 to 2.5mm deep. Then I cut with the side of the blade, nice and deep, and cut right through, with the channel guiding the disk. Cutting from right to left, starting outside of the stuff I'm cutting. (I always cut outside to inside, never in to out)
I work on about 10" of cutting at a time - top cut and bottom cut n(either side of blade). So the blade is not too far out of the vice, which stops it flapping around.
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on May 31, 2014 10:48:14 GMT
''its a 5 inch, each wheel is good for about 5-8 inches of steel before theres nothing left of it
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on May 31, 2014 10:49:36 GMT
ive had an extremely difficult time finding good quality cutoff wheels ever since smith and arrow stopped selling to the USA. the smith and arrow wheels lasted 3X as long as the others ive tried and you could do a sword blade with like 4 of them instead of 10+
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Post by L Driggers (fallen) on May 31, 2014 14:33:53 GMT
I use Dewalt they last me a long time, Lowes and a lot of other places carrry them.
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Post by Uncle Mack on Oct 19, 2014 0:06:58 GMT
I know this is an older thread but thought I would offer the solution that I've used.
I found a guy on fiverr.com who made me DXF file (and a PDF) of my tactical machete blanks for $5. I just sent him a JPEG of my sketch and he did the rest. I've done the same thing a few times... I guess the $25 it takes to have the blank cut on a water jet is worth it to me when I think about time, cost of cutting wheels, etc.
If you want the username of the fiverr member who did my DXF, let me know. He did a great job and even made a few revisions.
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