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Post by libra on Jun 21, 2017 16:01:34 GMT
Hey guys, time for another WIP! After some planning time with drawing many templates (and throwing away many of them), I decided to create another sword, which will deliver some more physical length than my first attempts. Now I will make something, which is 1290mm long. It won't become a typical oakeshott sword, but neither a fantasy Sword Like Object. Originally my next project should become an Albion Munich, but I refuse to start something like this, before I didn't see the original here in its museum. This time, I gave myself the luxury to let the silhouette being cut with a water jet. It required some easy cnc/cad drawing skills, which I managed to learn on a calm weekend. After finding a company, I brought them my data file and raw steel, and voila... Here are the first two pictures: The accuracy of the water jet is really amazing. And the reason I chose this method is, that i failed to produce a straight silhouette on my first two swords. It might sound a little bit exaggerated, but I prefer straight cutting edges later, which result from the straightness of the cutout. Stay tuned
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Post by Croccifixio on Jun 21, 2017 23:40:31 GMT
Whoa, and they give you back the steel cutout? Pretty cool if you ask me. You can make maybe 2 knives from the remainder.
Looking like a really good sword! How much does the company charge for the waterjet?
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Post by libra on Jun 22, 2017 15:26:17 GMT
Yes, I asked them before to give the frame back to me, just for the cool effect to put the blank in and out . Maybe I will use the frame as a kind of art and put it on the wall . Ok, now the serious part. The whole package was 95 Euros. Included therein were data processing and the cutting itself. At first this might seem very expensive, but then I realized the whole procedure takes time, the guy who feeds the machine is most likely a well trained operator for cnc/cad/cam etc, who had to convert my sempriniesque technical drawing into something his machine accepts. I'm not sure, but the workpiece lays on something like a grid, which will be cut partially, too (wear for the company). The machine itself surely did cost a little fortune. So a lot accumulates to a price, which seems high at first, but otherwise, the result was the technically highlight of the year for me . I would do it again without doubt!
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Post by Croccifixio on Jun 23, 2017 1:04:12 GMT
Honestly that seems incredibly cheap for precise machine work on steel.
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gandermail
Member
Bill, WEWolf, Slackitude...I need to settle on a name.
Posts: 248
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Post by gandermail on Jun 24, 2017 16:28:55 GMT
That does seem pretty cheap for that kind of precision work and more so after reading your thoughtful breakdown of their costs. I can't wait to see this beauty as it progresses.
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Post by libra on Jun 24, 2017 17:05:41 GMT
Back from the workbench and out of the shower right now. Today was an excessive grinding day. I produced the complete distal taper and gave the blade some serious bevels. This took 8 hours of using the angle grinder and handheld belt grinder. This time I tried do improve the distal taper concerning my last project, and I think, I fullfilled my goal. The waterjet cutted blank you see, weighed exactly 2200g. I ground away a good kilogram, so now it weighs 1240g. That shouldn't be too bad for a 1290mm sword. The picture here is a little bit misleading, the bevels seem to be very wavy, but they aren't. Filing will follow during the next days and hardening will follow then. The characteristics are: total length: 1290mm blade length: 1000mm thickness: 8mm at shoulders with distal taper towards the tip (3mm) width: 40mm at widest point to 30mm at 10cm before tip
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Jun 25, 2017 7:42:52 GMT
Looking good!
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Post by libra on Jul 1, 2017 14:07:41 GMT
Thank you! Today I bought two mill saw files and instantly used one of them to flatten the bevels and center the spine by draw filing. Through this action, the blade lost another 27g steel and weighs 1213g now. During the last steps after heat treating the weight will decrease minimal only, I guess. Never pursued weight loss so punctilious like this time. Here are some more pictures for you: after using the belt grinder last weekend two vices for maximum stability and work height same here measuring stick and torch in the background to control if the spine is centered always a pleasure to see this stage on a blade like this nearly ready for heat treating cheers
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Post by libra on Jul 4, 2017 19:16:20 GMT
The pommel was the first thing I produced with my new lathe. Needs some fine tuning , but all in all it will look like this, or better said: pear shaped. Hope to find the right weight at the end. The color is a result of testing my kitchen oven (no need to heat treat the pommel in general, it was just a test object for annealing colors) . I wanted to see, which temperature I can reach with it. It's a very dark blue, so I assume that I reached 290°C. The blade goes on tour in the next days, the heat treater has another blade to harden, so this time it won't take a long time to come back to me. Wish me luck that it comes back straight.
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Jul 5, 2017 8:25:01 GMT
What lathe do you have? I've been considering getting one as well...
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Post by libra on Jul 5, 2017 15:50:42 GMT
Holzmann ED400FD. Needs some fine tuning and accessories. For my taste a good solution, if you want to lathe small to medium parts. The engine is strong enough to handle steel with an ill feedrate . Paulimot delivers good and inexpensive accessories. Just got the Multifix fast changing system from them (Size Aa). Best thing is the frequency converter for stepless rotation speed. I did not regret the purchase of that lathe. This thing can even be upgraded with CNC engines for x and z axis if you wish.
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Ramses1079
Member
“Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum"
Posts: 609
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Post by Ramses1079 on Jul 6, 2017 22:28:34 GMT
Accidental post, sorry.
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Jul 7, 2017 12:00:01 GMT
Holzmann ED400FD. Needs some fine tuning and accessories. For my taste a good solution, if you want to lathe small to medium parts. The engine is strong enough to handle steel with an ill feedrate :D . Paulimot delivers good and inexpensive accessories. Just got the Multifix fast changing system from them (Size Aa). Best thing is the frequency converter for stepless rotation speed. I did not regret the purchase of that lathe. This thing can even be upgraded with CNC engines for x and z axis if you wish. Thanks, good to know... might hit you up with some questions at some point.
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Post by libra on Jul 8, 2017 14:44:41 GMT
Today my only tool was the lathe. I gave the pommel its final shape, but it still needs many sandpapers. Its weight is 314 grams. More interesting for me was lathing the grip shells (beech). They were put together by three hose clamps, one end in the lathe chuck and the other one was impaled by the revolving tail stock center. Of course this was a tricky thing (imitation at your own risk), but I was very careful and used appropriate protective gear for the case that the wood would break and fly around. My reward is two absoultely symmetrical shaped half-shells. They will be flattened, of course. A round grip would look weird and does not help the edge alignment .
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Post by libra on Jul 15, 2017 20:00:51 GMT
Well, finally I could decide for the guard desgin. At first I chose a simple and flat design, as I did it before in my first two sword projects. But it is time to develop things further. I think some bevels on the guard will make it more diversified. So there's a ridge in the mirror axis and the ridges on the "arms" of the guard. I hope to find the needed weight in interaction with the pommel. The heat treated blade should come back during the next week, by the way. Here's a 1:1 sketch
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Post by libra on Jul 16, 2017 16:19:33 GMT
Nothing to do today, so I already produced the grooves for the tang. After drawing the tang silhouette on the shells, I took a cutter and marked out the borders before taking the chisel and removed the wood. Quite a tricky thing when you approach the area where the pommel adjoins later. Only minimal material thickness at the sides there. One too strong thrust with the chisel... and bang. But everything went fine. The fine tuning of the grooves will follow, and after that, the actual outer shaping will happen.
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Post by Verity on Jul 16, 2017 16:53:05 GMT
Man that is gonna be sick... it looks beautiful so far!
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Post by libra on Jul 17, 2017 18:41:14 GMT
Thank you, I hope to reach my goal free from bad surprises. The blade will be heat treated tomorrow. Oh man, I'm so nervous. Like somebody you are close to has a surgery.
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Post by libra on Aug 14, 2017 19:49:56 GMT
After some delay (holidays?), I got my blade back today. Unfortunately I made a new experience. This time it came back with a little sabering in addition to the usual non-straightness. Guess, it's my fault, not the fault of the heat treater. This is a little bit annoying, as I hoped for best possible straightness of the silhouette after the water jet cutting. But on a blade length of 1000mm a sabering of 2mm is absolutely tenable, I think. So I immediately began draw-filing away the scale oxide. After removing the remaining scale tomorrow, I will see how straight the blade is. Might happen that I must grasp for my blowtorch and do some corrections. Here you can see the transition between the hardened and non hardened tang area same here
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Post by Faldarin on Aug 15, 2017 0:08:36 GMT
I don't pay attention to this thread for a while, and wow - look at where it's gotten. Watching it with bated breath now. I'm loving the long grip on this blade... and crossing my fingers that the sabering isn't too severe.
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