New Use For An Old Case

[electrathon]

  On 8/1/2013 at 7:11 AM, WyomingSlick said:

Would those be gold plated bearings with jeweled insides you are talking about?

Look up the price on small bearings, they are very expensive. Bigger ones, like the ones in the link above that are over an inch in outside diameter can be bought for a couple dollars each. Find one that has an outside diameter of 3/8" and you better be saving up for a while. I was going to make a swivel knife a while ago and was shocked at the cost. In this project, a bushing would be available (or could be easily made) for pocket change. It would functionally work as well or better than a bearing. If high speed was involved (like in a hard drive) a bearing would be better. But something that is realistically going to be moved less than 10,000 times in forever and only a 1/3 of a revolution a bushing is a more functional choice. More expensive and overbuilt does not always better, sometimes simple is the best choice.

Edited August 1, 2013 by electrathon

[WyomingSlick]

LOL I am a bit of a machinist so you are "preaching to the choir"! 3/8 bearings (shielded radial steel) are around 4 bucks from ENCO and can be had quite a bit cheaper on eBay from Hong Kong Suppliers and importers. Check out :

http://www.ebay.com/...2#ht_302wt_1394

Here are 20 of them for under $20 incl. shipping. Perhaps you can now reconsider making that ball bearing swivel knife.

Edited August 1, 2013 by WyomingSlick

[electrathon]

  On 8/1/2013 at 5:41 PM, WyomingSlick said:

LOL I am a bit of a machinist so you are "preaching to the choir"! 3/8 bearings (shielded radial steel) are around 4 bucks from ENCO and can be had quite a bit cheaper on eBay from Hong Kong Suppliers and importers. Check out :

http://www.ebay.com/...2#ht_302wt_1394

Here are 20 of them for under $20 incl. shipping. Perhaps you can now reconsider making that ball bearing swivel knife.

I should have looked on Ebay when I was looking for knife parts. I will likely order some and make a knife just because. I really like making things myself far better than buying stuff. It is odd that he has it listed at the top for 20 and when you read the posting it says there are 10. Either way they are cheap.

[immiketoo]

Electrathon, so if bearing cost is no longer and issue, and mass production costs are not either, wouldn't you rather build something to be the ultimate expression of your abilities? I operate my leather business with that philosophy and as a consumer, I look for that quality in the tools I buy. Cutting corners to save cost is what's wrong with society today and that mind set has permeated our culture. Wal-Mart mentality, I think it's called. I agree that a bushing of some kind would probably save a bit of money but I'm not sure I agree with your assumption that the box would only be opened 10K times ever. I'd probably exceed that just playing with a a well made item, before I ever put tools in it If costs are exorbitant or something is being mass produced and the cheaper item doesn't affect perceived quality or performance, then go for it, but why beat Shtoink down for building it his way?

He made me a swivel knife using the same mind set as this box, and it is an amazing piece. I have quite a few knives from different makers and his is the smoothest by far. That translates into easy to use and is therefore one of my favorites. Post up you swivel knife once it's done. I'd like to see your interpretation.

Edited August 1, 2013 by immiketoo

[electrathon]

  On 8/1/2013 at 9:33 PM, immiketoo said:

, but why beat Shtoink down for building it his way?

Did not know I was beating him down, thought it was a discussion. Shtoink, I apologize to you. Aaron

[Banjoza]

Did that case ever get made or did everyone just get cross and go away?

[shtoink]

I was actually working on cutting out the pieces for it just the other day. Between finals for school, family, and holiday related stuff, I just didn't have much in the way of spare time. I'm also one who likes to analyze several possibilities at each step before committing to the next one.

I don't have pictures just yet, but should have some as soon as I have the bulk of the parts cut out. I opted for 0.25" thick oak and printed out diagrams with all the measurements required.

I am pleasantly surprised that this was inquired about.

[shtoink]

I'm not a fan of replying to my own posts, but since there is a limited window to edit posts, I have no other choice.

I have almost all of the pieces cut out and started to mock up the final form. A few test fits and fine tuning. Still no pictures, but I didn't think a bundle cut up wood chunks was very interesting. I need to locate my 90 degree angle clamps so I can have nice and square sides while waiting for the glue to dry. I also need to cut out my template for drilling the holes into the front of the block that'll hold all the punches. That should prove very fun and serious test of my patience and sanity.

I need to ponder bit more on the final choices for the bearings and how the lift mechanism will work. I'm leaning more towards using 2 instead of 4 bearings and finding a simpler way to get the punch holder to lock in the open position.

So far, the mockup with the wood I cut out has highlighted only one error. Fingers are crossed that it stays that way.

[shtoink]

A few shots of test fits and such

A quick mock up with freshly cut pieces

A couple shots of gluing parts together. I love these 90 degree clamps!

[shtoink]

There has been progress on this thing, I promise...

With school, it just hasn't a priority.

I got the axle the bearings ride on in place and placed a pair of flanged bearings on each end. It's a simple flared end type of retention for the bearings. Since the rod was brass and I wanted a low profile retaining method, it seemed to most straight forward way to do it. I ended up dropping the second set of bearings due to the risk of breaking in the area between the bearings in the images in my previous posts. I wanted to use them. but the grain of the oak I used made that too risky. I did end up shaping the top of the channels so that the whole thing dropeed into place more easily.

The tubes are getting affixed to the front panel for the part that will be holding all of the punches. Some slight modifications had to be made due to an oversight on my part in the initial design. I accidentally made a couple of the plastic tubes overlap the side panels, so the next size down tubes needed to be used. It worked out in my favor, since cutting the plastic tubing revealed that the precut lengths did not yield enough sections of tubing for the number I had intended. It would have meant going back to purchase another 3 foot section for roughly 6 inches of tubing and I didn't really want that and that was the shortest the big-box hardware store sold them.

There were a couple challenges along the way with the tubes. One was cutting them all with as little waste as possible and the other was getting them all the same length. While there are a ton a of different ways to go about this, and plenty that I wold have rather used over the way it ended up happening. In the end, I used a hobby razor saw and jig. Despite all the careful planning and setting up, I still ended up with crooked cuts due to a poorly designed miter.

The next step was to find a way to make all these tubes stay together and get that mess to stay attached to the front panel. Looking back on that now, I should have gotten some of that purple glue meant for PVC pipes instead of a boat-load of CA glue.

Still up is making the tubes part of the front panel, which is the phase I am in now.

Here are a few shots on the progress and a video of the tool block motion being tested

And the video...

Edited March 23, 2014 by shtoink