I'm back in school....cause I can

BossDog

BossDog

KnifeDogs.com & USAknifemaker.com Owner
Staff member
Time for me to learn some new skills.

I started classes this week at the local Tech college. I am taking machining classes in vertical mill, lathe and CNC programming. College is not like what I vaguely remember from thirty some years ago. I am getting ready to tool up a next summer and get a little more serious about seeing some folders made. Skool is 3 days a week for four hours in the middle of the day. I can go to work in the morning, attend a class beating the heck out of some metal and then come back to finish the day at the shop. I am going to have some serious fun with those classes....
 
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Awesome! I really enjoy taking classes at the tech school. I would love to find a basic machine class round here.
 
Sounds Great! I'm sure you will do well.

Wish we had a tech school in my area that offered it. Tech here equals computer classes.
 
Boss

I think this is awesome. I am really kind of jealous.

Make sure to take an apple for the teacher on the first day!

Study, study, study.

DeMo
 
I had to show my wife your post. I just told her the other day that I need to take a class on CNC machining. I'm in the very beginning stages of converting a mini mill to cnc. The hardware part, wiring, and fabrication of the conversion is no sweat, as I'm an adequate self taught machinist and work with electric stuff everyday. It's the software that's killing me! I don't have the money to fork over for Solidworks, so I'm using FreeCad, which is open source 3d modeling cad. I'm struggling with learning it. I had thought about doing a WIP on the conversion of the mill, but not sure how many people would be interested, and it is a slow spare time project too. Keep us updated on what you get out of the classes.
 
Anthony, do you plan to run your mill on LinuxCNC? That's a good FREE program and seems to do all I need. Will FreeCAD export a gcode for CNC? Or is there some steps required?

Ken H>
 
Boss, it sounds like you're in for some serious fun - CNC is a course in itself without the other things you mentioned. You're in for some serious learning {g}

Ken H>
 
KenH said:
Anthony, do you plan to run your mill on LinuxCNC? That's a good FREE program and seems to do all I need. Will FreeCAD export a gcode for CNC? Or is there some steps required?Ken H>
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I think I am going to use Mach 3 for the cnc control. FreeCad is just a 3d cad program, so I've still got to find a CAM program to generate g code. The costs of these programs are outrageous for a hobbyist. I haven't seen LinuxCNC, but I'll check it out, I've just got the trial version of Mach3 so far. I got the mill a few days ago and bought the conversion DVD from Hoss Machine. Still need to order a motor/driver package, I think I know what I want, just haven't time to sit down and compare prices. Spent about 2 hours last night trying to get an imported 2d drawing (dxf) of one of my knife designs to be a solid object in FreeCad and I'm still stumped! I saw some tutorials on Youtube, but haven't watched them yet. Have you got some cnc machinery Ken?
 
Boss:
I think that sounds like a great idea with the Tech College. I have worked on/off in my families machine shop for the last 12 years or so and finally got serious into it last year. I have often considered lately going back to school to get "formal training" to hone the skills I learned through all my OJT.

Self Made Knives said:
I think I am going to use Mach 3 for the cnc control. FreeCad is just a 3d cad program, so I've still got to find a CAM program to generate g code. The costs of these programs are outrageous for a hobbyist. I haven't seen LinuxCNC, but I'll check it out, I've just got the trial version of Mach3 so far. I got the mill a few days ago and bought the conversion DVD from Hoss Machine. Still need to order a motor/driver package, I think I know what I want, just haven't time to sit down and compare prices. Spent about 2 hours last night trying to get an imported 2d drawing (dxf) of one of my knife designs to be a solid object in FreeCad and I'm still stumped! I saw some tutorials on Youtube, but haven't watched them yet. Have you got some cnc machinery Ken?
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One of the bonus's of going back to college is DEEP student discounts on autocad, solidworks, and other fun stuff.

As far as CAM packages go, my dad uses and loves Mastercam for CAM, but it was just too hinky and not very conversational to me. I started using BOBCad and really like it for the CAM side. It also does CAD, but Autocad is much more powerful than it, and in my case I just have much more experience with it.

One useful thing I will say for any knifemaker moving from templates/paper to CNC is having a good art package on what ever you use. There are a bunch out there but I will plug BOBCad's BOBArt for a second and say how useful it is to be able to create useful geometry from a image. I personally draw a knife, put it on foam core and see how it feels, then scan that foamcore into a picture, put that picture into BOBArt, draw splines and lines around it, then (since I don't know CAD in BOBCad that well) export it to Autocad and basically have most of the geometry needed for the knife. I scale it, clean the lines up, then add all the other features. Without the Art package you would be sitting there with a ruler or calipers attempting to translate it into the PC.

I would definitely be interested in a build thread on the conversion.
 
I guess we're getting away from Boss's subject, sort of, but I go from paper design to 2d cad pretty quickly. I use DraftSight for 2d cad drawing, which of course if free. See a pattern forming here? I take my pencil drawing and scan it as jpg and then you can load it as a reference image in DraftSight. It's just a matter of tracing it with your cad tools after that. I can usually get it roughly digitized in a just a couple minutes. What I'm struggling with the last couple of nights is taking that 2d dwg file and getting it to be a solid 3d model. I'll check out BobCad too. So much to learn, so little time....
 
one upside to these classes is we we get a free student edition of Solidworks and Mastercam.
I already have solidworks but the Mastercam will be nice to get some experience with.

the solidworks student edition is licensed for a year and the mastercam apparently is fairly restricted on what you can do with the student version as far as saving code.
 
Tracy, are you signed up specifically for a cnc course? If so, did they have prerequisites for it? I don't want to go through basic machine shop, but I'd like to find a class on Solidworks, Mastercam, cnc etc. Not sure what to look for, we have a college here, so maybe. The software is a killer, you've got to drop a couple grand on any of the nice ones.
 
Boss, you going to really enjoy learning all these CNC stuff. I'm still amazed what can be done with CNC.

Have any of ya'll tried Inkscape for a 3D program? Inkscape claims to be perfectly compliant SVG format file generation. With a SVG file, you can easy generate gcode from that with several different free programs. I'm not familiar with SolidWorks (other than hearing about it) or Mastercam (first I'd heard of that one). I just did some looking and it sounds like Mastercam is well over $10K for software, and can get to $25,000 with full suite!!! No wonder I've not heard of it.

If I were considering Mach3, I'd go with Mach4. It's a LOTS slicker than Mach3 - and really not a bad price for a program as powerful as Mach4. I followed some of the development of Mach4 - I know the author of Mach4, who also did some of the work on LinuxCNC many years ago.

Yes, I've got a CNC machine - it's a small desktop that's pretty good for engraving and stuff. It's what I used for my maker's mark before I started using a stencil. I still use the CNC for special marks, special text on blade, and a few other things around.

Ken
 
Self Made Knives said:
Tracy, are you signed up specifically for a cnc course? If so, did they have prerequisites for it? I don't want to go through basic machine shop, but I'd like to find a class on Solidworks, Mastercam, cnc etc. Not sure what to look for, we have a college here, so maybe. The software is a killer, you've got to drop a couple grand on any of the nice ones.
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They (the process) will try and push into a degree program with all the per-requisites like english/math, etc. I went and talked to the instructor and told him I wanted skills in these machines to make knives, not a degree program. He signed off on allowing me to skip all the other stuff after I told him about the knife side of it. He wants to learn how to make knives and will try to make it a class project. Win..win..
 
Hi Boss,

I have a question about your post. I'm just an amateur making slippies and I'm trying to understand what it takes to make folders such as flippers. I watched your video on making flippers with Les, so I've got a basic idea that it can be done with "simple" tools. Do you feel it can't be done well without CNC? Do you feel CNC just cuts down the time and effort it takes, or is it something else? I'm definitely interested in taking my skills to the next step, but just trying to get your take on it.

Thanks!
 
Boss, you did good - many times there are courses that a person would enjoy taking and could learn a lots, just don't need the full degree program.

Mike - while a CNC mill is always handy to have around, it's not by any means a requirement for knifemaking for folders, slipjoint, flipper and anything. I'd wager well over 90% of the high end knife makers do NOT use CNC mill. Don't get me wrong, they surely would be nice - just put the metal in vise, press button and come back an hour later and have a finished knife {g} well, not quite like that.

Where a CNC really shines is in automating a process for making many items that are the same for interchangeable parts.

Ken H>

Ken H>
 
Oh, I forgot about AutoCAD's Fusion 360 program. It's pretty neat - do the 3D modeling, then export gcode directly. Cost? "A free 1-year startup license is also available for hobbyists, enthusiasts, makers, and emerging businesses that make less than US$100,000 in revenue per year. At the end of 1 year, you can reselect the startup entitlement or transition to a commercial entitlement."

I think that <$100K/yr fits most of us knife makers.
 
mmoran said:
Hi Boss,

I have a question about your post. I'm just an amateur making slippies and I'm trying to understand what it takes to make folders such as flippers. I watched your video on making flippers with Les, so I've got a basic idea that it can be done with "simple" tools. Do you feel it can't be done well without CNC? Do you feel CNC just cuts down the time and effort it takes, or is it something else? I'm definitely interested in taking my skills to the next step, but just trying to get your take on it.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

You do not need a CNC to make folders. A drill press and some good processes will produce a nice folder. Heavy frame locks can be made with out a CNC but it sure makes life a lot easier (in a way) to knock more than one at a time. A manual mill can do anything a CNC can do but it's a lot more work in most cases if it anything more than just locating and drilling some holes.
There are also several knife related items I can make with a CNC I couldn't other wise. I wouldn't use it for just knives.

Today I went in to my first Vertical Milling class and found myself in the wrong class that turned out to be Tool Theory. Instructor said I could sit in on it and by the end of the class I logged into my school account and added that class to my schedule. Then in vertical milling we went in and trammed up a bunch of old Bridgeport knee mills. I've never had a chance to play with a full size mill and I was really surprised at the back lash in every adjustment on the thing. Next week we make chips...
 
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