Since I had some stressful events just lately I felt I needed something to rest my mind upon.
My Cali build ( viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6315 ) is on hiatus waiting for parts, so I expanded into a detail I really enjoyed a lot. This will be loads of work, text and a lot of revealed „trade secrets“ of mine but I found this board to be about sharing and the exchange of knowlegde so here goes:
- the knife edge buckle -
Having to fill a minimum order with my laser cutting service I ordered some blanks. I have to thank [mention]Emilio[/mention] (again) for giving me any help needed to work out the dimensions of the original 27mm buckle. Loosely based on these I drew up a design for a 26mm and a 24mm as well.
I went entirely from my own preferences and ended up with a slim 26 and a fat 24. If anyone needs a raw fusion file he can alter to his needs, feel free to drop me a pm.
Now firstly there are two main problems, each posing it‘s own little set of challenges. Repeatable bevels and a uniform finish.
If you search the archive you’ll find many different bevel angles. I personally like the flat ones better than the steep ones so accordingly I built a jig (pictured a bit later) to hold the blank to my beltsander in all five positions necessary.
I found it easiest to first establish two opposing bevels and then blend in the others.
Note: using a fresh belt (3M Trizact 160) for this, that is strictly limited to brass will minimize a lot of problems in plating later on ([mention]binbin[/mention] lesson learned from your hint on the anodizing thread - thanks again!)
A lot of thought went into how and when to finish the 13 surfaces of the buckle (not counting the pin). I couldn’t clamp to a finished surface without marring it so the largest - front and back - would go last. First I roughed in the hinges and then I started the bevels. To get a super straight brushing I had to limit movement to one axis and came up with this:
I used the bevel jig...
...and an L-shaped piece of aluminium clamped in the vise against a piece of aluminum composite material.
The sanding paper would be held in the vise inbetween and could be moved up and down to use every last inch of it - quite economic
All bevels done I went for the in- and outside with diy sandpaper files.
They are made up of aluminium composite (dibond), double stick tape and sanding paper. I can make them to have dull or cutting edges and bang out different shapes in a minute. The coating makes it easy to peel off the tape and replace... an evolution from my popsicle stick file.
From this...
...to this
Now for the large front and back. There’s no more surfaces to clamp to and pushing with my fingers would result in losing fingertips and not finishing buckles.
I made a little block with a non-scratching fiber surface, that would catch the blank from the inside. A little jig - holding a strip of acrylic glass, again with double stick tape and sandpaper - that would pose a ridge for the sanding block and buckle to ride on. This would again limit the movement to one direction. I also used a little aluminium dice with double stick tape to pick up the buckle from the paper, not to mar the surface.
All that fiddling led me here:
They were starting to look a bit like jewelry
Third issue was plating. I jumped a lot of hoops and was lucky to have most of the equipment at hand. I‘ll skip the basics - there’s so many tutorial on youtube, it would be redundance to go into detail.
So what’s special here?
I got a dirt cheap, used lab heating/ stirring plate. This way all emerging bubbles were drawn from the parts immediately and I could maintain a solid temperature around 40°C. Current was 3V DC, time was 90 minutes each.
[mention]hako[/mention] reminded me of a very nice publication from the german copper institute that held a recipe for breaking up oxide layers before plating. Brass is super reactive and will oxidize quickly so if you don’t plate right after sanding you‘ll get a dull plating that needs polish afterwards.
A twenty second dip of the part in 10% sulphuric acid!
To me this was a game changer. No residue on the parts post plating. Shiny buckles straight from the bath. Neutralize and dry... done.
Right, no pics of the finished buckles yet - there’s a catch.
Since I had two whole sets of buckles so six pieces to be precise, in the making I wanted to get the opinion of some dear members of the board and sent out five for appreciation. I asked specifically for their private opinion and harsh critique and left open if they wanted to join this thread publicly so I wont disclose any identities unless they choose to themselves.
If it turns out they are any good, I might make a batch for sale every once in a while but would like to wait if they are up to par yet or if some tweaking is due. Of course I left a little dent or a scratch on every last buckle (f@#€&ck) and already found a little mistake I made - just after sending them out (double-f&€#@ck) - but that’s the purpose of a prototype, right?
I very much know I can’t replicate the impeccable work [mention]Elias Livadaris[/mention] has made with his rendition but maybe this can be a „homage to his homage“ after he stopped making them.
Thank you for reading - well appreciated!
On a knife edge
- Phaedros
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On a knife edge
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Re: On a knife edge
super nice post. Thanks for sharing the pics, the process, the tips...and a buckle...
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Re: On a knife edge
Super effort here
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Re: On a knife edge
It's looking great. We wish you good luck on this journey
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Re: On a knife edge
Really nice work I like your jigs and setup. Thanks for the write up and the pics.
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Re: On a knife edge
I love these kinds of posts.
Great work.
Sometimes figuring out how to hold the part is harder then actually making the part.
Great work.
Sometimes figuring out how to hold the part is harder then actually making the part.
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Re: On a knife edge
great job
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Re: On a knife edge
[mention]toofsy[/mention] you are very welcome! I really am excited about this - making those buckles is a super fun challenge.
[mention]Superspark69[/mention] thank you!
[mention]Emilio[/mention] as I said, great fun as well.I am super grateful for your help there!
[mention]straps68[/mention] thank you - you set a benchmark in finishing quality that makes me really struggle to get even close! Now I really know what you mean by hours of finishing
[mention]NortON[/mention] thank you very much!
[mention]binbin[/mention] thank you too! Your advice about contamination of parts in the early stages really helped a lot. My first buckle had so much strange residue on itself after plating... working all clean from the start resolved this nicely.
[mention]tafari[/mention] thanks a lot!
[mention]Superspark69[/mention] thank you!
[mention]Emilio[/mention] as I said, great fun as well.I am super grateful for your help there!
[mention]straps68[/mention] thank you - you set a benchmark in finishing quality that makes me really struggle to get even close! Now I really know what you mean by hours of finishing
[mention]NortON[/mention] thank you very much!
[mention]binbin[/mention] thank you too! Your advice about contamination of parts in the early stages really helped a lot. My first buckle had so much strange residue on itself after plating... working all clean from the start resolved this nicely.
[mention]tafari[/mention] thanks a lot!
„I asked her for gasoline, she gave me water...“
Me, side of the road, pushing my bike.
Me, side of the road, pushing my bike.
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Re: On a knife edge
Great job Chris! ... this homage hobby inspires new talent and innovation!
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