Engraving Custom Blades Efficiently
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- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
- If you've ever been curious about how we engrave our parts with their unique serial numbers and dates, this episode of Macro Monday is for you. We've been collecting footage for the past year as John transitioned from his old engraving method, to a new one that involves macros, making new pallets, writing new code, and the use of the Pierson Pallet Mini System.
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This kind of perfectionism is exactly why you are successful. I wish you even more success in the future. WAY above my head.
Robert Palmore exactly. And this is why I will buy one or more of his products. I really want a pen and spinner. And of course a knife.
Thank you Robert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means a lot to me.
I use a very similar method for serializing parts on an NT3200 with a 30i control. I love geeking out on macro. I have incorporated the date into the serial no. as you spoke of by reading the date in the control. So first 4 digits are date code and last four are serial code and when the next month rolls around the serial resets back to 0001. If you're interested in the code I'm using I am more than happy to share. Thanks for the great story of your successes and troubles the same!
It's amazing how archaic controlling/programming some equipment is. It reminds me a lot of writing macros for a PABX
I can't believe I missed this episode! It's pure geektastic goodness. Enjoyed all 42 minutes! Thanks John and the team, I'm off to sulk my Haas doesn't have macros enabled.
Great Video John
Thanks bud!
Nice! I got my script all working for the Brother. It ended up needing a bunch of IF and GOTO commands instead of calling a sub-program by a variable. It is REALLY nice to have a macro!
Great video, minimal editing, super informative. Thanks for taking the time out to show us this.
Thanks Manny! Glad you enjoyed it.
Air cooling when engraving, interesting concept, i usually flood cool any engraving i do regardless of material properties (work side or tool side). But yeah, combined with the step action, i can see it work nicely. I'm going to try it when i engrave more batch numbers in stainless.
Intresting video about macro programming, hope to see more videos about macro programming. Could you maybe explain in a new video more about how to work and make better use of the subroutine function in fusion360. Because in your autodesk university video you used the function +1, I trying to use it in the same way as u used that function but I can't get it to work. Hope you can give a little more information about this.
Hey Koen, it is definitely tough to get fancy macros to work in Fusion, and basically I'm just writing blocks of Manual NC code so that they post word for word at the right time with the other operations. There are post processors that will output a main and subroutine files, but I haven't played with it much.
🎵 Just another macro monday, ooooo-w-oooo
Nicely done. Your old method looks like a solution I would have used too :)
As for recording your screen, grab OBS (Open Broadcast Software). Free, and awesome.
Awesome tip, thanks Russ!
Excellent video! Letting the controller do all the heavy lifting; like you said, a lot of work up front, but it is worth it in the long run. I made sure to put in a lot of error checks on an OD Grinder code, to make sure the operator didn't fat finger a variable or try to take too small or too big of a cut, well worth putting in the time up front to save time down the road. Love the Macro Programming Videos, keep them coming!
Awesome work Chad!
@JohnGrimsmo I recently purchased a Norseman #1255 in brand new condition. It looks like the person never used it, it still has the factory edge and is hair popping sharp. There is so much I love about the knife, and I've wanted one for years. There are so many little design features that just brings me joy.
However, there are a few things that really disappointed me with the knife that I didn't expect. For a knife this expensive, and the stellar reputation that you guys have, I expected it to be flawless, and with mine, it isn't.
1) The first thing was the detent was way too strong. It was actually painful to deploy the knife. I've had it for 2 days now, and it is starting to get more comfortable to use so maybe it just needed to be broken in.
2) Every knife I get I test the lockup by wacking the spine of the blade on a table. I don't do it extremely hard, it's just that I am in the Army, so I purchased this knife to be used for more than just opening boxes, and I want to use it for many years to come. It failed the test, and with the excellent reputation you guys have, I didn't expect that. It also makes me not want to use the knife in the field because the lock may fail when I need it the most.
3) I can not find any form of customer support with you guys. I tried messaging both you and Erik on Instagram but have not gotten a response. I know you guys are busy, so I didn't expect a quick response, but I did expect you guys to have some sort of customer support or warranty.
I love the design, materials, ergonomics, and the knife is perfect for what I would be using it for. I think the detent is breaking in, but any knife I am going to carry needs to have a secure lock up. I really hope you guys have a solution or would let me ship it to you so you could fix it because this knife cost me a lot, and I would like to use it in the field.
Thanks,
Daniel Boback
Email: danielboback55@gmail.com
I love it. You guys are doing a great job. Set the standard :-) I never thought of numbering my Damascus blades. That's a great idea.
Hey John, This may have been brought up already but why not use holes in the fixture and a probing routine to select whether the material in the fixture is RWL or Damasteel. Then the fixture would control which engraving sub is run based on which hole the probe finds (the other would have a plug).
Love these videos. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into making them. Can’t be easy. So thank you. Keep them coming. One day I’ll get one
Thank you so much! Great to hear.
JohnGrimsmo working a Saturday. True successful businessman. The only way to grow and be successful. I can’t wait to buy one of your knives. I’m on the list. On a side note, you have a great personality for the RUclips videos. Very personable, kind, genuine, and I’m sure your employees appreciate your demeanor as well. A good boss is critical in any work environment to push out a great product.
No more cutting foam on the Mori! We talked about this!
Working on a router plan, getting pretty excited about it.
you could post your macro to pastebin for future reference :) awesome to see your journey in macros, great stuff
Wonderful content John!
Thanks! Great info
9:48 are the tops of those supposed to be flat or is it supposed to have that transition? It may just be optical but I swear if you ran that transition under an indicator on a surface plate you would twitch it more than .001" on that right hand end. I wonder if you can just have it call the date auto from the machine so it just always used whatever the date was?
Supreme flatness of that surface wasn't super critical, but you're right I could have fed off the part to face it a bit better. And yes, I definitely want to get it to engrave the date from the machine's memory too.
Great video, my only question is - if you have air blast why are you using a chip fan?
23:33 Three, sire, three!
I'm almost impressed you are able to do that much computation on the controller in gcode. Time to make it check your serial number for being greater than 9,999 and pop up an error message.
I used to be the guy on upwork writing small computer programs. Is it possible to drag the probe tip across the surface and tell you if it's rough (engraved) ? I wonder if probing the depth every 50 or 100 thou would work?
You can't drag the tip across because it's an on/off type probe, and it's tricky because there's not one spot that always gets engraved since the numbers change. The 9999 error is a good idea hahaha. Although adding a 5th digit shouldn't be too hard actually.
IF[#500GT9999]THEN#3000=1(WTF WE MADE ALOT OF PARTS)
Is it really a benefit if it took you a year to get it right? (I know you weren't working on it for 10 hours/day, 5 days/week, for 52 weeks) You spent literally thousands of dollars in your time to CAD/CAM the pallet, CAD/CAM the engraving, code the micros/sub routines, on buying the new Pierson pallet, time/money for the fixtures on the pallet, and tooling to do it. Don't you think, since you make very low volumes of knives, that it would have been better/easier/cheaper to continue doing it the way you were doing it? Just curious what you think, now that you've completed it, and you know how much time/money it cost you to do it.
so Johns idea has always been to do the leg work now so he can scale it up in the future and or even branch out from knife making.
I work in driveline production our numbers eclipse the grimso shop by a facotor of 1000 and we use offline laser etching for part marking as our spinle time is too valubale to be used etching a finished part plus all the tiny endmills we would use and the tiny repetitive movements take a lot for a big 50 taper to get to. its not economical in the grand scheme. PLUS most machines even the Mori can do auto serializing at the control for short runs.
i think john went down the rabbit hole on this one.
I like to think of it as this, it's really more or less a passion project. Going through all this is practically trivial for engraving some numbers. But the lessons learned here are going to mean way more on something more important, more expensive and time consuming. If John didn't learn now and what to do with macros, he wouldn't be ready for something more valuable in time savings. I'm sure things will work itself out.
Figuring out your first macro that is this detailed will always take time to sort out, so that aspect is not really lost when you think about it.
The pursuit of the best method aaaaalways takes time, and I never know at the beginning how much time it'll take by the end. But when I've got something like this in mind that I just can't stop thinking about, and it's painful to keep doing it the old way because I know that there's a better way, I just can't help myself but pursue the better path. Also I learned SO MUCH about macros that I can and will absolutely use in the future, so that's pretty awesome. The code works so amazing well now that was worth it, it's fast and easy now. Maybe the hours and dollars don't line up, but I don't really care ;-).
Just because it’s cheaper doesn’t mean it’s right or better... now that he has spent the time to get it working he’ll never have to do it by hand again. So there is definitely a payback period, but this way will eventually be cheaper. I’m also assuming he use what he learned in more places than this one instance (think saga).
As someone who programs for a living and machines for fun.. First, it's a real that shame the industry still uses such an archaic, user-hostile language from the days of punch cards to run machines. This should be so much easier. Second, if you aren't already, you're well passed the threshold where you should be using some version control system for your bigger hand-written programs. It is one more thing to learn, but I don't imagine I'll ever program anything more than a hundred lines or so again without using version control.
Would you ever consider a dedicated Laser engraving/etching station in your workshop for this process? I only say this because other manufacturers have a dedicated work station for marking of serial numbers, etc.
I suspect that the milled serials are more durable.
@@Anonymouspock nope offline laser etching is more reliable in everyway except absolute positional accuracy. .0025 vs the .0001 from a mill.
I have definitely thought about getting a laser to do this task, but every time I look into it the project grows and I end up wanting a $70,000 laser that can do some crazy work, so I shelf the idea for a while until I get excited about it again hahaha.
@@Anonymouspock Yes to being more durable in all conditions, however with Laser you can etch quite a decent durable mark with power settings/multiple pass that would last very well. Other manufacturers use Laser so it must be ok.... just with milling the consumable cost of endmill engraving bits from wear and tool breakages which could ruin a part right at the end of processing of the blade from, blank -- milling -- heat treat -- post heat treat hard milling -- surface finish treament...all to be ruined at the end by a broken or worn endmill.
@@Juxtaposed1Nmotion Laser is the way to go for serials,etc... as for positional accuracy .0025 for marking/etching/engraving would be fine... I personally don't think you need .0001 positional accuracy for a serial or makers mark or decoration on this type of item.
that's cool.. the only thing I can see off the bat is..... when you get to 5 digits you have to rewrite it again :)
I have a nut allergy now what?? No video for me? Just kidding. Thanks for the great contend as always.
I have nightmares where I'm being held down and people are forcing nuts into my mouth. It's truly horrible. You know, maybe we're talking about different things now that I really think about it. Sorry about your nut things though.
Blade 1950? I am still waiting for blade 1000 to be finished!
I see a video where you have to reject a blade becouse tha machine cut too much material from the stock... Have you ever considered tu buy a 4th axis for your dmg vmc? A 4th axis will make your life easier and
you would avoid throwing precious material. The down side will be to make new fixture for the 4th axis rotary table and learn to use it without crash the machine, but one of the advantages would be that you could make 4 or more blades in one operation and be sure that they will come out as you wish.
отличный пример, если хотите поделиться опытом, всегда буду рад это сделать. Как с вами связаться? Можете говорить по английски, я вас пойму
Many serial number tracking mfgs integrate a date code in the serial number.
Air coolant instead of flood coolant? Really? What made you make that decision? What effects did flood coolant have that were undesirable?
If you can probe for the blade being there, why can’t you probe if it has been engraved already to skip it and not having to remove it
We have thought about that and it might be possible, but it's tricky because every digit is different so the engraved spot might change. Even the word RWL34 will be differently spaced than Damasteel, so I'm not sure if there'll be one perfect spot to probe to see if it's been engraved. But it certainly is a sweet idea. Might just probe the detent ramp, but that doesn't always work either because it might have broken on the number section.
Not an expert at all on CNC or G-Code, I’m a software ingeniar. Wold you be able to do a swipe on top of the blade and detect the irregularity or vibration on the detector?
40mins Jesus Christ engraving can't be that difficult
John, you really need to get a fiber laser..
M99 is not rewind
I'm confused by this business. Do they only make a couple knives every once in a while which is why they have to be so expensive? They must make more then that now or soon to stay open and grow as a company right? I bet I don't know what I'm talking about.
I've never seen a knife so beautiful as it was unattainable as the Grimsmo Norseman.
I mean it stands to reason that they'd made 873 Norseman knives by the time that footage was taken so...
Go buy a laser! your wasting money