And so it begins.... (My adventures into Alox!)

[Syph007]

I finally am giving my tumbling machine a try.  Nothing much to show yet, but I was excited to try a new toy.  There are 8 springs in there.  After 12 hours so far they are about half way to where I'd like them.  So it's still on and I'll take some before and after pics when done.  I remember hearing the pyramid ceramic style are more aggressive so I will try those next. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpSWPr-rHdE&feature=youtu.be

[enki_ck]

That sounds loud.

Hope it gives you satisfactory results.

[Syph007]

That sounds loud.

Hope it gives you satisfactory results.

Ya after the first hour I moved it out to the back shed.  Its been there ever since.   Thats going to be my workshop for loud and messy stuff.  The Ti anodizing lab is getting setup there.

[Syph007]

Ok so I had the tumbler going for 48 hrs with some periodic checks and here's what it did...  some cleaning but not near enough.  This is a pretty fine grit ceramic so I have some more aggressive pyramids coming from a local place that should get here pretty quick.

The tumbler I bought came with a book called the art and science of mass finishing, its actually pretty interesting stuff that I never gave much thought before.  With some experimenting I think I can really speed up finishing time which is pretty cool.   

[MadPlumbarian]

Ok so I had the tumbler going for 48 hrs with some periodic checks and here's what it did...  some cleaning but not near enough.  This is a pretty fine grit ceramic so I have some more aggressive pyramids coming from a local place that should get here pretty quick.

The tumbler I bought came with a book called the art and science of mass finishing, its actually pretty interesting stuff that I never gave much thought before.  With some experimenting I think I can really speed up finishing time which is pretty cool.   

Wow 48hrs, I didn't think it would have to go for that long, but that looks really nice though! JR

[sawman]

Ok so I had the tumbler going for 48 hrs with some periodic checks and here's what it did...  some cleaning but not near enough.  This is a pretty fine grit ceramic so I have some more aggressive pyramids coming from a local place that should get here pretty quick.

The tumbler I bought came with a book called the art and science of mass finishing, its actually pretty interesting stuff that I never gave much thought before.  With some experimenting I think I can really speed up finishing time which is pretty cool.   

I don't mean to be a nay-sayer, but to me, that looks just a little too beat-up. It's awfully rough for a stonewash job...

[Syph007]

Ok so I had the tumbler going for 48 hrs with some periodic checks and here's what it did...  some cleaning but not near enough.  This is a pretty fine grit ceramic so I have some more aggressive pyramids coming from a local place that should get here pretty quick.

The tumbler I bought came with a book called the art and science of mass finishing, its actually pretty interesting stuff that I never gave much thought before.  With some experimenting I think I can really speed up finishing time which is pretty cool.   

I don't mean to be a nay-sayer, but to me, that looks just a little too beat-up. It's awfully rough for a stonewash job...

OH its not nearly done.  Thats why I orderd more aggresive media.  The idea is to remove all the scale from heat treat, then run it again with finer grit.

[sawman]

Ok so I had the tumbler going for 48 hrs with some periodic checks and here's what it did...  some cleaning but not near enough.  This is a pretty fine grit ceramic so I have some more aggressive pyramids coming from a local place that should get here pretty quick.

The tumbler I bought came with a book called the art and science of mass finishing, its actually pretty interesting stuff that I never gave much thought before.  With some experimenting I think I can really speed up finishing time which is pretty cool.   

I don't mean to be a nay-sayer, but to me, that looks just a little too beat-up. It's awfully rough for a stonewash job...

OH its not nearly done.  Thats why I orderd more aggresive media.  The idea is to remove all the scale from heat treat, then run it again with finer grit.

That makes sense, can't wait to see the finished result

[Syph007]

Woohoo!  Got my 50 cerakoted liners back from Jeff Forbush today!

He does such great work and I cant recommend him highly enough.  It's refreshing to deal with someone who always completely out performs what I expect, and is polite and prompt to boot.

So these are stock nickel silver liners and spacers.  Half of them I riveted the spacers to, to effectively make them one piece.  I needed more black liners for blackout builds and using the stock ones I had plenty of just seemed like a convenient option.  These are armor black cerakote.

[mrynnr]

OOOOOHHHHHH

[Heywood Floyd]

YYYYYEEAAHHHHH

[Syph007]

Working on another run of BO parts and waiting for some DLC parts, so in the mean time it seemed smart to make sure I had liners ready to go.     They seem like they will work out fine... now I just need some black parts.

[captain spaulding]

Oh so beautiful. Can't wait to see them put to good use.

[scattergun13]

I just found this thread and can't wait to read all of it and see the pics. Just wanted to say that you are truly gifted Sir. It shows in your finished product. I'd love to purchase one from you someday.
Sincerely,
Stew...

[Syph007]

Ok I might have an addiction to modding... maybe...

Im already stocked up on black and green, blue is already being anodized now, so I took stock of my scales to be processed.  Oh just 76 kicking around...   I'll send 20 sets ( 40 scales ) for red though, then the rest will get in queue for more orange. 

I should be good for alox donors for quite awhile now.  Thats good though I can then focus on another BO run, brass liner making via waterjet, and finally get back to prototyping a Ti liner lock!

[enki_ck]

Ok I might have an addiction to modding... maybe...
...

Maybe, but just slightly.

[Syph007]

Ok I might have an addiction to modding... maybe...
...

Maybe, but just slightly.

Im setting up my mad scientist lab today in the back shed.  Ive got power out there so I thought Id make that my Ti anodizing space.  I have an order for a Ti minichamp with blue liners, so if all goes well I'll have that to show later today.   

[Syph007]

And.. welcome to my secret backyard Ti anodizing station!





The electrolyte is 5g TSP per 1 L water, so 20G for my 4 L vessel. 



The power supply is awesome! 0-120 Volts in increments of 0.1 volts.  And this is a self adjusting supply, so if I dial up 25 volts for purple, it will adjust current to keep it at 25.



Now..... did it work?

[Syph007]

Here are my first test parts.  Kind of a purply blue.  The relfective native of the Ti-oxide is REALLY hard to photograph well.

I posed them with some stock nickel silver liners for reference.







I think they turned out not bad for my first go.  Now I can finish the Ti minichamp tomorrow and we'll see how it looks. 

[enki_ck]

                           You electroshocked them till they turned blue!                                




 















Looks good to me.

[Glofindel]

looks so much fun. I wish my house has space like that.

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[RByers91]

  

[Syph007]

Ive been holding onto some hard anodized old cross for ages now.  I really need to make them into something cool.

I was given a broken marlin spike old cross and have a set of those scales too.  The idea with that one was to build a Ti marlinspike and put it back together.  The marlin spike was broken in half on that one.

[captain spaulding]

Those old cross scales are awesome. The green is just .

[RByers91]

Ive been holding onto some hard anodized old cross for ages now.  I really need to make them into something cool.

I was given a broken marlin spike old cross and have a set of those scales too.  The idea with that one was to build a Ti marlinspike and put it back together.  The marlin spike was broken in half on that one.

(Image removed from quote.)

Old cross white cerakote? Very cool!

[MadPlumbarian]

Those old cross scales are awesome. The green is just .

Yes! And the same for that blue JR

[Hyatt181]

I would like a blue set made for me. I've been trying to find a donor for that. Didn't think you would have them sitting around.


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[Syph007]

All of the brass liners Ive used in my mods have all been cut by hand with a jewelers saw.  I had made about 100 last time but it took ages, and the wrist pain was something I wasnt looking forward too.  I sent for a quote from my waterjet guy about costs to cut those out en masse and its reasonable enough that I think that is the way forward. 

So for a first test I have a 1' x 2' piece of 0.032" C260 brass going for waterjet of liners.  It should yield about 100 pieces.  The price goes down per part the larger the order, but I didnt want to commit any more than that in case my dxf file wasnt perfect.

I used the hole sizes for stock liners on these in case anyone was looking for brass liners to rebuild old alox knives as brass liners are very hard to find from old alox especially in good shape. 

Well I'll know in about 3 weeks if the parts are right.   They wont be ready to use off the machine, but Im used to doing the edge sand an polish manually anyhow.

I did make 2 tweaks to the standard profile of the liner though.  I hate sanding the 90 degree corner part so I rounded out that shape, and also I made the hump over the center hole slightly thicker.  Since I drill out that hole to 1/8 inch it just felt like a good idea since I was doing custom cut liners.



Everytime I build a custom with brass liners, I think, I really need to make up more of these as they look so nice.  They really class up a custom and go with any of the colors.

[chivaceae]

These brass liners look great Robert!

[Syph007]

Black and blue beauty today.