Lots of new projects

Since making the Rat 1 scales I've been working on scales for the Spyderco Manix 2 knife.  Since my glow material is so expensive I made the first set out of aluminum, which is relatively cheap and I can purchase as much as I want from the metal store 5 minutes away.  Once the stock handle is digitally profiles and put into my CAD program, I then have to figure out what tools I need to make it, and how I'm going to hold the material while cutting it.  Then I have to tell the CAM program how to do all of those operations and it will spit out a rough "G-code" file, it's a text file which tells the machine where and when to move, in an XYZ coordinate system.  I often find myself heavily editing this file as I make the first few prototypes to make the job run smoother.  

Here is the first set of handles that I made for the knife.  Nearly perfect, with a few tweaks to do next time.  I machined that wicked striped pattern into the top, it really reflects the light in cool ways.  As is, they don't offer much grip, so I think I'll work on incorporating some grooves for traction, or maybe a completely sculpted face.

Here is what the knife looks like partly disassembled.

 

The first 18 pair finished, glowing in my dark shop.

 This is what my milling machine looks like when I turn out the lights at night!

 

Here you can see how I've made a much needed improvement to the stock knife.  Normally the end of the scale is pressed onto that lanyard tube very firmly, and it uses that friction as the sole attachment point for the back half.  So instead of requiring a press fit I made my lanyard holes a little oversized, then include 2 phillips screws that are countersunk into the middle clip hole.  If you're using a clip, you only need one screw, but I'm including two with every kit, in case you want to run without a clip, or if you lose one.

 First round of boxing and shipping getting underway!  Exciting.

 Here I finally got around to anodizing these aluminum handles, I chose my Toxic Green color because it looks wicked.  The ones on the left have been beadblasted, the right ones are just the machined finish.  I like machined finish best, but hey that's just me.