Recommendation? Prototyping: cheap, fast and noiseless?

Joined
Dec 1, 2020
Messages
6
My Situation: my family and my neigbours hate me and my angle grinder. Especially on workdays at 11pm. And if they knew, that half of the noise, time and effort was good for nothing, they would possibly exile me for ever.

I am talking about making prototypes.

Any ideas on how to make this process more...sustainable concerning my surrounding and the ressources?

Conditions: the weight of the prototype should be more or less comparable to that of steel. So no 3D.printing.

For e.g.: I´ve dived into clay pottery throwing the burned results on carton boxes for testing their flight behaviour. But still this process is quite time consuming and you don´t fire the oven for 1-3 small clay-prototypes.
 
Last edited:
Hey ThroR! There IS life here after all. :) I figured my posts had driven everyone away. Of course, there's still time for me to do so.

Anyway, I also worry about grinding noise and accompanying debris which can limit the versions I craft. I've starting carving rough wood prototypes of throwing knives I might fashion. Of course, they aren't throwable due to weight and compositional differences. However, it does provide a sense of how the design might be held and gripped. I then try to use the wood model as a handle (or scale) if I have a knife that will require one. I sometimes even put a small handle on my throwers to cut down on the "clanging" sound when I miss. However, since none of us ever miss, perhaps this is a superfluous addition. ;) Your clay idea is certainly a more effective prototype, but FAR beyond my skillset, unfortunately.
 
Hi Sam03, carving wood is definitely more socially responsible. I used to be a carpenter so I have all necessary crafting tools at home.Why not drilling holes and fill them with lead sticks for some weight gain? And you are right, my neighbours also hate me for that clanging noise, when i miss (once a month or so). But I used to destroy wooden handles after a few throws. So no option for me. But hey, my neighbours should in general be happy, that it's me, a bunch of wild children and an angel grinder and not the hells angels living next door.




house.
 
Hi, welcome to Blade Forums. Throwing knives are pretty thoroughly evolved items. I can't guess what you could prototype that would be ground breaking that would require that degree of accuracy.

If you want knives with good flight characteristics they're already out there.
 
Knives are extremely clangy on hard surfaces, a few $6 moving blankets from Harbor Freight spread over your usual Miss zones will deaden the sound from the ground. Maybe some tool dip over handles would drop the noise too, that would be the easiest way. Switching your target to a thick sheet of styrofoam (like the ones used for insulation) would keep knives from bouncing off. They need replacing more often, but you get also get instant feedback on how you are hitting the target.

I would also look into soundproofing your grinding area as much as possible. It’s hard to have good ventilation, sound control, and fire resistance all in one unless you are going to spend some money. If it’s a garage, can you close the door and get ventilation from a window? Moving blankets hung up on walls will deaden sound, but they are flammable so grinding well away is a must.

A trick I have used with woodworking in my driveway is to cut my neighbors in for some of the benefits. I see walking sticks I have given away around town, and they know they can come to me for a quick basement vent or whatnot, and I have been asked to cut many trees and limbs. Invite the neighbors for a throwing session, some might even want to join you regularly.

If all else fails, get a leather biker jacket and have it embroidered with “Hell’s Angle (Grinder)” and they may be too intimidated to bug you.
 
Tool dip: what a great idea, BitingSarcasm! It may very well limit the noise from missed throws, not that any of us EVER miss. It will be interesting to ascertain if the different surface impacts my grip. I throw no-spin/instinctive style and need that "slide" of my finger down the spine of the handle. I'll bet I could scrape the spine if need be. Home Depot here I come! Love having people think of things that I then can "borrow" for my benefit....
 
Hi, welcome to Blade Forums. Throwing knives are pretty thoroughly evolved items. I can't guess what you could prototype that would be ground breaking that would require that degree of accuracy.

If you want knives with good flight characteristics they're already out there.

Yes, true, but shouldn't you encourage newbies to craft their own favourite throwing sports tool? Possibly you mistook 'prototyping' for me being a professional knife maker wannabee. Just for home use, don't worry.
 
Yes, true, but shouldn't you encourage newbies to craft their own favourite throwing sports tool? Possibly you mistook 'prototyping' for me being a professional knife maker wannabee. Just for home use, don't worry.
Great just don't grind on workdays at 11pm. Seems reasonable.
 
ThroR, you just keep exploring, grinding, creating, etc. I happen to think not everything has been discovered and/or designed yet. Danke is right: lots of good ideas out there. However, who says YOUR ideas won’t someday become one of those?
 
In my early prototyping of some knives, I would lay out my design on graph paper, cut the drawing out and transfer the pattern to acrylic and cut the design out with a jig saw. That allowed my to determine things like balance point, handle/blade feel, experiment with handle materials (if so designed) for shape and thickness. An acrylic knife will have the same weight distribution as a metal version. They sure don't throw rotationally like a metal knife but no-spin, they work out to 2 meters, so you can get a feel for short range flight characteristics.

I later shifted to 3D CAD and laser cutting the acrylic blank out, making changes and then waterjetting steel blanks. Until the shop I was using went bankrupt and I lost access to lasers and a waterjet. Back to the past and hand cutting.
 
Acrylic model also a solid idea. Zz, it is unfortunate that you lost access to your cutting options. I also wish I had access to a water jet; using a grinder is messy AND I struggle with the temperature altering/warping the blade I’m shaping. I use a water sprayer every 5-10 seconds, but it still takes forever. A prototype also provides a reusable template that is sturdier than a paper cutout.
 
Back
Top