Any interest in pen maker specific drill bit holder?

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Carl Fisher

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I had one failure yesterday trying a different CAM program that apparently didn't interpret the hole sizes correctly. I also picked up some rub and buff to see if I can make filling the engraving a bit easier.

I may have to put this project on hold for a week or two as I have a bunch of pen boxes to get cut and engraved for someone and they'll tie up most of my cnc time.
 
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Carl Fisher

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So this was the alpha piece. My drill bits were getting out of hand and I had to get organized like immediately. The overflow is all my kitless bits.
 

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Tom T

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Carl,
That is awesome. I like it. I'm not sure I can be that organized, but it would like to try. Let us know when they go up for sale
 

Crashmph

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just me but I would have to put the sharp end down... i am prone to scratching the crud out of my hands like that. HAHAHAHAH
 

Carl Fisher

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just me but I would have to put the sharp end down... i am prone to scratching the crud out of my hands like that. HAHAHAHAH

You can definitely do that, however I would suggest a layer of closed cell foam on the bottom board to protect the tips of the bits.
 

Carl Fisher

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Ok, I think Corian is NOT the way to go. It's just too heavy overall.

Looking into HDPE and Polypropylene for roughly the same cost and it should be lighter weight and taking machining just as well.
 

Carl Fisher

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Yup, haven't gone back to it. I'm waiting on some product to arrive to do some testing. I was also having some interference hiccups on the CNC when trying to run some pen boxes the other day so I have to look into that.

Plus we're trying to get ready for a show next weekend so we're in production mode to get inventory up.

Rest assured, I will produce them...eventually.
 

Carl Fisher

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Well, the good news is that I've been using my test piece for a bit now and I absolutely love it. The less than good news is that I haven't had time to fire up my CNC since I had some hiccups with interference last time.

But it's not a dead project.
 

monty8867

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Carl,
Are you going ahead with this project? If so I would be very interested. I was planning on doing something along those lines but it would be very primative compared to what you had outlined.
 

Carl Fisher

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Carl,
Are you going ahead with this project? If so I would be very interested. I was planning on doing something along those lines but it would be very primative compared to what you had outlined.

I am but a first round of surgery and other family obligations have kept me from working out the last of the kinks in my CNC as well as sourcing the right material to keep the price where I'm aiming for.

I may go back to MDF for the material since it's relatively inexpensive and stable, but it's susceptible to water damage which I was trying to avoid and ridiculously messy to mill.
 

jyreene

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I am but a first round of surgery and other family obligations have kept me from working out the last of the kinks in my CNC as well as sourcing the right material to keep the price where I'm aiming for. I may go back to MDF for the material since it's relatively inexpensive and stable, but it's susceptible to water damage which I was trying to avoid and ridiculously messy to mill.

You mean your not going to make it out of hand cast mokume Gane?
 

Carl Fisher

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Ok, at this point I think we're beyond the Market Research portion of this project and have identified that there is definitely interest.

The alpha piece has been in use in my shop for the last month or so and I can't figure out how I lived without it now that it's stocked up and at my finger tips.

The first version will be the one shown in post #82 that has SAE, Metric and Letter as shown. A future version will likely be created for the most common "kitless" makers tool kit which includes taps and matching drill bits as well as die holders, but that will be down the road a bit.

I have some hurdles to overcome with an upcoming surgery and subsequent 7 weeks off my feet. During that time I can work on tweaking the CAD design and some final challenges with materials and hopefully being to turn out some meaningful end products.
 

endacoz

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I just found this thread yesterday! I too am very interested to see what your first generation product looks like and would love to buy one.

currently my drill bits are in little pockets leaves, most/ some of them, in a pile and so when I need to get different drill bits it takes me awhile this thing would be very helpful!

There was some talk about MT2 organizers. Attached are pictures of something I threw together with scraps about a month ago. I just drilled the holes randomly and should have pre drilled my wood screw holes obviously! When I first started working on this project I didn't really think it would work or even turn out. It's a rough version but for right now it holds my mt2 attachments great.
 

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elkhorn

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Good luck with the surgery and recovery. Then count me in when you get better!
 

Carl Fisher

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So, here's the update.

I believe I've settled in on 1/2" MDF for the material. I'm using a piece as the base under my corian holder right now and it's holding up just fine. Just don't drown it in water and it should hold up just fine.

It's cheap, light weight and so far durable enough for the job. I just remains to be seen how it holds up to small text engraving unless I can get a laser engraving modification done in time to my CNC.

Cast comes off Wednesday. I figure a week or so before I'm walking around well enough unaided to start getting these things finalized.

At this point I think we're beyond market research and once i have some finished pieces I'll post them up in the classifieds or possibly through one of our vendors pending some further discussions.

Thanks all! Looking forward to getting this project off the ground after such a long wait.
 
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