Let it begin! Completed Accurate Kill Bill Replica!

Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Thanks for the compliment:) This thing is going to be well done if it kills me:)

I don't know about doing more of these, my wife might not be thrilled about it (since I spend a lot of hours in my shop) - and the price for these babies would be pretty high - Japanese parts and lots of hours (although rev. 3 would go a little faster, I hope). Once I get the engraving down pat at least that step should be pretty quick 'n easy (now that I've gone my CNC going).

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Quick update -

think I'm getting close to getting the code done to 'wrap' the foo-dog carving onto the iaito blade (via the CNC). Should be ready for a test run this week-end (hopefully).

In the meantime, I finally got around to doing a test run of tying the sageo cord like in the OP. I needed to see how long a sageo would have to be to work. Turns out the OP's sageo is about 120cm long, or wakizashi size. I'll either have to cut mine down, or order up some new wakizashi-sized gold kakucho ones.

Btw, the knot used is a Myouga Musubi knot, and is usually used on tanto. Found a how-to on this site:
Œä•¿‘OŽiˆ ON TSUKAMAE TSUKASA DOKORO

I'll also post up a capture I took (in case the site goes away).

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Finally got to sit down last night a run a full 1" x 2" (or thereabouts) grid mapping of my test sword blade. Finally, things worked great! Here's my process (in case anyone is interested):

1. Move spindle up to being held with only the top bracket of the CNC.
2. Mount the probe.
3. Clamp down blade holding jig so that x-axis motion will move in a straight line along the back of the blade.
4. Remove blade (trying to home with it in place is no fun, and not good for my machine).
5. Home all.
6. Replace blade in jig.
7. Go to starting position of probing, measure area you need to probe.
8. Choose "View -> Show Machine Position" in EMC2 to show the absolute starting probe position - write these down (we need them later).
9. Copy gridprobe.ngc from the EMC2/Examples folder into your home directory.
10. Edit gridprobe.ngc, setting the x/y-increment (1/32 of an inch in this case), and the number of x/y steps (75/37 respectively).
11. Save your modified gridprobe.ngc. I may write a script to auto-generate probing scripts at some point.
12. Load the gridprobe.ngc you just modified into EMC2
13. Get your z-axis with 5mm or so of the blade.
14. Touch-off all axis.
15. Lower the run speed so that if anything goes wrong, you have time to stop it before things break.
16. Start job. Verify things are working fine.
17. Increase run speed to max.

Lotta steps, but it works for me. Now that I have those probe results, I'm writing a script to take those, the probe start position, the engraving start position, and the input engraving gcode and then output a modified engraving gcode that will wrap the carving onto the blade, if you get my drift.

Job took just over 3 hours to run, probing 75x37 times (2775 times), at about 4 seconds per probing. I ran the output through gnuplot (free, easy, and it works). I tried a couple of other programs, but they made the process harder than I think it should have been. Anyway, gnuplot kicked out these images with only one command.

splot "g:/probe-results.txt" using 1:2:3 with lines

Next up, finishing up my script, and hoping things work out:)

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

I just re-read the thread and I can't see if you posted the brand or supplier of your cnc. Your work looks excellent BTW and I highly commend your striving for extreme accuracy.
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Thanks Greylocke, I'm just glad Adam is willing to wait to give me the time to get this right:)

The CNC I'm using is a Zen Toolworks 12x7. Base kit price is around $400, but then you need to add controllers, software, a PC, and assorted other bits to get going. Zen has excellent support, btw - mostly, you get to speak to the owner of the company and the designer of the machine, and in the case of Zen, that's Xin (in both roles).

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Engraving success!

Finally worked out the last (obvious) bug in my code, and managed to combine the probe-collected point grid of the blade surface with the engraving instructions for the foo-dog! Takes about 3 hours for the probe run, and about 2 more for the cutting, but it works! Finally!:)

If you look close, you can see marks that the probe has left on the blade (in a very nice grid pattern). In my next test, I'm going to protect the blade with gool 'ol tape during the probing.

Check out the difference between run 1 and run 2 - that's the difference the 'wrapping' makes. Everything else was the same.

Next up, more testing:)

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

That looks fantabulous. Did you have to make an allowance for the tape thickness in your program? Or was it a programmable offset?
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Hi Greylocke,

I shouldn't have to make allowances for the tape, since it offsets all the probe points equally. Then, I just remove it, zero my cutter to the surface of the blade, and let it run.

My Probe results are relative to the touch-off of the blade, not to any machine absolute values, so it works out.

I think I'll make my next run at about 1/2 speed, and see if I get cleaner cuts.

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

More tests, and I think I've finally hit the magic recipe (1/4 carbide cutter, half speed).

Next up, building the clamp and engraving Adam's sword... my wife says she's taking the kids and herself out of the house that day:)

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Suhwheet!! That is looking very good. Might I also suggest before you do Adam's sword you get a very good nights sleep, maybe a date night with the Missus, you know get really relaxed beforehand. Just in case. :)
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Got a good night's sleep and engraved Adam's sword yesterday. Went without a hitch (had already run through all the hitches in the test runs). The sword part of the sword is finally done!


Also added a 'Hattori Hanzo' mei to the nakago as bit of a test run before I ran the foodog job. It went fine, so I went ahead with the dog. I figure Hanzo would have signed his sword, even though they didn't show it in the films.

Next up, all the saya work:)


Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

That sword is beautiful. Any chance you can get a pic of Adam when he takes it out of the scabbard for the first time?
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

It might me possible, but I'm hoping to have it done (and mailed out to him) before I go to see the Mythbusters show in montreal.

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

He's been tweeting like crazy before and after the shows. I really enjoy his tweets, but not when the come over my phone at 3:00 am Central time :)
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

:) Should be a good show, he's a fun speaker to watch.

My buddy Andre took some quick glamour shots of the sword, here in cubical land. Came out very nicely even though we only had about 10 minutes to do the shoot:)

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Wow, that is gorgeous. I'm thinking Adam is going to unsheathe it and start drooling, that mouth open tongue sticking out just a little bit like he's dumbfounded. You know that look he had on the Hot water hater episode.
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

That's the reaction I'm hoping for:)

Cut the saya reinforcement rings (semegane?) out of 3/8 ABS this week-end. Used a contour gauge to get the profile of the saya, transferred it to cardboard, did some minor correction with tape, traced that on my daughter's Wacom, imported that into my CAD, got the sizing correct, and then cut it out. Both rings fit first time!

A bit more sanding, and then a coat of primer, and some top coat (one is black, the other gold). I don't even think I'll need to glue 'em in place, they fit so nicely (and it'll be a tighter fit with the Mylar tape in place anyway).

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

More and more awesomeness if that's a word. Thankee sir for keepus appraised. Outstanding work.
 
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