Let it begin! Completed Accurate Kill Bill Replica!

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

Been working on getting the saya rings finished lately - asked Adam which primer he liked, and he said "Plast-kote!" (exclamation is mine:)). Looked everywhere in town for Plasti-kote, found 1 can of silver. Apparently not widely available in Canada.

Finally gave up and bought a can of grey sandable primer (smells like lacquer based) at Princess Auto. It coats great, and sticks great (at least to my ABS). I'm hoping to have the gold ring done by this week-end, and maybe the lioness carving on the saya.

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

well, i got this one...test run last night...bit more tuning to do...

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

This looks brilliant mate. All that work you put into the CNC has payed off brilliantly. Keep up the good work.
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Thanks Markius! The CNC is fun to work with, and once I got up to speed (from -100 mph), was much easier to work with.
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Quick update..

Finished some of the saya work this weekend. Applied the gold mylar tape (had to go slightly off center to allow for the kurigata (the cord knob)), but not much.

Applied about 4 coats of Krylon Premium Gold to the saya ring (semegane), and after a slight filing managed to get it into place (very tight fit, no glue needed).

Shaped the kougouchi band a bit to give it the proper profile, filed and sanded it, wet sanded it, and then polished it with Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish (my go-to sword polish). Manged to get that one into place (even closer fit, no glue there for sure).

Next up, the carvings!

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

Did a bit more work on my Masahiro-based replica. Added the semegane' ring to the saya, and tied the sageo properly.

Waiting on some .6mm endmills to come in before cutting the leaf on Adam's saya...

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

Wow!, that is a beautiful sword. Do you plan on making any other swords in the future? Or knives? If so I've got a design that has been floating around the back of my head for years that maybe you could try.
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Not planning on making any different swords right now (although I'm wrapping an iaito for a guy at the dojo). I'm am looking at doing possibly doing a run of 10 or so brides swords based on some Japanese-made aluminum alloy blades I've sourced. I'll know more about that after I finish Adams sword, and my test blade gets in from Japan next week sometime.

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

Kewl Beans. I've been trying to find a way to get a Honor Harrington Grayson style inspired sword with a matching knife ever since I read Flag in Exile. After you get this done and your possible run, if you are interested let me know.
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Finally got around to building clamps to hold my saya to the work table of my CNC this weekend. Added a layer of silicone caulking to the inside surfaces of them to keep them from marking up the saya. Seems to be working fine.

Ran my first test on my test saya last night, I'd say it went about 80% good. Three problems were apparent right away:

1. One layer of masking tape is not enough to protect the saya finish from the probe tip. I'll try two next time.

2. My 'curvalation' of the sakura to the saya surface was not exactly correct, and this was more apparent in the sections of the cut that fell on the deepest curve. I'm doing planar interpolation, so this was probably expected - my program thinks it's on a flat surface, not a curve. I'll try upping the probe scan resolution to 1/64" and see if that's enough of a fix.

3. There was some kind of clear coat / lacquer finish on top of the saya paint. It cut OK, but chipped/peeled slightly in spots. I have no idea how to fix this, other than try to touch it up after the work.


Next up, more testing:)

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

Ok, 1 thing which may cure 2 problems, the probe tip and the chipping of the clear coat. ordinary electrical tape. It is thicker than masking tape, being plastic it will resist the probe tip better than paper masking tape. For the chipping, the adhesive of the electrical tape is a little bit stronger which should keep the clear coat together better.

I had mentioned your work to a friend who is a machinist, he said the electrical tape is what he uses when doing what he said was "finicky" work. He said just take the tapes thickness into account if your doing very "finicky" work. The shop he works at does something for a NASA sub-contractor, so he should know of what he speaks. Either way you might want to try it on some scrap first to see if it works.
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Thanks Greylocke - Tried masking tape over the cut last night, and it went relatively well. I have two sayas I'm testing on, and only one has the top-coat layer (or "problem layer" as I call it:)). The other one, just paint, machined nice and clean. The coated saya machined fine, but when I removed the tape it peeled more lacquer off than if I had just done the cut nude (there's a mental picture for you:)).

I'm hoping Adam's saya doesn't have a top coat - I'll do a little poking at it tonight an see.

I'll try the electrical tape trick during the next probe and let you know how it goes.

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

Did another test last night, used electrical tape to protect the saya during the probe run, upped the probe res to 50/inch, used my painted saya (no clear-coat), no tape, and things worked fine. Filled in the carving with a little enamel gold paint.

Next up, finish up the lioness art work, and then test cut city!:)

I figure the probe run for a lioness will take about 5 hours - not much fun...

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

Working on the lioness carving for the saya, and it's a bit of a slow go - not only is the lioness a large carving (well, for me and my setup, 25mm x 95mm), but the art is tricky, and there's not much in the way of reference material available. Had to make some guesses and compromises.

Anyhow, ran through my second test last night, and it worked fine on a flat surface, but horrible on my test saya. Much too deep on the carving. I figure something must have gone wrong during the probe phase (which took approximately 5 hours at 1/50" resolution). I didn't sit and watch the whole thing:)

So, another run tonight, and I'm hoping things will go better.

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

Success!

Test run #8 ran fine, after I changed the start position for the carving from bottom left to top right. Ran the probe job at 20p/inch, think I'll up it 30 on the next run (there was a little skipping on the left extremities of the lioness). I can touch those up, but I'd prefer if the CNC got it right the first time.

Next up, one more test, with a few slight tweaks to the lioness (where the lines ran together), and then Adam's saya.

Also, I think I'll try 4 layers of masking tape to protect the saya (tried 3 this run). Black electrical didn't protect enough, either. The saya was freshly painted, though, so it might not be completely cured (2 days curing of Krylon spray).

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

It looks good, you're getting closer to the finish line and Adam's gobsmacked look. :)
 
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