Laser cutting picks

[Dpruente]

I've just had the good fortune to acquire (legally) a very high powered cutting laser. Some of you who have seen my posts know that I have a Cnc mill, which uses spinning bits to cut material, and although this makes nice lockpicks, they require a lot of fine tuning when they're done, and on picks such as snake rakes with small tight curves, they take forever, because the size bit used for milling the smallest radius must be used to cut the whole pick, because I don't have the good fortune of automatic tooling. This laser I've got is capable of cutting through 1/4" plate steel with a tolerance of .001" and a max cutting speed of 100 Inches/Min. My cnc gantry doesn't move that fast, but needless to say, it's a heck of a laser. Idk how the pros cut their picks out, because i've never purchased a pick, but what do you think about cutting them out of sheet stainless steel with a laser? I'm hoping i can still find the power supply needed for this laser so i can try it.

[femurat]

I think you're lucky, with that cutter you could make perfect picks without any effort.
After cutting them you just have to sand and polish a little

Let us know how this interesting project develops.

Cheers

[Dpruente]

That's exactly why I got the laser in the first place. If i can get it working, i should be able to turn a sheet of stainless steel into 1000 picks in about an hour. They'd come out professional looking, and could be made very very inexpensively, therefore sold very inexpensively.

[maintenanceguy]

...and could be made very very inexpensively, therefore sold very inexpensively.

I think the trick in business is to buy low but sell high.

[Dpruente]

I'm not in the business of selling lockpicks for insane profits. I'm interested in using this to mill picks because the more people get into locksport as a hobby, the more we all grow and learn.

[JasonAller]

Wow. You should contact http://www.schuylertowne.com/ and let him know that you have the laser and just need a power supply. He has had trouble finding someone to cut the picks for his kickstarter project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sch ... -locksport

[raimundo]

sheet stainless may not be tempered correctly for picks, metal rolled into sheet, is normally annealed, so that it can be punched into drawn shapes, etc. (drawn means stretched into cups and that sort of pulling metal into raised shapes.

possibly you should look into metal stock that has been drawn or rolled into flat wire stock, street sweeper bristle is made from round wire rolled flat and then cut to length and finally tempered in a furnace.

windshield wiper stiffeners that have a smooth rounded edge may also have been made in this way

If you do cut picks from sheet, it may be possible to temper them later if you take them to a heat treating company.

you are not going to want hardness so much as toughness, the ability to spring back from a little bit of pressure.

Hard means brittle and can fracture, tough means resistance to fracture.

[Dpruente]

Jason, I've been introduced to his project by another member on the forums. I'd have emailed him already, but i'm having some trouble finding the controller for the laser intensity. Rai, Thank you very much. I didn't know that. I'm wondering if spring steel is made the same way. I was thinking about making the handles out of stainless, and the picks themselves out of spring steel

[FoxMacLeod2501]

...and could be made very very inexpensively, therefore sold very inexpensively.

I think the trick in business is to buy low but sell high.

It's okay, mg, I get it. I laughed.

[MBI]

Wow. You should contact http://www.schuylertowne.com/ and let him know that you have the laser and just need a power supply. He has had trouble finding someone to cut the picks for his kickstarter project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sch ... -locksport

Yeah, good luck with that. I'm skeptical that it's merely a matter of not having someone to cut the picks.

I reached out to him years ago, back when we were friends and still on speaking terms, and offered to set him up with a commercial manufacturer who could have filled his kickstarter pick orders for less than the amount he budgeted for pick manufacturing. It was at that point that Schuyler stopped answering my calls or emails. It would have gotten that monkey off his back and prevented it from being what some people claim is one of the biggest cases of fraud in kickstarter history. It was only later that I found out he'd been spending the kickstarter money on vacations, visiting conferences, health insurance, rent, etc. As I recall he even used some of the money to buy a new TV, but I'd have to re-read the whole kickstarter mess to verify that.

You think you know a guy, then they pull some BS like that. I'm surprised he still has the balls to present himself as representing the locksport culture. I think his kickstarter fund mismanagement debacle is one of the biggest stains that locksport has tainting it's history.

[Squelchtone]

...and could be made very very inexpensively, therefore sold very inexpensively.

I think the trick in business is to buy low but sell high.

It's okay, mg, I get it. I laughed.

Hey Fox, why are you resurrecting a thread from 4 years ago with that reply? let sleeping dogs lie unless adding new and relevant information to an oooold thread or answering an unanswered old thread question.

Thanks
Squelchtone

[MBI]

Ah, crap. I didn't even notice he was bumping an ancient thread before I replied. Thanks for the catch Squelch.

[jimu57]

Never was a fan of Schuyler. Attitude and personality was a huge turn off. Now it seems he also is a thief.

[LocksportSouth]

Wow, I never knew all that about Schuyler Towne. I've only ever heard of him as a well-known "fan favourite" picker along the same lines as Bosnian Bill... I'd never heard this stuff about him. It's crazy how many controversies and backstabbings there seem to be in the Locksport world....

Anyway, I'm off topic. Just wanted to mention that here as I'm totally shell-shocked by this reveal