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  • Author Author: genebren
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X-Acto Knife upgrade

genebren

Freezing weather has forced a stop on my backyard fountain project, which happens to be a part of my Roadtest of the Keysight E36731A Battery Emulator.  I have been working on firmware for my controller boards for the project, but a last minute change has also forced a stop as I wait for new PCBs.

All these stops in turn led me into cleaning up my office space.  In the process, I came across one of less than functional X-Acto knives.

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This is a picture of a good knife.  Unfortuately, I failed to take a picture of the broken one.  What happed with my knife is that overtightening of the blade holder broke the plastic sleeve. I had initially thought that there was a very chance that I would have a suitably size brass tube that I could use for a replacement for the broken black sleeve.  Look as I might, I was only able to find a short section of tubing with the correct inside diameter, so I decided to see if there was another approach.  It didn't take too long to come up with another solution.  I went down to my (cold) shop and looked around for a suitably scrap of wood.  Finding a nice piece of maple, I proceeded to rough cut it to shape, leaving me with a 3/4" x 3/4" x 5" rectangle.  I then drilled a 3/16" hole through the wood (entering both ends of the block with a 3/16" drill and a self-centering hole guide). Once I was able to have a through hole, I enlarged it to 1/4".  I then mounted the block into a 4-jaw chuck of my metal lath and held the other end of the block with a live center (finding neatly into the 1/4" hole).  I then proceeded to turn the piece down with a very light taper (0.45" at the blade end and 0.55" at the knurled tightener end).  A little cutting and sanding and I was ready to fit it all together.

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When it warms up a bit I will stain and finish the handle, but so far, I am pretty happy with the look and feel.

Thanks for reading along,

Gene

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  • Here I tend to buy these things (surgical scalpel blades), this is probably the most popular shape, a 'No. 11" blade. 

    They used to be super-low cost (a box of 100 for about £5) but now they are more than 3 times the price. The handles for these are one-piece metal, no collet.

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    This is the classic 1-piece 'No 3' handle, made of steel. This really does last multiple lifetimes, indestructible. Maybe it's available in the US too.

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    There's a larger No. 4 handle for different larger blades so you don't want to get that by mistake (unless you wanted larger blades).. but I think those are for deep + critical surgery!

    This is the retractable handle option from the same manufacturer; it is blue-painted metal, but with plastic insert and might not last forever (I have not damaged mine yet though).:

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  • in reply to shabaz

    Yes, those are very nice knives (scaples).  I have one that I picked up in a crafting store along with a couple of dozen blades. Cheap, but not as nice as those.

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    I do enjoy the grip and control, but I feel very nervous during blade changes.

  • in reply to genebren

    The blade mount looks a bit risky but I've never cut myself changing blades. I always hold the blade from the back with thumb and forefinger so as you can see what you are doing as you release it and then push it forward and off the handle with my other thumb.

    I've seen people trying to pull it off from the top which could turn out pretty nasty if you slipped.

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  • in reply to genebren

    The blade mount looks a bit risky but I've never cut myself changing blades. I always hold the blade from the back with thumb and forefinger so as you can see what you are doing as you release it and then push it forward and off the handle with my other thumb.

    I've seen people trying to pull it off from the top which could turn out pretty nasty if you slipped.

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