What it's like owning a KERN Micro!

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Our Products: www.grimsmoknives.com/
John Grimsmo Knives Instagram: / johngrimsmoknives
Erik Grimsmo Instagram: / erik_grimsmoknives
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[@Gunnahan]

i keep being amazed by how much things have evolved over the years.. now i am watching a fully industrial production and when i subscribed to johngrimsmo it was 1 entrylevel machine in a garage..

[@bearsrodshop7067]

Yea,,,and this old guy @ 68+ is at the Entry Level, but having fun & enjoying every day I go out to the shop, which is 3 times what John started out in and thankfull,,,Bear. The cad modeling is a hurtle but time will easy that pain I am sure (@@) ??

[@3dmakerzone75]

You have put so much hard work into evolving your business, It's really cool seeing things come together for you.

[@artmckay6704]

I like that you're always looking for hacks to make the shop life easier! It's totally worth the time and effort to come up with tricks that streamline the process and free you up to do other things! You're a good organizer and gizmo creator! Thanks for the videos! Much appreciated! :)

[@backwardtoes]

Close and seal your tombstones. You've introduced a variable thermodynamic element by allowing coolant to pool in your fixtures. Leaving this as an open system will introduce measurable variance. That variance may be small enough that you don't care. Given your general attention to detail, I posit, that you should care.

[@joshsaxon4114]

Theoretically the same amount of coolant will end up in the tombstone each time. Even still that's going to be in the order of microns of change.

[@harrelsontrumpets]

Do you believe there is heat transferred into the tombstone while machining these small parts?

[@Raptorman0909]

The cap will stiffen the tombstone and that alone would be of value. A hole in the cap should be enough to drain the fluid as it enters. A concave surface of the inside of the cap will allow the fluid to find the hole and not pool!

[@jacobfalk4827]

Keep the videos coming, this was great. For a video Idea, what if you did an in-depth tutorial on macros and show an example of how you are using them. The way your grinder workflow works is incredible and your program selection with the brass thumbscrew is genius. I would be interested in learning more about those.

[@EDCFanboy]

As a Canadian who's been a knife lover since I was a young boy, I truly appreciate a function piece of art like your knives. The dream addition to my small collection has been the Rask from the first time I saw one reviewed on KZbin. I hope to someday be lucky enough to win a chance to purchase one direct from you because truthfully, on the secondary market, they are beyond my reach. And whenever I have a chance to support a Canadian company I jump on it. Keep up the incredible work and I'll keep my fingers crossed. From your biggest eastern Canadian fan. Greg.

[@michaelgemmer2806]

John is totally the “Mr. Rogers” of the knife world and cnc machining! and that’s why we love him.

[@sevendesign1805]

You are definitely somebody I look up to. Thank you for sharing!

[@jamesbarisitz4794]

You've straight up nailed a process that will tick along smoothly when all the steps are finalized. Go Rask! ✌

[@jbrownson]

Love your approach to this stuff, thanks for sharing your work

[@texastad1989]

Awesome video as always, just a tip on the broken drill - if you want you can have it edm'ed out - or if it's carbide you might be able to shatter it with a drift punch. Take care and keep rock'n!

[@movax20h]

Great machine. I was watching your updates for the long time. Yeah, make it perfect so it works always, no worries, then optimize the cycle time.

[@klab3929]

Implement a fluid sensor, either flotation or electrically to automatically turn off coolant when the tank its full, you can also use it for when it gets too low and always keep it topped up

[@TritonTv69420]

Nice! I remember watching some of your videos a long time ago. Nice to see you growing and getting higher end machines. I swear I remember a video with a tormach in it. Good to see nice German and Japanese machines. I'm programming and running a DMG CMX 50 U. Fun stuff.

[@b2dmastersniper]

I think that Kern is about as fancy as it gets haha

[@RPNonTube]

It just doesn't get boring watching your videos! Great hack for the tool changing, how awesome is 3d printing. Seems like soon you guys are in need of another kern though 🤔

[@davidparker3346]

Your blade finish looks hand lapped, gorgeous. Really like your rask knife.

[@ArmorClad125]

Chuck a float level sensor into the coolant tank and have it feedback into your machine and you'll be 100% hands off. Great idea man, keep innovating

[@nebnoswel]

I'd add some more aggressive drain holes on the tombstones just to make sure nothing's pooling and changing the thermal response of the fixture unpredictably. Great video as always!

[@wojtczak1984]

You could make some sort of rotating index able fixture to hold your large pallets. To assist in "loading and un loading " the 4 sided pallet.

[@aoverhage5181764]

Great video as always! I wonder if some fixture like an engine stand that would grab the pallet and let you index it around while loading/ unloading would be helpful?

[@ipadize]

brilliant way of choosing which program to run :)

[@farmer7888]

It all started in his home garage with a mini mill converted to CNC. Pretty awesome.

[@davidchavez657]

I've ground a lot on CNC machines using arbors large and small. A good idea is to machine your own little wheels with a suitable counter-sink or counter-bore to totally recess your bolt, then have the wheel plated with CBN grit.

[@ReclusiveMountainMan]

badass. Have two Norsemans and one Rask. Love all of them.

[@sammiller5509]

use the old cern colant float sensor for your colant filling system as a failsafe, when you get the new one, just in case....

[@sunilsaxena5283]

Great work and programming. How u manage to keep all fixtures so clean and rust free?

[@RossiDeakin0406]

Surprised by the larger swarf that is getting through to the filter paper, is there any baffle /griddle filter between the main conveyor channel and the dirty coolant tank, to stop the pump suckin up the swarf that the conveyor should be dropping in the swarf bin... Great channel love the content 👍

[@johnharding9936]

Have a look at stefan gotteswinters saw blade arbor video. A miniaturized version should work for your grinding wheels he had similar clearance issues initially (hence the diy arbors)

[@scottpardoe6349]

Have you considered a cup wheel for your grinding operation, its designed just for such a thing. Have a look at one In a 11a2 shape,or alternatively turn your own profile and have it electroplated with diamond or cbn.

[@nikolaiownz]

That coolant control is great. You got some links for the hardware? I just flooded My shop this week 😪

[@cncart4990]

Your coolant managment is just great, do you have more infos? especcially abut that 10 /5 my filters), TY

[@pdxminecraft]

Coolant fill system is great idea. Why not add a float switch that stops the flow when it gets to close to the top of the coolant tank?

[@JCisHere778]

Concearning the tombstone... Closed profiles are just a lot stiffer torsionally than open profiles ( O is stronger than C ). I get what you wanted to say with vibration reflection and it is kinda right but not really. Its just different stiffness and modes that are amplified

[@Montizuma]

I'll add this to the future goals

[@devinmoodley4061]

@16:50 are you able to redress the grinding wheel before starting a part? I'd be worried about redressing the wheel part way through a grinding cycle. Feel like you would definitely notice that. Just a thought!

[@leonschumann2361]

13:00 coolant in there maybe helps with vibration dampening

[@johngamal141]

This is result when someone's hobbies are CNC and knives and have the will to spend effort, you are doing every tiny sub-process in your own way utilizing CNC, not traditional ways of making knives. So the result is consistent quality and saving time. Amazing...

[@cstavro]

The "U" shaped tombstone vibrates like a tuning fork. You can test the vibration modes in Fusion 360. You want the tool frequency to be 10-20X higher than the tombstone resonance frequency. The top goes a long way to quelling vibration - put bigger drain holes if you think that helps. If you're not getting chatter then it's not an issue.

[@MrDaniell1234]

Add a float switch as a estop on all the machine's coolant tanks for the auto fill.

[@msmithdev1369]

How do you like the 5Th Axis vises? We used to use one and had nothing but issues for repeatability. We ended up trying Piranha Clamp instead and its absolutely night and day.

[@Digger927]

Great walk through John, thanks. As an aside, your camera man could use an upgrade in image stabilization.

[@shawnmurphy4741]

Did you purchase the dressing function on your Vario?

[@Proud2bmodest]

For coolant level sensing use the same type of sensor as used in washing machines. These sense the small change in air pressure using a diaphragm and a switch and are extremely reliable. Only a tube sits in the coolant and should be fairly tolerant of chips.

[@mlw19mlw91]

Man good thinking! Could even put a tiny filter on one end

[@enigmasshadow9435]

I was wondering if Kern had a pallet system like okuma and Matsuura does and yes it does apparently

[@jetherwood7680]

Could you use tabs on the blade? Or would that post process of removing them cost to much? Tabs would allow you to get rid of that line I would think.

[@hans-jrgenbernhardtsen8506]

The coolant dispensing hack you’ve made is cool, but if you have space in the coolant tank, would it be better if you use float ball valve? Or a water level sensor that activates the valve that you are using, then you’ll never ever have to think about it again. I’m glad that your bussiness is blooming, been watching since aluminum handle era :-)

[@robinbiskupic2639]

You should make a bracket for your workbench that can hold the tombstones by the bottom of the pallet to make it easier to load and unload all of the parts

[@raxorbin]

Can’t you stack the disk ?

[@wojtczak1984]

1. Make it work perfectly with best quality. 2. Get the process inplace to have it running 24 / 7. (Minus planned preventative maintenance. 3. Shave cycle times to produce more. Machine will pay for itself after all of that is in place.

[@jimsvideos7201]

A take-up roller for the used paper band filter would be simple enough and save time shaking chips out.

[@swikocki]

Why not have different length pegs for the program picker. Only have to probe one location then so will be quicker.

[@matze1508]

on the theory of vibrations in the fixtures: The stiffest structure you can make is a closed box (like a dice). Removing one side is kind of okay (especially like in your case the smallest side of the dice), but removing 2 sides makes it an open profile. This dramatically reduces the area moment of inertia and the polar moment of inertia. therefore reducing stiffness in bending and torsion. basic principles of machine design, super useful to go back to in every problem.

[@aarondcmedia9585]

How do screw holes affect the box area / polar moments? At what point does a hole become an open side? Is there a rough ratio of surface area to hole size / area?

[@MichaelT_123]

It is a ball/sphere

[@matze1508]

@@aarondcmedia9585 How do screw holes affect the box area / polar moments? The screw holes definitely play a part, but this is prob. negligable. They are very small in comparision to the whole structure and only have a short length. Much more import with screw holes is, that you don't place them in locations, where they significantly increase stresses as stress risers. At what point does a hole become an open side? difficult to say. In the hole region it is an open profile (think like a C) instead of a closed profile (more like an O). The longer/bigger this section is, the less stiff the structure becomes. Is there a rough ratio of surface area to hole size / area? Not really. Difficult topic to generalize. Depneds on external loads, allowed deformation at the point(s) of interest, desired eigen frequencies, material properties, ... This is where hand calculations usually stop and FEA comes into play.

[@aarondcmedia9585]

@@matze1508 appreciate the response.

[@DavidtheSwarfer]

great stuff. have you considered using only 4 holes for your pattern selection? 4 holes as a binary number (1 hex digit) gives you 16 decimal numbers. Saves a lot of space. and Fraser, you are a pro filmmaker, turn off the autofocus! instead assign focus to one of the body buttons so you can trigger a refocus when you want it and not have the software decide for you, the software is failing us rather consistently.

[@JHorvathCinema]

Haas: We making the tool, that makes the tooling for the tool that makes the tools. They can have that for free

[@d.r.6333]

OMG john would you please look into fixing your camera focus? It's been horrible for years and i know for a fact that camera has many options.

[@forestbirdoriginals4917]

It seems like the solution to that screw head hitting is to just bore a hole the depth of the screw head so it is no longer proud of the brass. Love the Kern !

[@rapidenterprises5681]

Awsome video John

[@multiHappyHacker]

hmmm I wonder if you could jam a big stiff piece of rubber down into those for some vibration dampening

[@SenorGonzo]

Are you going to buy a second one?

[@steelwheelsminnesota]

Why not put the dressing stick on the pallet with the parts that need it and save yourself the pallet swaps? Mount it on the top cover that isn't being used. Also, if you have thru spindle air an air spindle might be the ticket for upping your grinding speed, and spare the main spindle some revs

[@_domlnlk_]

I Love the Kern and I love the Grimsmo 😍

[@kchigley5309]

Have you looked into diamond burnishing (Cogsdill) or roller burnishing (Sugino) at all? Might be able to save quite a bit of time over grinding if it'll fit your process/machine.

[@belstain]

Pretty sure he's been using a Cogsdill for his pivot holes for years now.

[@wojtczak1984]

It looks like loading and unloading pallets to make the process full proof. Thinking shadow foam with all your raw blanks. Places to put clamps. Etc... I bet you will soon get to a point where that Kern is running for 24 plus hours at a time. Just keep unloading and loading pallets.

[@matthewmetzinger2991]

Hey John my name is Matt... I ran a Kern and some Heidehains for a while... Not sure if you have been exposed to this yet of sister tooling and replacmement tooling for your nighttime breakages but if I could help in any way let me know... wonderful machine...

[@stevenmarsh7138]

Any reason you do not number the tool holders to match the tool holder rack?

[@dominic6634]

there's probably no need to. most tool holders end up getting switched around when running different programs or switching tools. Unless your in a large production shop where everything is automated.

[@HAGmbHkeG]

if tool breakage is limited to a few tools, can you not have replacement tools in the rack so it automatically switches to the new one once it detects the old one is broken?

[@bittech1]

I know jack about Heidenhain, but from what John's showed so far, I assume it must be possible to do the tool break analysis after the cut and then redo with a new tool if a breakage is spotted? I guess it depends on the specific tool that broke, I'd have thought the majority of the breakages are tiny tools just snapping or so, with the surface likely left alone after. At the very least you'd probably just end up scrapping a single part that would have gone in the bin anyway from the breakage, sounds worth figuring it out.

[@danmenes3143]

A closed torque tube is stiffer than an open channel. A lot stiffer.

[@bearsrodshop7067]

John, I backed up to 2011, but not able to get a good close up of the mill you started out with, and the conversion over to a CNC. My question is, changing the lead screws over to ball type worth the cost? @ 68+, I am a hobbyist, but the R-F 30 I am modifying, one day will go to our grandson that love knife's, and he want's to learn how to make knives. It has DRO, power X, and soon Y & X, but before we turn over to him, would ball screws be something did or would recommend? Bear in TX. Oh, lov the Kern, and watch you & Titan daily,,,(@@)!

[@belstain]

Ball screws will be much more accurate and reliable than acme screws. If it's something you plan to use often and or need decent accuracy from it's well worth the effort to upgrade. When I did my cnc conversion that was one of the easier steps too.

[@maineway1999]

Buy another machine designated just to grind the rask and save the run time off the kern so its spent milling ! You could save a lot of hourly money by paying another employee to solely grind the rask on another mill and or grinder. Awesome content regardless!

[@Mrgnothing1]

Make videos on teaching heidenhain? No one else does so could be good for you.

[@northernsmith]

hard mill out that drill bit.

[@BlueOceanDesigns]

The KERN is a gorgeous machine. Do you have an IP camera to view it from home while it's working?

[@disposabull]

You just want KERN to open an only fans account don't you?

[@BlueOceanDesigns]

@@disposabull Don't really know what you meant but I have always been a fan of KERN machines but not everybody has a ton of money to buy one and even less people on YT making videos of using one.

[@disposabull]

@@BlueOceanDesigns Only fans is a website where pretty girls do acts their parents wouldn't approve on camera for men to watch over the internet as they fantasize about the pretty girls and sulk because they can't afford them. Personally I would rather have a KERN, they don't cheat on you but I can't afford one so I'll just have to watch another man bragging about his KERN on the internet...

[@gerbil7771]

Oh yeah 1000$ knife, that makes sense.

[@Blashyrkh2124]

People buy 200k worth watches. A knife is a useful tool. Market it well, people will pay it.

[@mulligan6634]

I would have thought you would have cheap IR cameras on your machine by now so that when it does stop at night you can see it on the camera and come in and get it going again. Or just make one of your better employees work third shift

[@coldfinger459sub0]

Fantastic toy only can dream about

[@rogerbikepolo2892]

Hello, why did you choose a KERN? It's an extraordinary machine, but it's really expensive, isn't it?

[@FaZeredemption3]

im looking at a haas dt2 for my first cnc machine. im wondering how much this kern is with the pallet pool? 500k? would be cool af to let a machine like this run all night

[@douro20]

$1.4 million.

[@bcbloc02]

That sure is a sweet machine.

[@tobiasdosch2208]

Kern is low end on thw precision machines if you get a makino, röders or yasda only then you know what true precision is

[@collinrasmussen5630]

One of your knifes seems to have HOURS of work, at 900 a price per hour has got to be less than a 125$ (Canadian peso) job shop rate.

[@StabbyMcStabwood]

Absolutely incredible, but I'm just some working stiff, I'll never be able to afford one of your knives. I'll have to stick with my upcycled materials knives. Old leaf springs and decayed wood.

[@picnicsinspace198]

man...I REAAALLLY WANT A NORSMAN, one day lol.

[@jackjanovec4214]

@9:30 fixture is genuinely fucking insane

[@bigbird2100]

Great video 👍 So next step is a robotized reset for a tool breakage etc to keep the spindle turning.

[@85CEKR]

It should have the ability to use redundant tools so that if a tool come up broken it automatically grabs the next tool and re-runs that operation. You can set it so that if the next tool is broken it stops incase you have carbide in the part... or it grabs another pallet and new tool.

[@bigbird2100]

@@85CEKR thanks for info

[@ramongeorge8897]

Broooo its pretty tall why not on its side lay down

[@SirHackaL0t.]

What is a Kern?

[@dustinwalden7091]

I feel like two horizontals would have been better. It’s silly to have all those pallets sitting there for hours.

[@kendrom]

As a machinist, I enjoy following your channel, and seeing how your knives are made. But I am curious about the pricing of your knives. What does someone do with a $1000 pocketknife? Do they actually use it? My pocketknife takes a fair amount of abuse. I'd be very reluctant to do anything with a $1000 knife, other than to show it off in a collection.

[@topduk]

Some people are not constrained by money in any meaningful way.

[@bigbattenberg]

The comment I was looking for. I mean, the Willemin-Macodel and Kern are great machines but my first thought was "making knives and pens!?" I know machinery well and I know in which markets these brands have their place. Then I went to the website and saw the prices of the knives and pens and thought "Oh well OK. That's the way you do it." Dire Straits vibe. This guy has found a niche that pays and he deserves his success, but yes these are super luxury items like Gucci bags or sports cars.

[@rich_in_paradise]

16:00 what is this, a pallet for ants?!

[@MOREENGINEERING]

Get somebody to burn (EDM) out that broken drill. Save on material and labour and processing time. NO distortion of the tombstone either. While they are at it they should be able to finish (EDM) the hole and if required, EDM the thread as well......job done! ! ;-)

[@Max_Marz]

Kern if you are listening, put an LED on every tool cabinet pocket.

[@Panzax1]

Interesting. The photographer still needs a tripod and a camera with proper focusing capabilities.

[@JohnBlaze505]

That thumbnail is giving me nightmares

[@2handsomeforlaw]

Am I third? I am from Norway, and the Rask seems to be too :D

[@aronandreas]

Should be good to have a norsk-norseman to tell the saga 👍

[@THEMAX00000]

The thumbnail is scary

[@hubertkaiser8581]

Man kann es nicht glauben, aber man kann sogar Taschenmesser mit einer Kern herstellen.Ich habe mich schon gefragt, wozu diese Kern Monster eigentlich gut sind? Die Bayern sind wirklich unglaublich,.......

[@diGritz1]

We had an automated coolant fill device..... Boss: Get up off your ass and fill the coolant tanks. Me: And if I don't? You gonna fire me? Remember I'm your only employee. Come to think about it the same system also took care of chips too.

[@dmacpher]

ADHD is the mother of invention friend 😊

[@toddcumberland132]

What does a Kern cost. Ball park.

[@belstain]

I was quoted around 750k for a similar setup to this one a few months ago.

[@toddcumberland132]

@@belstain wow, I thought they would be more...... Not sure why. very cool

[@Abdega]

Ermahgerd! KERN Mehcro!