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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 15th, 2023

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  • So, I’m going to preface this with a quick reminder that once deployed, a folding knife is going to cause the same kind of wounds as a fixed bladed of similar size and shape. and example for this is the Benchmade Adamas family. They have a folding knife, an auto-opening folding knife and a paracord wrapped skeleton-grip (with paracord,) fixed bladed knife.

    Once deployed, the knives are all going to do about the same in a fight. And the two folding knives- the auto, and the manual knife- are going to function basically identically. In Minnesota, the only one of these that’s illegal to carry is the auto. The only reason that’s illegal to carry is because of perception. (the same perception as switchblades.) There’s no practical reason that auto-opening knives are any more likely to be used in some kind of crime than manual-opening folders.

    Back in the early fifties, switchblades were frequently used by youth gangs (west side story, for example,) or rough-and-tumble types (especially in cowboy or war movies,) as a sort of visual code to indicate they were of rather dubious character. eventually that became associated with black guys being villains, because hollywood never met a trope it didn’t like. even when the villain was white, or whatever, that was broadly overlooked by popular culture.

    It was outlawed in '58 largely because people perceived it at the weapon of choice by black men. it had nothing to do at all with knives themselves being particularly dangerous. or even all that common, really.

    the same is true of asian martial arts movies and balisongs. (which is ridiculous. the only thing a bali should be used for is as a slightly more exciting fidgit spinner. Sorry.)

    Or brass knuckles (relating to the italian mafia and irish mob. hollywood gave those to the enforcers.)

    This isn’t to say that maybe knives and brass knuckles and things shouldn’t be regulated. But outside of “Knives larger than x length”, and the occasional feature like double edges or spear points (Which are bad for general use, and usually purely for a weapon, not a tool); there’s always some other reason for it being outlawed… and generally that reason is that “the wrong people” are using them.



  • maybe instead go to the wikipedia page for ‘Gravity Knife

    or just read my comment more fully. Gravity knives don’t have switches. or buttons. If you’re considering the hinge mechanism that allows a gravity knife to operate, then practically any folder is a “switch blade” and that’s just not true.

    from the wiki I linked:

    A gravity knife is a knife with a blade contained in its handle, which opens its blade through the force of gravity. This mechanism of opening is fundamentally different from the switchblade…

    Even in gravity knives that appear to be opened by a switch or buttons… all that button is doing is unlocking the blade to allow it to be deployed or retracted. If simply having a button or switch or something is all it takes to be a switchblade, then this classic gem would also be a switchblade.


  • Just to be pedantic, gravity knives aren’t switchblades.

    They have a blade that slides freely (and under the force of gravity.) the grip is basically a hinged nutcracker that, when closed, traps the sliding blade either deployed or retracted.

    In any case, they’re no more dangerous than your standard folding knives of the same general proportions.

    The illegality of certain knives (switch blades, gravity knives, balisongs, etc) are largely not based on the danger or actual use of those knives as weapons.

    In the US it’s usually reactionary and racism.


  • It does, but the foam won’t absorb it.

    It’s great for things around water because the dry quickly.

    Also great for slipping on to go outside real quick (to get the mail, take out the trash,)

    I used to know people that would wear them all day at work- but they were working in a clean room and had overshoes they had to wear anyways. (They got into trouble because it had no heel.)




  • So… if it’s something that’s going to set on a shelf or something like a wh figurine, you don’t need to prime with acrylic or enamel.

    If it’s something that’s going the handled (like say, a cosplay prop,) your mileage will vary.

    I’d recommend printing off small test parts to see how the paint cures and such. I use small shot-glass-size vase mode prints. (Any one the vases will work, but I suggest anything with more complex contours and a few hard edges.)

    Then they get double use as a glue pot when I’m doing glueups with barges cement or similar adhesives (and painting too.)

    If you find you do need primer… the stuff I’ve found to work best is rustoleum filler-primer. (Yes. The spray can.) you’ll lose surface details, since it’s designed to fill that in, but makes a wonderful foundation.

    Also scuff the surface with a coarse sand paper before you do anything else. This will give whatever base layer you’re using a bit more to bite into.







  • i;ve never used pressurized vapor baths, for anything. I’d certainly stay away from pressurized vapor baths using heated solvents that are also rather flammable (that’s… got some exciting possibilities that I would let my worst enemy do first.) I’d use picture glass (or cheap ikea mirrors.) to build up a box. set it up outside where the vapors aren’t a problem.

    alternatively, a cheap-ass-fuck stock pot with a glass lid will also work fine, but don’t seal it… and certainly don’t use it for food when you’re done.

    as for if it should boil, it’s boinling point is about 80 deg. C, so if you’re seeing boiling, you either have somewhat impure MEK (which is fine,) or your temp measurement is off. It should still put enough vapor into the box that you can see it working though… it’ll just work faster. its less advised to boil it off because, well. it works too fast usually.

    please tell me you’re doing all of this outside or with a ginormous fume hood that goes outside. (seriously, MEK is not to be underestimated.)

    For what it’s worth, if you have a pressure vessel and you want to make it go differently, reducing the pressure will have better effect (or so I’m told.)







  • Try Changing the width and Hight of the First Layer to smaller Values, no clue Why, but it Fixed this kinda issue before for me!

    reducing the width of the first layer seems counter intuitive to me. usually adhession is improved by using widths wider than the nozzle since the plastic has to get smooshiefied into the surface. I don’t know there’s much difference on the first layer 125%-200% of the nozzle width, but I find going over definitely helps. (I use 150% for stronger parts in general.)

    or at least that’s been my experience. nozzle height/z offset would be the first thing for me to check, but PLA shouldn’t be warping that bad, IMO, so there might be some thermal issues as well.