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Butterfly Knife Project

By: Dakota Pekerti

Table of Contents:

Abstract .. 1 Introduction 2 Background/Theory .... 2 Completed Project Design .. 3 Results 4 Discussion/Conclusion .. . 5

Abstract

For this project, I constructed a butterfly knife trainer using SolidWorks based off of an aluminum model that I already owned. I simply sketched and measured out each segment of the aluminum model and measured the necessary parameters for creating the knife. After taking measurements, I then applied these measurements to make a multi-part assembly in SolidWorks where I constructed each part individually before putting them altogether in an assembly. In the said assembly, I used SolidWorks evaluation tools to find the flaws in my design and edit the parts appropriately so that they were able to rotate freely around the screw points without any collisions, or interferences.

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Introduction

The goal of my project was to simply reconstruct a butterfly knife trainer using the materials available to me (aka 3D printer and ABS plastic) so that the finished assembly would be capable of a range of movement equivalent to that of the aluminum model. By this I mean that I hoped that that each of the handles would theoretically be able to rotate a full 360 degrees about the blade, inhibited only by a pair of jutting cylindrical pins that would keep the handles from actually clashing together each time the knife is opened. I was motivated to attempt this project because I wanted to make something that was small enough to be able to be printed using a 3D printer, yet versatile enough to be able to use as an assembled product. Personally, I was interested in constructing a butterfly knife as my project because I am a weapons/martial arts enthusiast, and since a butterfly knife works off of some form of definable mechanics, it seemed like the most reasonable thing to build (my other ideas bounced between a shield and a bow and arrow).

Background/Theory
So there is not much theory behind this kind of design. There are no real formulas that I utilized in the design to construct the parts or assembly. I only had to perform basic algebra to ensure that the minimum clearances between the individual parts were met in the printing of the part. I measured all the dimensions in customary units, to simplify the process of inputing the measurements in SolidWorks. The butterfly knife essentially works on the same concept as a switchblade. The blade is able to be retracted, or in this case hidden within the handles for the purposes of concealment or portability. Unlike the switchblade, however, the butterfly knife does not operate using a spring and instead relies on freely rotating handles around pivot points in the blade which are attached to the blade through double-ended screws. The handles are allowed approximately 180 degrees of free rotation, inhibited only by a pair of jutting cylindrical pins located on the blade itself. One of the handles usually contains a latch that can be used to hold the handles in position once the blade is opened or closed. In its closed position, the blade is

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ensconced by the handles, which are both hollowed out to protect the integrity of the blade and make the knife more easily portable. In the open position, the handles are folded behind the blade, and the knife is at its maximum length. The versatility of the handles also allow the user to open the knife in a variety of different ways, and the variety of different ways of flipping open the knife has become a hobby or sport commonly known as Balisong flipping in the Phillipines that has recently started a trend in the U.S. due mostly in part to mass media influences such as video games which have included characters that use butterfly knifes as instruments of choice or weapons.

Completed Project Design

My completed project design was a fully constructed butterfly knife assembly file on SolidWorks. The assembly itself consisted of numerous individual SolidWorks file parts that I had constructed previously to assembling them all. These parts included: 2 handles, 2 doubleended cylindrical screws, the blade with jutted pins, and 4 washers. For the handles, I used measurements derived from my previously aforementioned aluminum model to try and recreate the handle in SolidWorks. To construct the handle, I first started off by making a 3-dimensional rectangular block that was the approximate overall length and thickness as stated in my measurements. I then proceeded to methodically cut away the excess material from the block until I reached the outline shape of what I wanted the handles to resemble. This involved trimming away a lot of material at one end of the handle in order to get a much narrower and rounded end that would support the screw/pivot. At this point I decided to first hollow out the blade by cutting away a layer of material that was the approximate thickness of the gap I measured between the upper and lower parts of the handle. Like the aluminum model, I left a small cylindrical support in the fatter end of the handle in order to support the integrity of the handle without getting in the way of the swinging blade. After this, I made hollowed out cuts in the handles in the shapes of rectangles and circles to reduce the amount of material that needed to go into the making of the blade and

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make it lighter. I also proceeded to cut the screw holes and pin notches on the pivoting side of the handles to finish up the set. All the other parts I constructed were made in a fashion similar to the handles. For instance, screws and washers were simply cylindrical protrusions designed to match their respective fittings in the blade and handle. The blade was a little bit more complicated in the fact that it was a marginally more difficult shape to cut, proportion, and measure. Nevertheless, I managed to develop parts that resembled the original in both size and dimension. Once I developed all the parts, I simply needed to add them all to a SolidWorks assembly and ensure they would have the proper range of motion. To accomplish this, I simply added the necessary parts to an assembly file in SolidWorks and mated them all appropriately so that the assembly resembled the finished product with the proper clearances for the 3D printer. I then added collision and movement constraints to the assembly in order to ensure that the knife was capable of the full range of motion I had originally envisioned.

Results

When conducting my collision detection and motion study tests of the finished assembly in Solidworks, I found that were many flaws in my design, mostly stemming from the measurements in the handle. I found that the handles did not have the range of rotational motion I expected them to because I had incorrectly placed the screw holes and notches too far from the head of the thinner end of the handle. As a result, the handles were not able to turn because the excess area that I had accidentally left on the screw end of the handle was too large, and would collide with the other handle anytime it was rotated past a certain point. Additionally, the notch measurements did not match up with the pin distances, which meant the knife, could never be closed or opened completely, because the handles would get caught on the pins jutting from the blade. To remedy this problem, I decided to reshape the format of the handles dramatically to cut down on the weight of the handles and to fit the mold better. I felt like this was a more reasonable option, because my other option would have been to completely redo the handles to

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account for an inaccuracy of around 2/16th of an inch. The other major change I had to make was in regards to the washers. In the model, there are very tiny washers stacked between the blade and the handles, which I believe are there to ease the friction from the rotation from the handles. I originally constructed some washers to include in the assembly, but I later found that inserting them violated the clearances necessary for the 3D printer, so I took them out of the assembly. After making these adjustments, the motion study and assembly operated exactly the way I wanted to, by which I mean that the handles had free movement and were able to fold into the open and closed positions. However, I was unable to create a proper video for demonstration because for some reason whenever I tried to save the video or run a copy of the motion study for publishing, the clip would completely ignore collisions.

Discussion/Conclusion
Overall I felt like this project was a success. I managed to make a functional butterfly knife in a very efficient manner, even if it wasnt exactly like the model. Most of the measurements and shaping that attempted worked out relatively well except for those small issues in the handles. However, I feel that the overall success and smoothness of the project offsets any hiccups that may have resulted from inaccuracies in measurement.