# Altoid-ninja-wanabee-01



## linuxmail (Sep 30, 2011)

Charles beat me to the Altoid Ninja, but it was his original idea, so I will forgive him this time.

Here is what I came up with, I am making mine from aluminum, if I can escape and evade the 3500 relatives that will invade our home this weekend. lol

Regards,
Brian


----------



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Ahhh ... great minds think alike!!!









This looks like it should work just fine. I will be interested in seeing the finished work.

I had originally considered laminating the handle out of thinner stock to avoid having to fire up my milling machine to cut the groove. But then I realized that the pressure on the joint would be pretty minimal in use, so a simple overlap with thinner stock was all that was necessary.

You are proposing to use much heavier stock than I did; strength-wise, it is over-kill, but may well feel more comfortable in the hand. And of course it is always better to have more strength than needed, rather than less.

On the downside, those Altoid tins are only 3/4 of an inch in depth. With 1/4 inch forks and 1/2 inch handle, you will have trouble getting bands in the tin. However, bands are easily stored in some alternative way.

It looks like a great project. Have fun with it!!!

Cheers ...... Charles


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

very nice, but 6-32 are a bit small? you might do better/stronger with 10-32's, the 6's bend very easy, and being aluminum that would stress the threads quite alot. yeah aluminum threads just love to strip, the only good thing about that is also so easy to step up to the next size and re tap.


----------



## linuxmail (Sep 30, 2011)

Thanks for the input!

I just happened to have everything inn my junk box, so I used what I had. I was hoping that the slot would take most of the load, and the screws would only act as pins. I chose the 1/2 inch stock, because it felt better in my hand. I may try to re-design the SS with 1/8" and 3/8" flat stock. I thought the bands and pouch might fit in the tin, next to the handle and below the forks.

Photos will be posted when finished.
Brian


----------



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

I think the #6 screws should be adequate in your original design. There is no great force on the screws themselves, and what there is will be mostly shear force. And you are screwing into 1/4 inch, so that will give you 8 threads to hold, which will be pretty solid.

I would worry about trying to go thinner with the slot concept. Using 3/8" for the handle and then slotting for 1/8" is only going to leave 1/8" on each side of the slot ... probably a bit less if your machining skills are like mine! If you counter-sink the screw heads, that will make the one side pretty thin ... and you will only be screwing into 1/8", which is only 4 threads.

As for getting the bands and pouch in the box ... well, from my experience, I think you will have trouble getting flats in there. My kit is a lot thinner, and I found it a challenge to get the flats in. You might be able to fit some small Chinese tubes in. With 1/4" forks, you could probably drill holes in the forks and then slot them to make for quick tube removal.

One possibility you might consider is to make the handle by laminating some thinner aluminum stock, but make one side removable and the handle hollow. Then you might be able to compress the bands into the handle for storage. I was going to try that, but got lazy and went for the simple solution myself.

Great project! Pity you are so far away ... I would come and watch!!! I love to see other folks doing this sort of thing.

Cheers ...... Charles


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

i cant find anything except 1/8" flat stock? and thats almost like foil, where do you guys go for the alum? for a city the size of denver supplies can be hard to come by.


----------



## linuxmail (Sep 30, 2011)

Newconvert, here are some links to get you started.

http://www.altitudesteel.com/contactus.html
1824 W Colfax Ave.
Denver Colorado 80204
Phone: 303.534.7075

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Metals-Alloys-/29402/i.html?_nkw=aluminum+flat+bar
http://www.drillspot.com/raw-materials/
http://www.discountsteel.com/items/Sheet_Plate.cfm

Brian


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

linuxmail said:


> Newconvert, here are some links to get you started.
> 
> http://www.altitudes.../contactus.html
> 1824 W Colfax Ave.
> ...


thank you my friend, this is good stuff, i especially like the ebay stuff. and i am tempted to argue the 6-32 usability but time will answer your questions.


----------

