Coming along readers!

Gary

I refined the hinges. I stretched the tongue of the clasp.

I’ve confirmed techniques and made a few specialized tools. Tomorrow I can marry the sides and match their perimeter. I haven’t done this for some time. It’s nice to work with these precision tools.

Thanks
Gary

Beautiful!
How large is this case?

Scott

Hi Scott,

Thank You very much.

It’s 1 15/16” by 2 1/2”

It’s .475” thick when closed. My pill Case is .490” thick when closed. I’ve carried it in my hip pocket for 35 plus years. Ya never know it’s there. And it’s never opened on me in my pocket.

If you readers have need for any different size, let me know. If there were a consensus, I’d make the tooling for that size too.

Thank you!
Gary

Hello Gary,

Looks like the case is making progress. I wish I could have stayed for a longer duration to witness more of your work. The cases are much work from what I gathered, especially since this is a prototype. You have to make additional tooling in order to be able to produce each part.

Will be neat to see how the hinges turn out. All from a single sheet of nickel silver. Drawing out the latch area is really neat. Would never have guessed that is what you did in order to gain some length. Very cool.

Looking forwards to seeing the final polished version now that you could remove the oxidization from the top surface.

Wish you a productive week,

Pedro (Peter)

Very cool Gary

I sure wish I was there to watch it fold up into the case .
I think it will be a perfect size too . I’ve watched all the round ones but really had my brain on a square / rectangle shape . Plus the stamping of the design will make it extra neat . Not being attached but incorporated into the design !
Thanks for sharing .

Thanks
Kurt

Hi Kurt,
Hi Peter,
Hello Scott,

Thank you so much for your comments. I’m glad you like the Liberty Case. I’m real pleased too.

The manufacture of precise tooling and jigs has taken time. That’s done, to my foresight at this point. You can only move the metal when it’s precisely and firmly held in exact alignment. The shape you want is waiting for the metal to be driven into the void or stretched over the male position of a die set. Critical to the technique is the hardness of the metal. If that hardness has not been properly corrected, you will destroy your previous work. Nickel is tricky to anneal. You must be very careful of the metal temperature. In addition, you must keep track of the changing hardness as you work. When you bend, stretch, or compress the metal, you “work harden” said material. Before moving to the next step, it’s critical that you return the metal to its annealed state. If you don’t remove the induced “work hardness”, the metal will not “flow” or move in a smooth arc. The hard area will stop the arc or fold. Applying additional force will fracture the material. You have to aware of the feedback your tools are exhibiting. The tooling will almost always have the power to easily overcome the resistance of “work hardened material”, but the next thing you notice is that resistance goes to zero, you may hear a faint snap ... and you’ve just been set back a day’s work.

When you make a complex product like the “Liberty Case”, where everything traces its origin to a single flat sheet of material, then each procedure you initiate, risks all results that you have gained before. I’ll add in here, why you honestly access your “status”, and you don’t work on certain projects unless you are at 85% minimum status. Otherwise, your first half an hour of work may set you back two good day’s of work.

I can’t wait to fold the case and hear that distinct “Click” of the latch. It’s not far off now. Please stop back.

Blessings
Gary