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- #21
Just had a shave with the Mild baseplate. I printed this one in PLA+. Used a post-war late-40's oval slot Tech top cap. Charcoal Goods Brass Bishop handle. Astra blade. Great shave! Still way too much blade feel for me. But I like the level of efficiency with this setup. I would rate this shave as a 9 out of 10. Very good results. Just a bit too harsh, and too much blade feel.
@RDM if you can keep this efficiency level but lessen the blade feel, you may have a winner. That is always the trick. Its the reason why people are will to spend large dollars with razor makers like Wolfman to get super efficient razors that are amazingly smooth and comfortable. I will test whatever baseplates you care to share with us. You have done great work here. Thank you so much for your efforts.
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Many thanks for being the test bed with this. It wouldn’t be progressing without your efforts and feedback. Much appreciated.
Putting aside the blade feel issue, do you think the Mild version is not too aggressive, and a sensible step up from the mildness of a Tech shave? I don’t wan’t to keep backing the design off so that it ends up shaving just like a Tech. There’s not much point to that.
Given my complete inexperience with razor design, blade feel, and what contributes to it, is something that I find difficult to completely pin down. But I would guess that the following cause and effects might be at play.
1. Less blade exposure would result in less blade feel.
2. Tighter blade clamping would result in less blade feel.
3. Shallower cutting angle geometry would result in less blade feel.
4. Heavier components would result in less blade feel.
All of these should minimise the vibrations in the blade that are induced by the process of cutting whiskers.
If this is the case, and I’m happy to be corrected, the only variable I really have to play with is the blade exposure, which if I back off too much will reduce the design to shaving just like a Tech. By design the blade is already clamped/sandwiched tightly from edge to edge as it can be, and the cutting angle geometry is limited/defined by the cap itself. So, I’m open to other thoughts and ideas.
Next week I’ll model up something which is another step milder than the Mild, and let’s see what that does. Given the limited scope there is for some of the variables hopefully we can can find an acceptable sweet spot for efficiency, with acceptable blade feel. But the geometry constraints might prevent us from getting something “perfect”.