No, it doesn't get you the shiny metal part on the milling machine ...



That money gets the shiny metal part put ON the mill.

See the "test indicator" that's really close to 0?



Yeah, getting that on the mill so that it's < .003" within center and also under 1 degree to level took about 10 hours. And machining the steel plate to hold the part. What you see is the top mold used to make the Monster Track Tank we've been working on FOREVER. See, the round part that sticks up is where the gas cap goes... and it's too small AND the holes aren't aligned correctly. The folks who originally made the mold are tired of working on it, so after 18 months, I have gotten the mold and am fixing it with the help of another mold maker who has a bit more attention to detail.

I'm going to put an endmill in and cut around the outside of the round bit to remove it. Then I'm going to recreate the round bit using better dimensions (hopefully, the proper dimensions) The table will be stationary and the rotational table will be turned to cut a circle. The whole setup is a touch shaky, so small cuts will be made each pass and this should take a while. Pushing on the edge of the mold moves the test gauge needle .002~.003", but it moves back. To actually move the part in the setup requires loosening of bolts and a dead-blow hammer.

I'm gonna get that thing ready hopefully sooner than later.
Chris

umm. wanna drink?

That thing looks like a torture champer for a midget. Wouldnt it be easier to just make that mold seperately so you dont have that huge thing and just weld it on? It would be cheaper than all those man hours to make that mold that still needs work (unless they are working for the mold, and not charging you $ cause they cant get it right )

Damn and I thought my soldering the led's on my gauge was hard. 

How about plunge milling those inserts out first?

QuoteThat thing looks like a torture champer for a midget.

Think I seen this device in a movie called Saw V.

Quote from: He Man on November 01, 2008, 12:37:06 AM
umm. wanna drink?

That thing looks like a torture champer for a midget. Wouldnt it be easier to just make that mold seperately so you dont have that huge thing and just weld it on? It would be cheaper than all those man hours to make that mold that still needs work (unless they are working for the mold, and not charging you $ cause they cant get it right )

Yeah but for the satisaction that comes from solving a problem with your own head and hands.

Good work Chris.

Quote from: Capo on November 01, 2008, 11:15:24 AM
Yeah but for the satisaction that comes from solving a problem with your own head and hands.

Good work Chris.

no doubt. but theres the time vs cost function involved too.

QuoteGood work Chris.

+1

Quote from: He Man on November 01, 2008, 12:15:17 PM
no doubt. but theres the time vs cost function involved too.

Says the man riding a ducati instead of something japanese.

Quote from: El Matador on November 01, 2008, 03:03:29 PM
Says the man riding a ducati instead of something japanese.

i guess your right. lol I wonder how many man hours went into designing the "new" monster.

hey now.  don't make it too good, i need to be able to afford one once you get finished

Quote from: aaronb on November 01, 2008, 07:43:47 PM
hey now.  don't make it too good, i need to be able to afford one once you get finished

no worries! That's why I'm doing what I can myself. My goal with this tank has been to try and price it reasonably close to what used tanks are going for on the market -- under $500. What complicates things with retail products is leaving margin for dealers. It's easy for me to create product and mark it up a little and then sell it direct. That's great but it is very short-sighted. To properly handle this product, I need to make it so that dealers buy the tanks and earn enough money to make it worth their while. The dealer arena is important because they far outnumber me, sell a lot more tanks than I could alone, and they are most Ducati owners' first point of contact.

@He Man: That mold is essentially irreplaceable... to replace it would require a CAD/CAM company to reverse engineer it with 3D scanning. Then a designer would also need scans of the molds it mates with so as to best match up the flanges. Then re-design the flange of the top mold (shown above) for a good fit. Then have a semi show up at the tool maker's cnc shop with a block of aluminum. All of this is the same price as starting from scratch. SO... once these tanks are selling and I get paid up, we'll do JUST that: start from scratch on another design.

The company who made the mold originally are "done" with this mold /me /whatever. It's a mutual decision. I only wish that rather than take a ton of my money & tease me for 18 months that they would have just said no to begin with. BUT... the past is behind me. I don't have regrets, as where I am right now is OK. The folks working with me on the Hyper tank greatly expanded my knowledge about the design process. Better still, they share my ethic of doing great work, which includes doing great work on the first try.

@speeddog: Actually, those are just drill bushings. But mainly, I want to keep the old core to study and measure off of. There's going to be a goodly bit of math and CAD work on my part before cutting metal on the replacement. Also, there is no way to build on the existing part. In order for the appearance to be great, there needs to be a quality radius where the plug meets the flat surface of the tank. So I create the new plug and then have a flange around it. Then the flange is welded to the top of the tank and easily blended in.

I'm done with the first company because I'm done with cutting corners. I didn't know that's what was happening until working with the new folks. I'm thankful that the MH tank went without big problems but this monster mold as created isn't up to my standards. It will end up costing the same as if I had all of it done with the new folks, but I have to get parts running from this tooling, there's too much money there to toss it away. So, I invest a little more money into fixing its small problems -- we'll have better parts and the mold will last longer, too.

Attended a wedding today & look forward to working on it more tomorrow -- hopefully cutting metal!
Chris

http://www.ca-cycleworks.com/gallery/index.php?displaypic=machining%2Fsetup%2Fm_mold_1st_cut.jpg:



I started the cut... am about half done. It takes 7 or 8 minutes to do a lap around the mote ... each pass I'm cutting out about .050" of metal. I tried .060" and it worked, so I tried .070" and it didn't protest, so probably 8 more laps and the chunk will fall out.

Yaay, got the filler cap portion out. Was 4 or so hours of machining (I wasn't counting) Most importantly, both the mold and the "plug" are in perfect shape. This will conclude the "what will $1k get you" thread, but I'll update the photo gallery with pics as things happen. Next up, I have to design its replacement ... make it ... then match it and the mold ... and take it all to the mold makers for welding.

Then I get the molds back and polish them to the best of my ability and take them to the rotomolder plant to get tanks made.

wow. I don't get to cut anything nearly as cool in my shop...