zoomed in

That's cool! Build em and they will sell!

I am looking forward to seeing the initial maps for the cookie cutters!


zach

beginnings of COOKIES!

Man, I just read some of your times for cutting. We need to find you a CNC lathe bad !

The cookies look diffecult...

I keep looking for used mini lathes that I can convert. PM or email if you find something?




They are proving to be a challenge.



Now to get back to finishing my last run of emblems. I've about got my machine modified with the new controller, drivers, and more voltage. Hopefully this helps drop my machining times.

as promised;

picture of prototype FOUR! starting to go 3d. It looks cooler in person, IMHO.

The new 42ipm rapids are helping a ton, along with adjusting my cutting styles. I learned a lot playing with the new setup, trying different things. I'm able to hit 23ipm for a feed rate if I use just the right amount of bit; before I was going full bit width. :S I could hit faster rapids if I were to go full stepping instead of half, but I like it where it is at and probably won't gain much with the smaller movements that primarily rely on the acceleration capabilities of the steppers.

That's really starting to look good!

My health has picked back up, I am stoked! I get to start working on wheels and emblems again this week.

I think I've pretty much got the code issues resolved and need to run another prototype to finalize the notion that they are ready.

The bit wasn't fitting between the lip of the wheel and the petals, and was causing high spots.

Hi Jim, glad you are better and back to work on those cool parts.....looking forward to seeing them in person and those cool GT logos too.

Do you have any access to stereolithiography equipment or rapid prototyping 3D printers? If so, it might be a lot easier to manufacture small amounts of the wheels and be a lot cheaper too.

Jamie, thank you!

No, I don't. If I went that route, they wouldn't be billet aluminum.

Look, a pile of squared circles!

and a lurry picture of prototype number five next to number four. The differences are the holes in the webbing, the petals are separated from the lip and have more definition, and the petals have a larger corner radius along the outer edge that makes them more rounded and smooth.

I ran several different sets of code on number five to varying depths, fixing screw ups along the way.

That looks bitchin Jim. Keep at it!

wow. thats some nice progress.

All that hard work is paying off!!

Great job!!!!!

New addition to my wheel making!


The 3 Jaw chuck bolts directly to my mill bed, or the rotary table. It holds the wheels in place MUCH more securely than the little vise I was using.

The rotary table also has a new addition; a stepper motor! Now it needs wired and the backlash taken out.

New tools are the best!

here is prototype number 7. I'm getting the back sides of the wheels figured out, and have the fronts pretty much wrapped up. The only thing missing is the hole for the bolt to hold it onto the car.

Wow! Looking great!!!

That's set to kill!

4th axis and tailstock bolted to the mill. I should be able to work on the code for the area the tire mounts in on the outside of the wheel now.

We moved last month, and my brother was kind enough to spend the day on one of his weekends off to help me relocate all of my machining equpment from my dad's shop to the garage that is basically on the other side of the wall from my living room. My CNC mill is less that 30 foot from my couch that I lounge on while healing and resting. Things are getting easier and looking up for me.

a close up of the tool path on my EMC/linux box.

the red lines are the ones that are done for this particular wheel.

This is the beginning of the pile of blanks that are ready for the above pictured tool path.

This is the wheel that was cut out from the above pictured tool path.

Wow! That is crazy cool. How cool would it be to have one big enough for a paper weight on your desk?

and here is another one that had a couple of glitches on the back side, and the 3 jaw chuck was .030" off center for the face. It's now a paperweight somewhere else w/out the tire on it.

Thanks, man! How cool is it that you posted that right as I was posting that the last one I made IS a paperweight somewhere!

That's cool Jim. So you've got a house with attached garage now? Movin' on up!

got some more done.
The back of the wheel is getting some minor adjustments and should be good here soon.
Click to view attachment

The front is ready to go.

Click to view attachment

and here is what it looks like on the car.

Click to view attachment

Working on the different finishes using some of the screw ups for test pieces.

That is what I call DEEP DISH.

How are my wheels coming? The last photos look bitchin!

My mill fried again (in a different spot) and I had to rebuild it.

the stack of wheels blanks are sitting waiting to be done. The mill is back up and running with the 4th axis.

They sure look cool!

thanks!

This is my project for the next couple of days while I get drawings done for other projects I am catching up on.

Hey RMJII, it might be time to build a small foundry. I'm thinking a LOT of the work could be cast into these pieces faster than milled. Then throw them on the mill for finishing.

I'd add pics of mine, but it's in storage while we try and sell the house. Here's one similar:



About $50 in supplies to build the thing and you'll never toss out another beer can again.

http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com

And I"ll probably stop losing so much money on tossed wheel blanks.

I swear I've been going into debt trying to make these.

Dont throw out those ones that didn't make the quality control inspection...they could always be used for something else for example a key chain or fob, paper weight holder or something cool if you can come up with an interesting idea. I scrapped many pieces and parts many years ago when I was learning about CNC machining and programing. Thats how you learn from it, you learn from your mistakes and try not to do them again. Keep up the good work

Jamie

I'm thinking with a couple of flower pots, a mapp torch, some pearlite and a muffin tin, you could come pretty close to recasting that aluminum into a new blank.

I had to bump this thread one more time before the server goes off line just because this is one of the coolest projects currently being worked on by any of the jack standers here.

Jim, If you need a couple more bucks for my wheels let me know. This has got to be seriously hard to do. I can't remember what the group buy price was but I don't think it was enough considering the mill problems and learning curve. I can see you have the concept. Keep at it.

EDIT: Oh, just don't tell Sandy. Like I said I don't remember what the price of the wheels were but I do remember her reaction when she found out what she just paid for.. for a toy? wheels for a toy? It was really funny.

Rick, I'd be happy to accept donations at this point. I'm not going to put any $number on it because I honestly don't think it would be fair. (Very appreciated, though; that it would be. and I wish the Star Wars movies were on Blu Ray already!)

PM me your address before Sir Andy shuts us down and I will send a money order. I can't ask the boss for pay pal service for this one.

Same with Rick. let me know what you need. Also, don't bother with making me cookies. Fuchs will be totally fine.

Zach

Wow, thank you guys! Your words of encouragement were just what I needed this week.

I took the rest of the aluminum stock/stick I am using and went to the machine shop that a friend owns and cut it down for another 6 or 7 sets.

The mill is set up perfect right now for getting the blanks all cut to a uniform size, and I modified my dial indicator and a c-clamp so I can center the end mill to the a-axis. pictures forthcoming.

That's not an exactly easy learning piece to make either. I remember a very seasoned machinist recently scrapping a 30 thousand dollar piece of material. We've all been there. I've scrapped my share back in the day as well, and that was a proven machine! Mueller just scrapped some parts off his recently retrofitted Bridgeport as well. Think of it as buying books for one class that you will never need again.

This should help find center.