Unobtanium /308 switch stalk blocks

As far as I'm aware, Verrell still is. Have you tried emailing him?

 

Verell still does these for sure. He rebuilt mine and I appreciated the one year warranty!

 

I can help with the modelling/3-d printing part if someone has one I can measure.

sjd

 

Would be a fair 3D-printing challenge, if one has watched how Verell refurbishes these. You have to mould metal parts into the plastic part. Anyone able to print around a metal stalk and achieving a strong plastic/metal bond? It's by far not just a R&R job.
BTW I am worried about strength and durability when this is 3D-printed.

Best from Germany
Martin

 

I'm awaiting the day a thread queries the possibility of 3D printing reproduction rims.

 

or wishbones

Best
Martin

 

Hi,

I bought stuff from Verell this year. Try this email adress [email protected]

Best

Julio

 

https://www.koenigsegg.com
3D print some of their cars components

 

That day is close.

HRE did these:

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Do you have a picture of one? they can do metal inserts in 3-d printing. They're inserted after the fact. Or are you saying the end of the signal stalk is co-molded? (I'm a 348 owner, but I'm an engineer with an interest in product development and additive manufacturing)

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for those interested, here's the vid:



sjd

 

Hi workmate,

sorry, no picture of the stalk/switch innards. It's in my car, but shows first signs of cracking. So the refurbishment will probably be due in the nearer future.

I'm a mechanical engineer too and after decades of heavy injection moulding machinery my interest in additive manufacturing is growing.
Yes, I meant the metal stalk and plastic switch part are co-molded.
I am familiar with those threaded inserts, though I mostly -if there's no space restriction- I print simple cavities for hex nuts. I like this better because of the larger plane surface which takes the surface pressure. And installation works without application of heat. But like said, I grew up in the heavy machinery world

This is a simple part, but the only picture I have, which shows my way of adding metal threads:

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Best from Germany
Martin

 

Hi Steve,

I just cringed
While that's a great example to show what 3D printing can do, I still worry about long term strength of this 3D printing method of 'electron beam melting magnesium powder'. I cringed once more, while I wrote that sentence Or in other words; I believe I am too old to dare trying those out at high speed.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/hre-3d-printed-titanium-wheels-concepts/#

Best
Martin

 

Still kicking, just busy between Unobtainium & my family.
From the reference to 2017 you probably found my Facebook page (am way behind on updates - sign). If you found my web page, you would find that the catalog cover has a very current date.

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Yes, definitely co-molded:

[QUOTE="kerrari"BTW, it’s always seemed to me the weak part of the original design was the the ‘casting in’ of the stalks... I was wondering about stronger blocks with a threaded hole and threading the end of the stalk to suit...[/QUOTE]
The original design actually has much stronger retention than threading: The wiper & turn stalk ends are heavily swaged with textured ridges on them.. They can't just be inserted into a pre-molded knob or pivot end.

Threading doesn't provide stronger retention than the swaging & the stalk could be unscrewed & be miss-oriented (I tried it early on). However, it's on the right track, After trying threading I came up with heavily knurled ends for my reproduction stalks: Image Unavailable, Please Login

BTW,Most of the stalk failures are because the ageing plastic is drying out & trying to shrink onto the incompressable metal shaft.

The other cause of failure is someone yanking too hard on the stalk. The original plastic was actually pretty tough stuff. I've actually seen a couple of stalks where the metal shaft had bent before breaking out of the plastic.!!

[QUOTE="kerrari,]Seems like a perfect thing to 3D print , anybody heard of this being done any where?[/QUOTE]

3D printing can't be used because of the heavily swaged ends.

BTW, I'm very familiar with 3D printing, I have a friend who designed SLA printers starting in the early '90s. So I've watched the technology evolve.. In fact, I just bought an EPAX X1-DJ resin 3D printer & am setting it up this week.

I don't expect to use X1 for production ports as it takes way too long to make even a small part ( 4-8 hours!!!). However, it will be invaluable in making mold patterns of parts where I can't find one good enough to restore.. Also I can print mold negatives to use for replacing molds that fail in use.

 

Verell checks in!!!

 

If you look up Markforged or desktop Metal, they're using MIM powder, then sintering in an oven. They've got tool steel as an available material, which IMO will revolutionize injection molding.

While not good for wheels, I think it will make smaller part manufacturing a reality.

My fear is that as this becomes available to the masses, non-engineered product will make its way into the market.

sjd

 

Fantastic, so why not change a tolerance and just bond the end in place.

sjd

 

No doubt, that it's meanwhile possible to make high tensile strength parts with sintering techniques.
But there are other properties I need or expect from metal parts, which are still problematic with sintered parts. Like the elastic coefficient, or especially impact strength. I know what happens, when I drop one of my sintered hard metal cutting tools for my lathe or mill onto my floor with tiles.

Best from Germany
Martin

 

Not sure what you mean by bonding..

Remember that 90% of my customers want to retain as much OEM material as possible so most of my repairs are casting new pivot ends onto existing stalks. Thus my molds are designed for use to restore the OEM parts.. Knurled stalk ends are compatible with my existing molds. Most years I only sell 2-3 full reproduction stalks, so it's economically undesirable to have unique molds for them.

 

I see. I envisioned a 3-d printed part with the stalk epoxied in place. Some of the newest MJF nylons might work well for that. they might even have enough stretch to press a stalk in.

sjd

 

I have built a prototype for a consumer product this summer with most innards made from MJF PA (Multijet Fusion Nylon). The local 3D-print supplier with his 100k€-HP-printer convinced me.
It was seriously frustrating regarding strength and durability. I had to remake the most stressed parts with simple FDM and from ABS. Luckily those survived the product presentation while the MJF parts didn't survive the tests in my workshop.

Best from Germany
Martin