Boxer Fuse Block Upgrade

Good day Guys,

Indeed, charging more for the them would certainly help one's motivation, however, at the moment it truly is a lack of time "thing". I am trying my best to catch up, but for one reason or another it is a slow process... and it does not help that I have way too many interests (perhaps undiagnosed ADD condition )... That being said, I am trying and perhaps sometime in 2019 I can wiggle some time to get some core pieces built.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day,

You certainly could. However, given the relatively small market of the product it makes it a difficult for formal companies to make a business case to manufacture them. Perhaps I have not seen enough of the Rebel's custom fuse blocks, but what I have seen were not a full custom solution but were existing manufactured blocks that were modified for a particular application.

Cheers,

Sam

 

When I first made my blocks I did reach out to these vendors and they were disinterested. That being said, going this route would only free up a portion of my time...as I would still need to go through all the steps to manufacture them. If the volumes or market was higher, then one could move towards a more formal and efficient manufacturing process and in doing so minimize one's time and lower the per unit cost substantially. However, migrating to the next step requires a lot more $$$ (purchase materials in greater volumes, larger equipment NRE, etc)... but given the market size the ROI would be difficult to justify as well as the increased risk.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Paul,

Well, this is an exaggeration... I only work 16-18 hours a day ... To be fair, this is entirely my own doing and it is because I am fool to have selected an Industry and business which has some very large players... and I am a small fry... actually I am a mosquito, to a mosquito, to a mosquito to a David versus a number of Goliaths. However, the part that motivates me is that I develop some really slick products with advanced technologies that directly compete with these behemoths and in most cases I beat them. Who knows perhaps one day I may be enough of an annoyance to the big guys that they provide me with the golden handcuffs

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Buzz,

3D printing technology would only be suitable for block base and could not be used for the electrical elements of the design. That being said, I have been using 3D printing technology for some time now (about 10 years now) and certainly appreciate what it can offer. However, there is usually a trade off with cost, quality, and durability. Some 3D printing technologies are great for for looks, but crappy for strength and integrity, whereas, others are very strong, but look so-so. There are some newer 3D technologies that would be perfect, but these are targeted towards some specialty uses and so the costs are up there big time... in other words these technologies are not for mere mortals like me. So far the best technology for this application is subtractive CNC. The result is super strong, durable, and aesthetically "crisp". If volumes were larger and if ne could accept some reduced aesthetic qualities, then injection molding would be the next best. Lastly, ore could go a similar route to injection molding, but use a less expensive mold process. For now given the volumes and aesthetic results, I am sticking with CNC.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day and Happy New Year everyone!

@NYCFERRARIS - My apologies, as I did not see you original post. I am not on fchat too often and when I do it is to post something (found info on a car, etc) and then simply scan over various posts. Consequently, I missed your post from the Fall.

@jacques - The Boxer and 308 Blocks are completely different to those found on the 365 GT4 2+2 and 400 series cars:

- 365/400 series have 10 fuses per block compared to the Boxer/308's 9 Fuses per block
- 365/400 series have their wiring connections from the rear as opposed to the edges on the Boxer/308 series
- 365/400 series blocks are designed with a slope so as to have easier access to the fuses, whereas the Boxer308 series are flat.
- 365/400 series fuse covers are also completely different.

That being said I have analyzed the 365/400 blocks and I think I have a design that would work. Sadly, I have not had time to prototype and/or test the design and so it will be some time before I have anything suitable... but it is on my radar, as I would like to upgrade my 365 blocks to something more robust.

@DonB - A Happy New Year to you too!

@ Everyone - I cannot commit to having any Boxer/308 blocks for this upcoming season, as it all depends upon my available spare time. Sadly, the base material I used for the original blocks has been discontinued and so I have to find a suitable replacement. The challenge here is to find a material readily available in white and black, in the necessary raw thickness, tolerant of the temps the blocks see, cost, and have a suitable flammability rating. Adding to this there are some newer technologies available that should be evaluated as well (quality, cost, etc). The result is bunch of time to review, acquire, analyze, test, etc the various solutions for the bases. With that said it would be a it of a challenge to complete all this before Spring.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Ross,

I would need to confirm, but I think the F40 uses a Fuse Panel similar to the 328 series which is dramatically different than the Fuse Blocks used in the Boxer/308 series, etc. That being said even this style (e.g. 328) could be redesigned to address its issues, etc. I say this, as I looked at the 328 fuse panels a number of years ago and from my cursory view I am sure something could be done. At the time I offered to make a replacement panel, but no one responded and so I simply let it go.

If you have a F40 fuse panel that is wonky, etc let me know, as I may be able to assist. This even extends to the little electrical controllers found in various models that are either NLA or ridiculously expensive, as the tech used is not overly complicated unlike what is used in the current cars.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Guido,

Thank you for the information. Indeed your solution looks good and your pricing is reasonable. Although your approach to hand solder point-to-point all of the connectors with wires is a lot of work. You must have a lot of patience!

My solution would have been different in that I would make an industrial multi-layer high temp PCB allowing for automated assembly (selective soldering). That is not to say your solution is problematic (assuming your soldering is good, which it certainly does in the pics), but that it does not scale well if you needed to make a number of boards at the same time.

Cheers,

Sam