ANYBODY INTERESTED

 We now have everything in house to make our mold. Should get started right after Christmas. Production will start the second week of January. We figure the price to be comparable with the 1970 and 1972 grill.

After looking for six months for a good 71 CUDA grille, we found one for only $2500.00. We had the one that came with the car but it was broken and had pieces missing. We traded the broken grille for the repaired grille and paid ONLY $2000.00. We're taking that grille, touching it up, throwing a mold to cast 71CUDA GRILLE. made out of 3170 tensile Shore 71D hardness plastic.  

Why make a molded grille instead of injection molding? Injection molding is used for high volume fast floor to floor time molding. Initial startup costs are expensive beyond belief. New machines with capacity large enough for a grille cost a quarter of a million dollars. The ancillary equipment maybe another quarter. The die blocks are heated and cooled. The inner profile of the grille an the outer profile have to be carved out of steel. The machine time for such a project costs 75 to 200 dollars an hour. I would estimate the machining time for one mold set to be about 150 hours or so. This grille would have to have pull pins where the grille mounts to the header. Strength wise? The material can be varied in both processes. Heat resistance? This material is cured at 150 degrees F. A 71D shore hardness and is harder and stronger than the original at 3170 psi tensile. It's a win / win situation. We have the argent paint if someone wanted the grille painted.

UPDATES

Dec 18, 2009

We had to order special clay to define the parting lines. Should be in house in three days.

Dec 19, 2009

The clay came today so we can begin the mold before Christmas.

Dec 24, 2009

Worked on the mold today. Some repair needed on the repaired grille we bought. There are two problems with repaired grilles; 1. They are 37 years old and brittle. 2. The repairs are sometimes less than good.

Jan 06, 2010

The buck for the mold is finished. 2/3 of the grille is sanded and repaired. It looks like we should have the grille primed by friday.

We found the argent textured paint at our local Sherwin Williams automotive paint store. If anyone wanted a painted grille. We talked about molding a grille with all the chrome and grille inserts in place. What do you think? We could use Cosmichrome on the trim areas and paint on the rest. The cheese graters would also be cast in. Think of the cost savings.

Jan 10, 2010

Repaired grille is primed. Sanding and paint Monday. Next step is making the mold.

 Jan 15, 2010

Completed sanding. Picking up the vacuum chamber/pump. Should begin mold Sunday.

 Jan 18, 2010

 Grille is painted.

Jan 22, 2010

Sunday has came an gone as has the rest of the week. Rain, ice, rain, ice and the such like. Spring is just 50 some days away and waiting expectantly for the first cruse in. The motorhome sits, covered with snow instead of sunshine, wishing for relief. So goes the grille saga. As my old boss and mentor, John D, would say, "You've missed the date. When will you have it done?" Stammering, reaching for some unknown answer, I stand dumbfounded while John tells me the date. I scramble untold hours to meet this new goal only to stand before him with a still unfinished project.

With all this said, fear not, do not give up hope, sail on, sail on, sail on. I will keep you updated day by day through out the week end as to the progress of our joint project.

Jan 24, 2010

The vacuum pump we had would not pull 29" that we needed to degas the tin cure silicone rubber for the mold. We picked up a J&B pump that does pull enough vacuum. The grille will be produced. Fear not, oh faithful friend, the grille is near.

Feb 03, 2010

And the saga continues. The mother for the mold is to be lain up with fiber reinforced plastic but the resin we had in stock didn't outlive it's shelf life. It had crosslinked into a semi solid. New resin has been purchased along with more tin cure rubber to finish the mold or mould as you would prefer. The drag half of the mold will be complete before the end of business today. With that said, tomorrow should begin the cope.

The Pal Nut Sert used on the back of the grille could not be supplied by four different vendors contacted. One customer of Tinnerman has exclusive purchase rights. We are going to get them. The flat push clips are easy to get. If you have a set of the Serts, be careful when you take them off. They are hard to find.

Feb 04, 2010

Found a vendor for the Serts.  

Feb 07, 2010

We finished up the mold or mould as prefered, Friday. It was a textbook experiance. Murphy was the consultant and we fired him. The new consultant will be here tomorrow and order new materials to make the next and better mould/mold. And so good captian if at the break of day, no land is sighted? And the good captain replied, "Sail on, Sail on, Sail on.

Feb 12, 2010

The materials for the mold came in today. The week has been spent making molds for the cheese graters. We will cast one or two of them today to see if the process is correct.

Feb 17, 2010

We cast a cheese grater in black and had good results. There was some porosity in the ends of the grille fins. The temperature of the materials was too low and caused an extreem amount of time for it to become ridgid. Next grille was cast without color but we vacuumed the mix to remove any extra bubbles. This grille is still pliable and hasn't become ridiged in three days.  Contacted tech services. We should not have vacuumed the plastic.  Will do one to the letter. When all else fails read the instructions. Hummmmm! Changed the type of silicone rubber used for the large grille mold. Should have that set Thursday. The previous mother mold was made of fiberglass and would have worked well except the mold was not thick enough. This mother will be made of a foam material created for this process. There seems to be a whole lot more to making a cast grille than just throwing a mold.

Feb 19, 2010

Success comes in small packages it seems. We made sure all temperatures were to spec. Part A = 76 deg Part B = 74 deg. Mold temp = 72 deg. Four drops of black dye in Part B. Mix well add Part A mix well. Fill mold, clear bubbles. Fill mold. Keep mold temp 70 or above. Demold in four hours. Good  black cheese grater. There are a few other things that needed done to make this all happen though.

Today we will make a new mold of the Cuda grille it's self. At least it will be the back side mold that will be the drag part. Ah good captain, the storm is past. What shall we do now? And the good captain replied; "Sail on, sail on, sail on.

Feb 23, 2010

Made the backside mold yesterday. Creating the box for the mother mold today. Ordered more chemicals for the mold. 

Feb 26, 2010

Changed the plastic to a stronger, tougher type.

March 05, 2010

This plastic works. Made several of the small grater grilles for testing and found them to be what we are looking for. This is after making four small grilles with the previous plastic and unsatisfactory results. One was so unbreakable that you could roll it up in your hand. We removed the drag (bottom) mold from the buck today. Very pleased with the results. I'll have more information for you Monday evening as to the results by then.

March 10, 2010

Looks like monday has come and gone but the mold and mother mold is finished as of 6:00 PM. Tomorrow will be the day that the mold is broke in half and the original grille removed. Next step is pouring the first grille. Thank God. Recieved an injury from a utility knife. It bit me whle I was cutting part of the mold. Super glue works great to stop the bleeding and close the wound. We just don't have time for such thing as stiches.

March 13, 2010

Still working on the mold.

March 21, 2010

Poured the first grille Friday and it was a problem solving experiment. We used a rather large pour gate but the gate was not the problem. The thickness of the grille section would not allow the plastic to flow quickly and the seven-minute pot life ran out. It had worked great with water. Using this pour as a problem solving process, the second grille was poured on Saturday with great success I might add. More changes are being made to the process to perfect it. We need to change the plastic to one with a 20-minute pot life and lower viscosity. This will allow time to remove as much air from the casting as possible. The down side is that this plastic can not be used with pigments so the grille would be white.

It doesn't look like you could learn much from this mess but it was a wealth of information along with the next one. Ancient Nippon wise man said; "Chant “why” five times and pursue the true cause".  This could be better done by laying on floor, kicking feet up and down and screaming at the top of youir lungs; WHY, WHY,WHY, WHY, WHY?  Actually it's part of a problem solving routine known in American circles as; 6 sigma.

March 23, 2010

And here is what came out of the mold. Derrek is seeing if it will fit in the 71 CUDA.  the third grille out of the mold is saveable but not sellable. A few more tweaks and we'll have her down pat. The headlights still have the knock outs in them as do some of the little grille holes. It's not cleaned up as you can see the flashing in various places.

April 17, 2010

Solidconcepts.com has a plastic AFP3300 that they use that would work great. No luck though because they don't sell it. Tadavies.com with a great plastic with one minute gel time and available in two 55 gallon drums and a limited shelf life????? Smooth-On.com with some great plastics but the wrong gel time. I've looked at many plastic sources and Gel time seems to be a problem with the high heat resistant plastics. Found four more sources that will be called Monday. Put the third grille outside in the sun where it gets hot. Doesn't seem to affect it at all. To sell or not to sell that is the question. Going to cast another grille Monday with another type of plastic. Possibly change the way the plastic is put in the mould. There are metering mixers that inject the liquid and this will get around the gel time problem. Expensive. Maybe one can be found at auction.

April 20, 2010

Smooth On rep to be inhouse around 3 PM tomorrow. Maybe we can get the kind of plastic needed.

April 22, 2010

Mike from Smooth-On was here for a good instruction and advice session. he gave two suggestions of formulations that are carried by Smooth-On. They wern't intrested at this time to formulate for us. He felt the process that we are using is good. No recomendations beyound material and changing to injecting the plastic into the mould. Mixing machines that inject plastic are expensive and currently beyond our resources. So is his suggested material.

Will pour a grille this afternoon and do a post cure on it.

The dark gray grille seems to be stable in the heat and doesn't soften..

April 24, 2010

Casting a grille today. We are going to go with a pressure system that will allow us to mix and mould the plastic before the gel time is over. Two point five minutes. This will give us a grille that will take 200 degrees F. and if post casting cure at 150 degrees for four hours will give 250 degrees. Set that in the Arizona sun. Yes!!!

April 25, 2010

The grille came out good but has a lot of bubbles and a thin section in it. I lost pressure when the mould leaked.  We need to rethink the entire project. Injection ports and vents, then how to build pressure inside the mould to push the walls out against the mother mould. 

April 26, 2010

The thin section was from plastic that had leaked out of the mould the last time it was used. Cleaned up the section that caused the thin section.  

CLIPS FIT OK                                                                 LITTLE GRILLES FIT OK

 STAINLESS FITS OK   I BROKE THE EAR OFF TO GET IT OUT OF THE MOLD EASILY SINCE THE GRILLE WAS JUNK ANYHOW.                       FINGERS FIT OK                         NOT TOO BAD A JOB FOR JUNK

 I BOUGHT SOME OF THE NEXT GENERATION PLASTIC TO TRY. I'LL LET YOU KNOW ABOUT TUESDAY OR SO.

May 9, 2010

Well, why don't you hit this project real hard and get it done? Because Obama didn't give the Social Security receipents a pay raise. I save and buy the next gallon of plastic, try it, the buy the next gallon and so on. I'll get there though.

May 16, 2010

I cleaned and repaired the mold Saturday. It is getting kind of ragged. I'l have to make a new female mold before too long. I think this plastic will work.

May 29, 2010

FYI the last plastic didn't work. I had a onlooker while I mixed and poured the plastic and it sat up before I could git the mold closed. So much for gel times. 

The grille is at a standstill for right now. taxes, taxes, taxes. We have to get at least one done or I loose my pattern because the Cuda has to go by the end of June and it needs a grille. There's only one in the shop right now. Found a plastic that will take over 200 degrees, has the right viscosity, long gell time, good impacts. Soon now very soon we'll get a gallon and try it.

June 03, 2010

Finally finished the 40 Ford Pickup that was hogging the grille casting area. It was one of those quick jobs that wind up taking three times as long as estimated. We ordered the material to cast the next grille. Don't give up on this project now. We haven't.

June 08, 2010

Still no plastic. Reynolds http://www.reynoldsam.com/ spoiled me with their next day service. Freeman http://www.freemansupply.com/ is slower because it has to travel further. We are going to vac the mold into the mother mold instead of preasurizing the plastic. This will give a consistant wall thickness to the grille. We're using a filled epoxy that will take over 200 degrees of heat. Hold your breath and cross your fingers.

June 10, 2010

Receved the cans of epoxy and opened one. There is only one pint in each quart can. In the hardner cans, there is only a quarter pint. I need at least a gallon to fill the mold. I bought six quarts thinking this would be more than enough. Six pints do not equal a gallon. I contacted Freeman Supply and their  reply is that they sell by weight. Why do they price it by quarts and half pints then? It's kind of like buying a box of candy and wondering why it's only half full. Some settling is expected???????? Have to buy more material. Sorry .

June 21, 2010

Waiting, waiting, waiting.  I think this plastic comes from China on a slow boat. I think they need some modification to their shipping policies. Billing was the middle of last week. 

13:45 and the plastic is now here. 

July 01, 2010

Cast a grille yesterday with the new plastic. We will know the results late tonight. Used vac on the backside of the female mold (the drag) to hold the mold against the mother mold. This should eleminate the thin sections we've ben seeing. The plastic is good for over 200 degrees working temp. It is an aluminum filled material. More later.

July 09, 2010

 Finally got enough courage to open the mold. Too much mold shift causing thin sections again. Random this time. We will have to go with a different mold, system and plastic to make this happen. I don't know when this will happen. If you need a corner of some other piece of the grille let me know and I'll use left over plastic to cast it for you  No guarantees though and you pay the shipping.  

July 20, 2010

The plastic is all used up.I will cast your needed pcs. for the cost of the plastic and a little for my time. Plus shipping.

This is the lower center tab as measured from the back center of the grille.  [ inches] and metric. Thickness is 4 mm.

 This is the original before it was painted Sassy Grass Green. Do not mistake it for a finished PACC grille.

Sanding, sanding, fixing, making it right I would love to put pictures of the buck  here but I think it's proprietary.

Use a real hard silicone for the mold and that will make it rigid. Right? This is a lesson in, Call tech services first or just throw a couple hundred dollars away. Duromoter is a very important factor in this type of mold. You want a mold that will be tougher than a rino skin and not hard. Hard = no strech and breaking. Useless in this application.

We're cooking now. Let's make the mother mold out of fiber and resin.    Getting ready for the second part of the mold. Removing all the blue clay is a chore.

Made several different tools to remove the clay.