I was surfing through the wagons area, and came across the rollpan thread.
A rollpan is the replacement of the rear bumper, most often with sheet metal or fiberglass in such a way as to bring the bumper closer to the body, shrink it, and eliminate the plastic spacers between the big-*ss bumper and the metal body.
The main point of dissatisfaction with this superior looking solution is that removal of a metal bumper only increases potential damages in a wreck.
That got me thinking -- I know a business that can make or remake many of the metal parts that we want -- as usual the trick is money.
It's not a fab shop. It involves new technology. They can build stuff from CAD drawings out of powdered metal, then sinter it together, and bang, you can have yourself a tool steel bumper or other part you can CAD draw for them. It's basically limited only by money and size of the part -- too large and they have to build larger equipment in order to build your part.
I'm thinking that a replacement wagon roof panel is too large, but I think bumpers or a metal roll pan should fit in the size of their equipment.
For example, you get a fiberglass rollpan, then get somebody to get it into a CAD file (the company may be able to do that for you, I don't know), then they will quote you a price. From there, you may want to take it to a chrome shop, but it could be plenty thick.
I know this sounds like science fiction, but I have seen it in action. I watched them print a K-Bar from powdered metal once, and there it was.
If enough of you get together to get parts, perhaps the price could come down.
There's another application of the same technology that potentially could be interesting to old car buffs like us.
In addition to direct metal printing, they also offer printing in casting sands, and that would allow aluminum heads, blocks, and retrofitting for roller rockers in the castings, and lots of other things.
They have sold these printers to a major American auto manufacturer, and I have seen a head casting made from these, without form makers, in hours instead of six months or more that it takes a pattern maker to get things done.
Here are the links:
Direct metal printinghttp://exone.com/eng/technology/x1-prometal/process_prometal.html
Casting sands printinghttp://exone.com/eng/technology/x1-prometal-rct/index.html
Like I said, let me know what you think. It has some potential.
A rollpan is the replacement of the rear bumper, most often with sheet metal or fiberglass in such a way as to bring the bumper closer to the body, shrink it, and eliminate the plastic spacers between the big-*ss bumper and the metal body.
The main point of dissatisfaction with this superior looking solution is that removal of a metal bumper only increases potential damages in a wreck.
That got me thinking -- I know a business that can make or remake many of the metal parts that we want -- as usual the trick is money.
It's not a fab shop. It involves new technology. They can build stuff from CAD drawings out of powdered metal, then sinter it together, and bang, you can have yourself a tool steel bumper or other part you can CAD draw for them. It's basically limited only by money and size of the part -- too large and they have to build larger equipment in order to build your part.
I'm thinking that a replacement wagon roof panel is too large, but I think bumpers or a metal roll pan should fit in the size of their equipment.
For example, you get a fiberglass rollpan, then get somebody to get it into a CAD file (the company may be able to do that for you, I don't know), then they will quote you a price. From there, you may want to take it to a chrome shop, but it could be plenty thick.
I know this sounds like science fiction, but I have seen it in action. I watched them print a K-Bar from powdered metal once, and there it was.
If enough of you get together to get parts, perhaps the price could come down.
There's another application of the same technology that potentially could be interesting to old car buffs like us.
In addition to direct metal printing, they also offer printing in casting sands, and that would allow aluminum heads, blocks, and retrofitting for roller rockers in the castings, and lots of other things.
They have sold these printers to a major American auto manufacturer, and I have seen a head casting made from these, without form makers, in hours instead of six months or more that it takes a pattern maker to get things done.
Here are the links:
Direct metal printinghttp://exone.com/eng/technology/x1-prometal/process_prometal.html
Casting sands printinghttp://exone.com/eng/technology/x1-prometal-rct/index.html
Like I said, let me know what you think. It has some potential.
