I decided that I didnt like the black centercaps that came on my firebird, they look really crappy with the chrome wheels, so I built some replacements. Im NOT selling these, they cost way too much to make. Did them at work, in my spare time. They are currently getting the rest of the polishing and chrome plating, should have them back in a week or so. opinions?

NOTE: the bumpy texture that you see is not a bumpy
finish of the caps, its the textured sheetrock of my
kitchen ceiling...

<img src="http://www.bealer.org/caps3.jpg" alt=" - " />

<img src="http://www.bealer.org/caps4.jpg" alt=" - " />

<img src="http://www.bealer.org/caps1.jpg" alt=" - " />

<small>[ December 08, 2002, 08:12 PM: Message edited by: SLPFireChicken ]</small>

 

You planning on putting those on your amphibian ATV? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by I8COBRA:
<strong>You planning on putting those on your amphibian ATV? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">LOL. No, just replacements for the stock black pieces of crap. Getting them chrome plated as we speak. They attach to the wheels just like the stock caps, except for an additional anti-theft device. I spent a long time designing, drawing, and building these.

 

Those look awesome - it was well worth your time. The best part is that not only will they look good, you won't see anyone else with them!

Mike M

 

Look sweet! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

 

Cool how did you ingrave the bird? CAD?

 

I hope he used CAD, cause if not, someone spent a **** LOAD of work hand drawing those!!!

Great Job! Those are sweet. Another custom touch, might be to paint the bird to match the color of the car. Just a thought. Looks sweet either way!!!

 

Hey Fire Chicken, where are you getting them plated here in town?....do you go with Airline Plating?......they look great by the way.....

 

Wow they look great, you should sell them I would definitly buy a set, HOw much would you sell them for i would be intrested , they look sweet. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

 

Those are deadly!!!

Do tell how you made them!

 

really nice stuff man, you've gotta show finished pics of them on your ride <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="gr_images/icons/cool.gif" />

 

Nice work! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

 

Excellent work. Been a long time that you ahve been working on those! Good job.

Can you make me some SS ones?? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="gr_tounge.gif" /> JK

 

WOW! NICE WORK! lets see some pics of them installed.

If you decide on selling them put me down on your list.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Blu Beast:
<strong>Hey Fire Chicken, where are you getting them plated here in town?....do you go with Airline Plating?......they look great by the way.....</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Im not sure where they are being plated. A friend of mine, who runs a shop that machines plastic and rubber, has a relative... you know. Im getting them done for FREE!!!!!

As for how they were made, yes, the process involved CAD. I work for a machine shop on the north side of Houston, have been there for 5 and a half years, am a CAD/CAM CNC mill machinist, programmer, operator, setup, I do it all. I had a buddy from the SLP forum run a jpeg image of a firebird logo through some adobe software, and output the image as an AutoCAD drawing file. From there, I had to clean it up a bit (moving entities around, making certain things continuous, resizing, etc), and then imported it into my CAM software, where I went through tool selection, and output the GCode that the manufacturing machines use. The people that I work for are really cool, and since its a small, family owned company, they let me do stuff like this on a regular basis, they consider it a good way to let me prove what kind of things Im capable of doing, while I get neat accessories for my car. I will post some pics of the manufacturing phase later.

As for future projects, my car has an automatic transmission, and Im in design right now of a 3 piece, aluminium cover to fit over the shifter handle, as a replacement for the vinyl that came with the car. I will keep the stock internals and the original button, but the body of the shifter handle will have a blue anodized cover, with pistol-grip style finger grooves in the front, a firebird emblem in the top, and a cover to fit over the button, to make it blend in.

I also plan to build some new door sills, also from black anodized aluminium. Firebird emblem in the middle, and a custom machined texturing the rest of the way around (I never much cared for the original block pattern).

Ive also got new pedal covers in the works, to match the shifter. Im torn between doing the shifter and pedals in blue, to go with my NBM exterior, or just do it all black anodize to match my ebony interior.

Oh, also, I would love to sell them, but GM wont give anyone permission to make them for sale, it was hard enough getting the ok to make them for my self. Its a shame, though, I could make a killing, although they would be super expensive, a couple hundred dollars per set.

The pics for how they were made arent hosting right, but I will describe the steps in detail. These were done on a Fadal VMC milling machine, the machines we have cost between $100K and $150K, but you can buy their cheap, simple version for 32K at www.fadal.com . I plan on buying the small version when Im out of college, to have in my garage.

1. First, aluminum blanks must be machined. This is a solid cylinder of aluminium, 2.625" in diameter, and appros 1" thick. Done by using a metal-cutting band saw, followed by turning and facing operations on a lathe.

2. Next, the centercaps are placed in a 3-jaw milling chuck and set up on a milling table. A series of 3 small tools (think if it as 3 router bits each one smaller than 1/8", and each one of the three is smaller than the one before it). The machine uses a CNC program to trace out a pattern for engraving.

3. The next process involves using a tool to put the radius on the edge of the caps. This is done with a carbide tool similar to a roundover router bit.

4. Finally, the part is turned over, so that the spokes on the backside can be machined. From the back, my centercaps look exactly like the stock centercaps, they have little hooked spokes that snap onto a chamfered ring in the middle of the wheel. If you have ever taken your centercaps off, you will know what Im talking about. This operation takes 9 tools, and about 45 minutes for each cap. When its done, the back of the caps looks just like hte backside of hte OEM caps. It is during this process that part of the anti-theft device is created, sort of a backup way to hold the caps onto the wheels.

5. Polishing. Lots and lots of polishing. Up to 1000 grit sandpaper, then about an hour apiece on an 8" buffer, with varying grades of buffing compound. however, they are not completely mirror finish, so I let the plater finish the caps. After polishing, they get chrome plated. After the plating, I plan to put body colored metallic paint into the cavities, so that the bird will stand out a bit.

And here is a picture of an un-chromed cap on a freshly zainoed wheel. Sorry for it being so far back.

<img src="http://www.bealer.org/cwcap3.jpg" alt=" - " />

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Ling_650vette:
<strong>I hope he used CAD, cause if not, someone spent a **** LOAD of work hand drawing those!!!

Great Job! Those are sweet. Another custom touch, might be to paint the bird to match the color of the car. Just a thought. Looks sweet either way!!!</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That is actually, exactly what I had in mind from the beginning. Im going to wait and see how they look, but most likely, Im going to get some NBM touchup paint, and use it on the inside of the machined cavity. Depends on what looks better...

 

Great work on the caps. I also work for a rapid prototype company and I know how much work is involved. I do alot of CAD work and I have designed a few things in my spare time. Like my amp rack and a new temperature control bezel so I could relocate the controls to make room for a LCD and a computer.

<img src="http://mail.auburn.com/mike/11de02-8.jpg" alt=" - " />
<img src="http://mail.auburn.com/mike/11de02-11.jpg" alt=" - " />

My question is what kind of problems did you into with GM and do they care if I just make stuff for myself with the logos on them.

Mike
(First Post)

PS - If you want to email me the CAD data I wouldn't mind <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

 

FireChicken, great minds think alike huh? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

Nice work w/ the CAD stuff. Did you use Auto or Data? Im in a 2yr Architecture course, and i worked w/ Auto throughout HS, but have had to learn Data for this semester. Same 'basic' principles between the two. Just curious.

I might end up doing C5 crossflag keychain or something, once i get my skills up lol. Either way, looks sweet man, good job!!!

 

Ling: I use AutoCAD, EdgeCAM (and its built in drafting utility. Also done a bit of work in MasterCAM, which is neat for some tricky stuff.

The caps were done with a combination of AutoCAD and EdgeCAM. Each software package has some different tools, and different ways of doing things.

Mbloink: I initially had enormous problems with GM's licensing company (a firm called Equity Management Incorporated, or EMI for short). I was told by GM customer service to contact them about permission for personal use. While talking to them, they told me that I couldnt make the centercaps, because GM has a policy that protects the OEM manufacturer of wheels and centercaps. In a nutshell, it went like this:

EMI told me that I could not make a product that had never been made before, for a discontinued car, using discontinued logos, because GM wanted to protect the business interest of the company that makes their wheels and centercaps, for their factories to put on cars that are currently in production.

I got tired of dealing with their idiocy, and asked them for contact information with the person(s) they deal with at GM. They refused to provide it to me. So I got on the phone with Pontiac Customer Service. It took them about 4 days to find out who the trademark contact was, and put me in touch with him. I explained the problem to him, and he was very nice, he explained to me taht I actually didnt need permission to use the logos for myself, as that was covered under priveledges of free speech, but that the attourneys at EMI were always hesitant to say that, just because its a somewhat precarious situation. He also apologized, because one of the EMI employees that I spoke to made it a point to lie to me about a few key facts. He told me that of course I could use logos if I wanted to, as long as I didnt sell them for profit. So basically, he said it was ok if I made custom stuff for my car. Although EMI was a PITA to work with, the people at GM came through, and were wonderful to work with.

 

nobody has to know u are selling them . <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> nobody here will tell gm right guys ? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="images/icons/rolleyes.gif" />