Prototype number 1

I can't say what it is because I'll be applying for a Patent after the concept has been cleared from Bayliss Brands.  The chap who created the clockwork radio as well as many other inventions.

Edwards Products prototype assembly

I can however talk about the process of 3D printing and this is my first attempt.  Should anyone be interested.

Above is a render of an assembly of parts created in the CAD program Solid Works.  It's quite a complex mechanism inside but you're not going to see that.

With the finished assembly file (about 50-100hours work) I emailed it thinking it'll be printed immediately and I'll screw it together and it'll work.   Not quite that easy however.

I was told to rebuild the assembly making parts much thicker because even though the machine it was printed on is the best machine you can get, (costing £100k) thin plastic parts, especially spring loaded parts were liable to snap.
I was told holes for screws are best tapped afterwards rather than modelling in the screw thread.
Clearances for sliding parts should be loose at least 0.3mm and from this experience I'd say 0.5mm is better.

What's involved
When the assembly of parts come out of the machine they are laid on a sheet of thick clear plastic.  You have to prize the parts from a lattice support structure on the clear plastic with a knife (feeler gauges are good).  Then all the nooks and crannies have to be scraped to remove the support material, which takes hours!  A dental pick set is good for this.
A fair bit of sanding with sand paper and needle files is also called for.
Modelling in a way to reduce scraping and picking is well worth it.

Assembled 3D printed prototype

 Does it work?

I'm afraid not. It's to do with distances, so there'll be an EP002 coming soon.

Lessons learnt

It's a little expensive (several hundred quid) but infinitely cheaper than if you machined the parts out of metal. 

It would be nice if it was possible to use transparent plastic to see how the mechanism works (or not work) 

It would've been wise to print several version of parts so you can try more things out without constantly badgering for a week a very busy factory boss.  

The bit I found strange was, the models and assemblies created in the computer, that you can zoom in and out of on the screen, are now physical, and tiny in your hands.  It feels a bit like drawing on a piece of paper and wishing there was an undo button to correct a mistake.  

Cheers,

Rich

WWW.FAIRINGBOLT.COM

The website needs a bit more refinement as it has only just been launched but FAIRINGBOLTS.COM  is a site selling standard fasteners and parts replicated in everlasting, super strong and lightweight TITANIUM.  

 I know you can buy titanium fasteners elsewhere on the net but this is the place where you can that Honda fairing bolt with the shoulder that holds the fairings properly in place. 

 The weight of the standard part and the titanium part is given, so you can see how much weight you save on your bike.  

 These aren't the same as luminous purple aluminium bolts that you get sick of the sight of when your bike goes up in value as a classic.  

Part numbers are listed with the parts for sale so you can cross reference the micro fiche of your bike on various websites.  Not only that, pictures highlighting where the bolts go are often listed alongside the images of the bolts.

All parts use the exact critical dimensions as the standard part.  Threads are rolled and not cut.  
Grade 5 titanium   6Al/4V is used for ultimate strength.
They are a great deal stronger and lighter than steel or stainless steel fasteners.  








You can also find these parts on Amazon.


Also selling are titanium fasteners in American thread UNF and UNC thread types.




http://www.fairingbolt.com/

FItting pistons to A series Mini engine

After fitting the crank, it's time to fit the con rods and pistons.  These are new pistons made by Hepolite and are really good quality.  

They have to be pressed onto the con rods.  

As you can see the engine block is now painted.   I used a high temperature paint bought from Halfords and there are about 4 coats of paint.  Hopefully the paint will protect it for many years.  I hate rust so want to make sure water has no chance of getting under the paint.  

The piston ring compression tool was ok but it wasn't very good at the compressing the last little bit it get the rings into the bores.  

Music is by Orbital and is called Attached.

http://titanclassics.com/

Mini/ MG Metro engine 1293cc rebuild

This is a part of the rebuild process of one of my Mini engines.
It's been sent off to Rob Walker Engineering, which is a bit South of Oxford, England.
http://www.robwalkerengineering.com/
Very nice chap I may add.
The block was acid dipped to remove dirt and oil.
Rebored after a hone wasn't enough to remove some pitting on the bores.  Bored out to 1293cc which meant buying Hepolite pistons from Min Its near Solihull. (very nice people as well)
http://min-its.com/

I bought some new crank bearings and opted for lead/ aluminium bearing rather than the race type Lead Indium bearings because I know Indium is a very soft metal indeed and wasn't keen on another rebuild soon.
You can scratch a crank bearing with your fingernail so care has to be taken when handling them.

Hope you like the little video.  Engine building is expensive but great fun.

cheers,

Rich

http://titanclassics.com/

Fitting Titanium nylocs to the Mini

The weather has warmed up a bit, so it was great to get into the garage.
The first thing I noticed was, even though the garage felt dry and there weren't any puddles, when I removed the back wheel damp and moisture was clinging to everything. You can see in the picture the rear subframe, radius arm and pipework are all new condition.  This is what is attacking our cars, The creeping corrosion of a damp garage.  Before fitting the rear subframe last year I covered as much as possible in Vaseline in the hope of keeping rust at bay.  It just felt wrong splodging thick black anti rust paint all over a new subframe.

Moisture clinging to everying

Cross drilled Ti washers and Ti 3/8"Nyloc nuts

Mini rear trunnion with titanium fasteners

Excuse the blurred photo's.
Here's a titanium cross drilled washer (weight= 6.8gms) fitted to the Mini rear trunnions.
Bling bling Poly bushes and  anodised aluminium rear subframe mounts.
The Ti nyloc 3/8"unf nuts fit perfectly and should last a generation or two.  

Ti 3/8"UNF nyloc nut again fitted to the top mount of the rear damper.  In the boot of the Mini.  One of these top mounts is a pain to get to on a Mini because the fuel tank is in the way,  but I've got an aluminium race tank so that's one bit of time saved for all the hours it took to fit the race tank.  : )

I think the 3/8"nyloc fits the rear wheel spindles too. (Not the wheel side obviously).  I'll need to get under the car to check on this. If it's not a 3/8" then it'll be a 7/16"unf nut.

You can see a bit of kevlar cloth in the left of the picture. That was put in as a firewall in case of a crash. Kevlar was a nightmare to cut.  I had to use my wifes best scissors. She doesn't know of course.


Titanium 7/16"UNF nyloc nuts
I've counted 6 of these used on the Mini. Well, the standard nuts are plain nuts but I've used nylocs for years with no issue and I drive like a maniac.
The front tie rods to the front of the front subframe and front hub ball joints use 7/16" nuts.

Here's a break down of the weight compared to a steel nyloc I pulled off the Mini.

7/16"UNF steel and Titanium nyloc nuts

Steel 7/16"UNF nyloc nut removed from the Mini.
Weighing in at a hefty 14 grammes

Titanium 7/16"UNF nyloc nut.

Weighing in at a featherweight 6.7grammes

What an athlete!  : )

So fitting 6 of these Ti nuts saves 43.8grammes

Gearbox refresh
Here's todays pic of a gearbox I'm giving a spruce up.  It's had a new diff pin and gaskets and that's about it. Maybe I should've put some new baulk rings on it but I think it'll be fine. You can see I've used Loctite gasket sealant in the futile hope of stopping a Mini engine from leaking.  The last time I worked on this gearbox I used some blue gasket sealant which worked ok for a while but succumbed to the inevitable.

By replacing the 10 7/8"long bolts on the drive flanges there was a weight saving of 62grammes

It would be nice to have those large bolts on the diff housing made in titanium.  I bet there's loads of weight to be saved there.
Cheers for enduring my ramblings.  : D

Testing titanium bolts for size and fit

Here's another photo identifying what sized bolts fit where and a key of sizes. We're looking at the speedo side of the A series gearbox.

This time I've calculated the weight saved by using titanium over steel bolts. 

The result.  103 grammes weight saving.

Not bad at all.

I predict 3 kilos of weight can be removed from the Classic Mini just be using titanium bolts.  True, they are expensive, but luckily they're stronger, look beautiful and are corrosion proof.

Click image to expand if it's not clear enough

New stock just in!

Hello peeps!

Yesterday a big box of nuts and bolts arrived and I've spent some time testing they're correct with the right threading, fit spanners and all that and everything seems to be fine. Even the nyloc nuts which are finally correct and work well.

5/16unf by 3/4 hex head
Titanium weight = 6grammes
standard steel weight = 10.2grammes
Weight saving = 4.2grammes

3/8"Titanium nyloc nut

.  

5/16unc by 1 inch long titanium bolt

5/16unf by 3/4" long titanium bolt
This bolt is used to bolt the timing
cover to the Classic Mini engine block.

Classic Mini radiator to gearbox titanium
bolts.
5/16unf by 4 1/4"long

Here is the A series clutch cover. As you can see I've added some lovely titanium bolts and I'll figure out the weight saving at a later date.
To help those people out who take their engine apart and find they can't remember which bolt goes where or if it's a coarse thread or fine thread bolt goes in what hole, I put the bolt sizes in the key with a corresponding colour. If I've got any of these wrong please tell me. Both my engines are second hand and could have been tinkered with and had wrong bolts installed over the decades.  

This is a bracket that is under the radiator and bolts to the Mini gearbox. It has a solid engine mount fitted to it.
The 4 1/4"long bolts can be changed without taking the engine out as long as you change the bolts one at a  time. To change the small bolts you'd obviously need to remove the engine, or maybe if you're changing the engine mounts life the engine a bit from below with a jack.
Weight saving using Ti 5/16unf by 3/4 hex bolts = 21grammes
Standard steel 4 1/4" bolt weight = 44.2 grammes
Titanium 4 1/4" bolt weight = 24.1 grammes
Total weight saving = 40.2 grammes(2 bolts)

5/16UNC by 1 3/4 Titanium bolt which fits on the A series gearbox
Weight = 11.9grammes
Standard steel bolt weight = 21.8grammes
A 9.9 gramme weight saving using the titanium bolt

The bolt in the picture above this one fits inside the clutch housing and the locations indicated.  The original steel bolts I took out were in quite a bad shape.  I think the gearbox has been changed sometime in the past. I think this size bolt is used elsewhere on the Mini engine.
The Titanium bolts pictured give a 69.3gramme weight saving over the steel bolts.

 That seems to be all for now.  I'll bundle some of these bolts as kits and try and keep the prices as low as possible as always.