Ognib

Hi Michael, thanks. There's a wheel hiding in that chunk of metal...see if I can find it. Nitty gritty...down n dirty...gettin there.

Got a plug hacked out that will fit on the rotary table...good thing I'm not building 1:4 scale...I'd need a bigger machine. Faced it, laid it out for center & drilled the center line 2 1/2" deep.

The current blade is a 14 tpi raker blade, rated for wood & soft non ferrous metals. It works great for the hardwoods in my guitar builds & has been good for the smaller pieces of aluminum I've cut to this point. For cutting this big piece down, I'd like to move a little faster...thus the addition of a thicker blade with a more aggressive cut.

ya, can't beat the price. When I factor in the time taken to trim it down into workable blanks, I think I'm still beating the retail cost. I am going to step out this morning & get a coarser, heavier blade to work it with. It's an on-going education. Hap sat!

Got the back tires today. Went to the salvage this am & made out like a bandito!! They didn't have any bar stock that was close in size for the wheels, but I scored this nice piece of 7" round. It's 3 1/2" tall. Enough for the big back wheels plus extra for in the table & a bit of space. Drew some rounds with the bottom of a rattle can...a bit big, but gives me room to tighten up my setup as I turn it down to specs. I could have gone somewhere else & paid retail for some material...at $1.00 lb for salvage, I've got more time than money. Here's the new back tire next to it. Just keep trimming it down with the bandsaw.

On the aluminum pieces, very fluid lines on your curves & arcs. Manual machine? noice

Very crisp!, accurate & a pleasure to view. Kudos.

That's very nice work there, Harry!!

It is good to have options in life!

Hi Dave, Ya, that's something I'd like to do. My biggest google search recently has been on the subject of machining neoprene rubber. There is an interesting thread on "practical machinist forum" on the subject... http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/cnc-machining/questions-about-machining-neoprene-rubber-211532/ I'm still new to the machine shop side of things & my learning curve is kinda slow at times. Want to keep making progress on the model so I'll put the best rubber I can find on it until I can provide something better to use.

I like the look of the raw machine work in the metal. To my eye it has greater visual impact due to the varying textures & contrasts & reflections as the piece changes angles & shapes...where very bright, highly polished work tends to get lost in itself, if you will. I bet you have been buying some lumber recently, Scott. How's that going? Down side to digging at the salvage place is you never know what they're going to have...it's random. Last time there I scored some beautiful 1/4" plate & some 1/8" plate in 12 X 18 dimensions...enough for years supply for under $20.00. Time before that, mostly what they had was pipe & small round stock. Of course they've always got beer/soda cans by the hundred thousands & plain old metal junk. Got 2 sets of front tires today to choose from. These are real tires, for RC cars...meant to be drifted, accelerated hard, etc...They look & feel fantastic up close & the quality is outstanding! The first is called the vintage racing tire & is slightly the wider of the two. This one is about 1/16" taller & has a V groove tread pattern that is similar to the back tires, which are still in transit. This is the tire I'm going to use...unless something else comes along that I like better, of course...had to see both of them in person to know for sure.

Well, it's time, so hang around & we'll see where it goes. I've been buying all my material from an old man who owns a huge metal recycling business. He let's me in to dig through his bins & sells to me for $1.00 lb. Gotta get back out there & find a few chunks that are big enough to whittle these wheels out of.

Sketching out some ideas. Drawn to scale.

The hinges are slick, Scott!! Very logical approach...clean & simple. Very nice work.

This looks good to my eye for the differential on tire size for a street car. Don't care much for the back panel treatment on this car below the feature line, but other than that, it's got a real nastay vibe about it.

Just a pic I found online. Very visually impressive. Probably cut on CNC. I definitely don't have the skills or equipment to pull that off.

Any in progress shots of said 3rd memb? I'm always looking for clues.

Clever use of the wooden clips. Shocks are real nice!

My evening project was to build a tapping block to hold the tap vertical over the hole being tapped. It has a large enough footprint that I can float it anywhere on the side of the case for tapping side cover holes. Poor alignment with the hole is rated as one of the main causes of tap breakage in very small sizes.

Ohaf, arghhh....machine shop porn, baby....machine shop porn! Just found this, had to share!

Ya, they look right to me too. I ordered the big ones for the back today & 2 different considerations for the front...see which I like best. Fortunately they are fairly inexpensive so I can give myself some options to choose from.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Really helps my thought perspective on this. Dave, thanks much for the info! Found these, too. this one, for the back, is almost identical in size to the ones I've been mocking up with. This looks good for street. Considering this for the front. Tread doesn't match the V-groove exactly on the one above, but it's on a 1.9" rim...all of the previous are 2.2" The slight difference in rim size will enhance the big/little stager that I want visually for the car. Then as I build, I can keep looking for a better tread match in a 1.9.

Thanks, Scott. It's an exciting time in that corner, right now. I like the slicks also, but wonder if they would eliminate the "street car that gets taken to the track" vibe that I'm trying to project with the model. I am planning on cutting my own rims. Something simple & straightforward.

Carbon fiber, bolt on, brake rotor rings.

Found these... and these...same tread but not quite so tall, for big n littles, back & front. These are a slick with just the slightest hint of tread in them... same tread, but not quite so tall for front.