Texas_3D_Customs

So I called up William at the Carroll Collection, he has one under a glass case and thinks he has the dimensional drawings for it. Told me he will call me back next week and send me over anything he has. I told him I would send him a model engine if I can get it done.

So the link is the right one but no units or measurments, the above drawing is not the right type, that is like the supercharger I have on my SBF

The intake manifold is easy to fake it till you make it, its just a cross ram intake with two log style plenums, its the superchargers that are what is bothering me, one the intake should be in the back but no filter? second the actual diameter of the housing and the different steps if you have the die cast can you take measurements for me and we can assume thats close enough to scaled accurately? also the measurements of the engine to check the accuracy of the scale.

Those are really not good pics, let me get through my current projects and vacation I will look at making something even if it's not perfect it's bound to be popular

Here is the main issue, I have no idea what those look like from various angles, and how big they are. the bracket and belts are easy the intake is not too hard, its those blower units, I will be honest I can draw something up but I hate just drawing random things as good enough.

So one of the bottom lines that is also relevant is what is that persons time worth. Don't get me wrong I try to stay humble, but for me, doing this instead of working in my "normal" profession needs to be at least in the ballpark of what I can make going back to work for the man. Now I did take a pay hit doing this, but the benefits of working for myself are worth it. For example I am going to Colorado the first week of August, I didn't have to ask permission for when I was going to take vacation, but I have only had one run in with an issue like that anyways, but there were times my boss would call me Sunday night and tell me to get on a plane Monday morning to do a customer visit and I wasn't asked I was told.

I will say it can be done much cheaper than what I do, but output will be limited and you will be a slave to the machines. I have enough machines that I don't have to turn them over immediately. Normally I run then 2-3 times a day depending on the machine and the print running. Obviously at 12-14 hours a print to do 1:8 I don't run that more than once a day. Also the machines I use to post process are excessive, but it improves workflow and quality. You could do it as cheap as a single small printer like a Mars 3 or even Mars 4 Max and make a little side money manually washing and curing in the sun, but that's not a good way to run a business, plus the quality of a poor washing system is very obvious at least to me.

So I started this as a side hustle, my personal life became non-existent. Get home from work wash parts, eat dinner, start prints, read with boys at bedtime, pack, That was the order of my evenings, and I worked 5 minutes from home and would even come home at lunch and work on it. I would go to bed around 2-3 AM every night to get up at 7. A decision had to be made, so with that said I almost shut down the business just to do on demand orders if I felt like it. There was and still is a lot of risk doing what I did, job security as a senior engineer is pretty good as I could get a job in a matter of days, now I am in a position that if this fails in say 5 years how do you go back. I will say I do enjoy it and have over 10 years of printing experience and a decade more of working as an engineer using CAD and subtractive manufacturing, think mills and lathes.

Don't waste the time and money, they dont work really well to be honest. That is how I made my own DIY curing chamber way back when. They will turn most of the time, you have to very specifically make sure the solar panel gets lots of UV and they are really small.

I can tell you its not all that its hyped up to be. yes it does release easier, but it leaves a strange texture on the prints. It may have its purpose but overall I don't like it

HMM... But to be honest they really look a lot different to me

But for the life of me I can't seem to find a picture of that engine not in a car to do those superchargers would require at least that I know what in the world drives them I know it's a belt but beyond that I mean I'm going to want it to be at least somewhat right looking

So I could probably do that intake manifold Not sure I'm going to do those weird covers on the carbs at least not the hoses, but I will not be selling the intake manifold separately it would come with my 427 Cobra engine

Well about $20-30k worth of equipment, $700-1000/month electric bills because you dont want that many printers in your house and keeping a garage at 23C is really hard in Texas, over $30K a year in shipping labels, I don't even want to know how much I spend in resin but well over a thousand a month. It really is a different gig than just printing things for yourself. Taxes are a nightmare as well. When I was just hobby printing and the occasional sale it was much much different, and somehow it just kept growing until I was exiled to the garage. I regularly put in 12 hour days work a bit on the weekends, and vacation which is a week and a half away is stressful because unlike a paid job I wont get paid vacation. You deal with a lot of different types of people some are very cool some not so much. I have made a good deal of friends and likewise I have made some not friends, see above. It really comes down to I really enjoy doing this, and while its been a pay decrease its been a lifestyle increase. Now the money is all subjective, if you were say a gas station attendant then I am sure you would say the pay is great, but coming from my old career its not. Money is not everything in life and I am getting towards the later quarter of my working career, and as such I have already paid off a lot and was fortunate to not have to buy my house at current prices. It's not for everyone and due to my past career this was not a huge leap as I did a lot of CAD as an engineer, also helps that I am a 1:1 gearhead. Would I recommend it for everyone, absolutely not, but it does have potential but also competition is getting fierce.

Man I didn't realize those weren't real tires and wheels, bravo

I will stop I am just adding to the issue

I mean if I were to sell my files on Cults3D which is what I think he was talking about. I wouldn't sell my files for nearly what an engine costs, much less what others are selling "Engine" Files for. Dont get me wrong there are some good ones out there, but most of the high detail super accurate files are much much more than even $50. The main issue I would have is we all know that people share files they buy on Cults3D and furthermore you only get that charge one time per person even if they dont share. Take for example Scale Model Auto Works Slant 6, he charges ~$13 for the file, and he has sold 24 which comes out to $323. Sorry the time to design a detailed engine like my Slant 6 my Hemi 426 my LS line... to me is worth way more than even $500. So the problem with Shapeways and I will say I am not a fan of the system, but its an avenue for creators to use so thats their decision, the file cost is all the creator gets, shapeways is getting the lions share if they don't charge a high rate for the file. I personally think that there are better options like licensing your designs to people like me with a royalty as as you say the prices are too high on SW. But you can set the price whatever you want to make per sale on SW. I have reached out to people that sell on SW and most of the time they are not keen to the idea of licensing with me, but that is there decision.

Absolutely, I sell my engines with a transmission for $25 shipped, I wouldnt even consider selling my files for anywhere close to that. But my engines are not the run of the mill Cults3D designs

Yes up near Denton and yes I have an eBay store as well as my website.

I will wait for someone other than you to weigh in on this, we can go back and forth and you will not listen to my reasons and while I admit I lost your business and I never made absolute statements that is all you.

Yep you are right, but for the business I lost, you and perhaps a few others, there are a lot of people who will see that I am pretty straight up and I will accept that as representing my business. I would even go as far as to say people see me defending makers like Ron Olsen who choose to go the shapeways path even though it would be very easy for me to jump on your bandwagon, as a good thing. I am not the one bashing other peoples business and quite the opposite am defending the decision. You sir are the one who started a whole thread on putting down people and telling them how to run their business and then you bring it here when people point out a source for parts. Tell me I am wrong.

and I quote "Or I'll take some time and learn how to print. It can't be that hard. I just haven't taken the time to learn it." sorry my sarcasm was too much to handle.

Yeah 3D printing quality parts is super simple hardly an inconvenience.

This was never the intent of selling the tire separately I don't make money on the tires I make money on the wheels It's just one of those things rubber resin is expensive but when you buy nothing but wheels I make money when you buy nothing but tires I make no money. And while it might seem like I'm being greedy it is a business and it is how I feed my family. The whole intent was to give a selection of tires for my wheels and not pigeonhole a wheel into a certain tire.