bill w

Dave, you're doing a great job as always, very nice work. Bill

I remember those days, I worked in a catalog studio, started in keyline/pasteup. We had the first photo composition computer back in 1974 I think it was called Citex, not sure on the spelling, the operator had to sign a 5 year non- discloser agreement. Bill

Is the oil dip stick on the passenger side or the driver side? Bill

I clicked the edit but nothing happened.

OK what do I do? Bill

Hello to everyone, I'm a new guy here, my name is bill. I had to adjust some suspension parts on my Camaro (lower A frame), so I thought I'd give a tutorial on molding and casting. The fist pics are the tools I use, spreading pliers and surgical blade. The parts I will be molding and casting are lower A frame and sway-bar links. In the third pic the gates and vents are glued to the parts. The A frames have one gate and one vent, they will be gravity poured. The links have a gate will be vacuum filled. http://images12.fotki.com/v197/photos/0/1629610/8690504/suspension023-vi.jpg http://images45.fotki.com/v1425/photos/0/1629610/8690504/suspension-vi.jpg http://images17.fotki.com/v297/photos/0/1629610/8690504/suspension001-vi.jpg The next few pics show the mold box and mounting the parts. I use 1/4" foam core board to make the mold boxes. I make the box 3/4" larger than the part on all four sides. I mount the parts on the floor of the box and measure the sides, in this case the box will be 3 3/8" long x 3" wide x 3" high. Add it up and you get a piece of foam core 3" x 12 3/4" + a 1/2" overlap at the end. I score the panels on one side according to the sizes and fold to make a box with 1/2" extra on the last panel. I then close the box and hot glue the lengths on all four corners for extra strength. Last I hot glue the box to the floor with parts already mounted. http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-004.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-002.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-006.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-007.html In the next few pics I mix the RTV. I use a platinum base clear RTV. It's easy to see the parts for cutting open the molds. The formula for figuring the amount of RTV is length x width x height ÷ 16 x .625. Here we go, 3 3/8" x 3"= 10.125 x 3"= 30.375 ÷ 16= 1.898 x .625 = 1.186 lbs. To convert .186 to oz. multiply .186 x 16 = 2.976oz. I round up to 3oz. so we have 1lb. 3oz. Normally you would figure the area of the part and subtract from your RTV total, but the parts here are small and the RTV saved would be minimal. I make my boxes 1/2" taller and make a pencil line for a fill mark, which is 3". I vacuum the RTV to eliminate bubbles. The bubbles you see in the mold just poured are caused by the pour and are minimal, they rise to the top and disappear. http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-008.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-010.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-011.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-032.html Here the molds are cured for 24hrs., taken out of the box, cleaned and cut open. I wiggle the knife wile cutting to get a scalloped cut, this keeps the halves from sliding and helps with registration when closing the mold for casting. The last pic shows 0090 x 5/16" bolts with the heads cut off. http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-019.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-020.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-022.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-012.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-014.htm The next pics show the threaded inserts in the mold. The molds are taped shut with 2" packing tape, funnels made with paper (card stock). The large mold is gravity poured and the small one is vacuumed in a vacuum chamber, the air is pulled out and when the valve is opened in the chamber it sucks the resin into the mold cavity. The last pic shows the molds filled and ready for the pressure pot. Casting under pressure gets rid of any air bubbles in the part. I added another mold I did earlier, rubber bushings for the sway-bar links. http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-015.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-016.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-017.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-018.html The last group shows the molds open, parts taken out and sprue's and vents cut off. I hope this helps some. If there are any questions just ask and I'll try to answer them. http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-025.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-026.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-028.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/mold-making-and-casting/suspension-030.html

What can I say, just KILLER work Dave. Bill

Hawk, I just snip with side cutters and file smooth. Bill

Hi Hawk312, I molded and cast the belts, I made a triangle shape from styrene and cast them, 15 shore A polyurethane elastomer from BJB Enterprises, It's a little soft, could go to a 42 shore A. The nuts and bolts are 0090 brass I buy from J.I. Morris Co. Bill

Well I got some time to work on my camaro, got a few more parts finished. Exhaust system molded and cast, primed and assembled. http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/exhaust-system-005.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/exhaust-system-006.html Muffler and gas tank made with styrene and ren, molded and cast. http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/muffler.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/exhaust-system-009.html Shocks made from styrene tube and glued together, cast and painted http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/shocks.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/shocks-assembled.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/exhaust-system-018.html Machined exhaust tips from aluminum stock and polished to look like chrome http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/exhaust-system-011.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/exhaust-system-014.html http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/camaro-build/exhaust-system-1.html I'm working on brake and fuel lines, I will post some pics later, figuring out the bends are going to take a while. Bill

I build for the fun and the satisfaction that I can say I did that. I like 1/8 scale and yes it is a little more expensive but if you like it it's worth the price. If I want something that's expensive I save up my nickels and dimes. I have never taken my models to any show (guess I'm just lazy). The closest place I got to a show was my neighborhood hobby shop and displayed it there for a couple of months. I've built RC airplanes to Pocher kits and now I take my time to scratch build cars, I can't begin to tell you how many thousands I spent, but it's over a period of many years so it's not as bad as you may think. What I'm saying is if you enjoy what you do for a hobby it shouldn't be a burden. Each day I throw my change into a gallon bucket (if I have any), you'd be surprised how fast you can save a couple of hundred. And I hope that large scale will be appreciated more. Bill

Hi LDO, Yes I did cut up a 1/24 scale model to get the basic shapes. I have a 1:1 camaro in my garage that I used for measurements. The model is 100% scratch built except for nuts, bolts and springs, the plan is to make a kit, but there are so many parts I'm not sure when I'll be finished. Thanks for looking! Bill

I'm still trying to figure out how to post pics here, so here's a link to my progress. http://public.fotki.com/bills69camaro/

I saw your work on this forum, very nice work, I do all of my line drawings in illustrator and try to make my photography look better with photo shop, but forgot 99% of what little I did know. Bill

Harry, I did product illustration for 25 years (before computers). I tried the computer for a while, Illustrator and Photo Shop nice tools to have but too much competition from computer savvy younger people. Now I'm a model maker by trade, I'll save the drawing for later. Bill

Haven't done much artwork since about 93, been busy making models.

This is some of the work I did in the 70's and 80's. Bill

Just want to say hello, I'm bill the new guy, Thanks for all the nice words about my engine, been looking around, some impressive work here. Hope too be around and keep you updated on my project. Bill