Autocad

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Can someone do up a 64-65 "A" taillight lens? I got a mold maker friend that'll make a CNC'd injection mold shoe for me on his spare time if I can supply a Pro-E or solidworks DWG file or whatever they use. Imagine me popping 100 pairs of these out for 8 bucks a pop, Layson's would cringe.
 
pishta said:
Can someone do up a 64-65 "A" taillight lens? I got a mold maker friend that'll make a CNC'd injection mold shoe for me on his spare time if I can supply a Pro-E or solidworks DWG file or whatever they use. Imagine me popping 100 pairs of these out for 8 bucks a pop, Layson's would cringe.
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Just need a lense to use for dimensions...
 
This what you had in mind.......
 

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Nice work Tin! I was recently thinking about connecting with you to model tail light bezels for my build so they can be machined from billet... That would be above my CAD experience but I hear you're the man behind the design.
 
swisswill said:
Nice work Tin! I was recently thinking about connecting with you to model tail light bezels for my build so they can be machined from billet... That would be above my CAD experience but I hear you're the man behind the design.
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Sure Will, anything I can do to help.....
 
pishta said:
Can someone do up a 64-65 "A" taillight lens? I got a mold maker friend that'll make a CNC'd injection mold shoe for me on his spare time if I can supply a Pro-E or solidworks DWG file or whatever they use. Imagine me popping 100 pairs of these out for 8 bucks a pop, Layson's would cringe.
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OOOH!!! And do the 66 tail light bezels. Those are idiotically priced.
 
Muad'Dib15 said:
OOOH!!! And do the 66 tail light bezels. Those are idiotically priced.
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The reason most of these parts are Idiotically priced is the tooling to make the parts are extremely expensive, like 10-15K for a mold. So in order for anyone to produce a taillight bezel you have to get back some of that tool money on each part. Now if you are selling Camaro taillights bezels, no problem, but 66 Dart bezels is a different story. Not many people restore Darts, and most of the ones that do, are to cheap to buy new parts anyway......Supply and demand!
 
Tincup said:
The reason most of these parts are Idiotically priced is the tooling to make the parts are extremely expensive, like 10-15K for a mold. So in order for anyone to produce a taillight bezel you have to get back some of that tool money on each part. Now if you are selling Camaro taillights bezels, no problem, but 66 Dart bezels is a different story. Not many people restore Darts, and most of the ones that do, are to cheap to buy new parts anyway......Supply and demand!
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Preach Preacher!
 
I talked with them years ago and they were supposed to be building one for the 67-69 but it never happened. Oh well, onward and upward...
 
Muad'Dib15 said:
OOOH!!! And do the 66 tail light bezels. Those are idiotically priced.
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Are you speaking of the diecast & chrome plated housing for the '66 Barracuda?

There is little chance of that part ever being reproduced. Never let one of those housings go to scrap if it is in one piece. Plating can be stripped, pits can be filled. Probably 40k worth of tooling to make more in metal.

As for the L & R red lenses Pishta is speaking of, some guy in Mexico is making copies. They look like rubber molds taken from an original lens, and he gets about 20 bucks for them.

Our early A's are never going to be big in the repop market. Try to hang on to stuff that can't be fixed with bondo & paint, like trim. Chrysler used a lot of diecast potmetal, and the low bidder on the chrome plating. 40+ years later the plating is all but gone.

B.
 
Do you think you can sell enough of them to recover the cost of the tooling?

B.[/QUOTE]

Yeah that's the qestion. What does your friend estimate the cost will be to make the tooling? Everyone thinks parts like these should be relatively cheap, and they are if you're only paying for the raw material and molding, but.... the cost of tooling needs to be amortized into the final price. The more you sell, the cheaper the piece price. If you get serious, you need a business plan. And would Fiat/Chrysler consider this a licensable product?

Constructive criticism:
1. The thin strip of material under the radio area is an egg just waiting to be broken. (and you have to consider the knit line) I'd consider leaving that area competely blank and let the buyer custom cut whatever he needs. I guess if someone wants to install this custom dash, they'd probably not be too concerned with a factory radio.
2. The heater control area as shown does not allow for factory A/C controls. But that area can be inserted in the tool to allow either one or even left blank. Maybe someone doesn't want to run a heater and would rather use that space for switches, shift light, line-loc light, etc.

If I didn't enjoy perusing FABO during lunch at work so much, I could probably whip up the basic shape pretty quickly. I even have a spare dash insert and frame at home to reverse engineer.
***********
Pro/Engineer user since 93 including 6 years doing plastic vacuum cleaner parts. Solidworks is a pretty good imitation of Pro/E by the way :yawinkle:
 
swisswill said:
I talked with them years ago and they were supposed to be building one for the 67-69 but it never happened. Oh well, onward and upward...
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I just happen to have a 69 dash in my possession. Are 67 -70 all the same? Dart, Duster, Demon all the same?
 
soo, anything new?

tincup,i have a 68 dash (in my cuda), and a 70 dash in my garage that came out of my dart...i think all 67-76 dashes can physically bolt in to any year car..(which i think we all know). however, the face is different between my cuda dash and dart dash because the gauge insert is different. duh. lol

however, i wouldnt mind trimming what i have to make an aftermarket (or whatever yall try to make) fit into the dash...
 
73SwingerBuild said:
Fellow mechanical engineer subscribed. Very interested in seeing some of these drawings.
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HemiMark said:
fellow pizza maker subscribed............ this is good stuff.... lets not drop the ball...... :thumblef:
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bjkadron said:
Mechanical Engineering Student... Subscribed... I have Solidworks and I would be happy to help out. I was planning to build a dash like this... But I'm working on the mechanical parts of mine right now.
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Fellow construction worker .....subscribed......really looking forward to seeing how this comes out. :)
 
mopardude318 said:
Fellow construction worker .....subscribed......really looking forward to seeing how this comes out. :)
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No one has the interest in having this part made because they think it should be priced lower then 100 dollars which would not even cover the materials:wack:
 
Sorry, late to the party, haven't been on here much.

I know AutoCAD pretty well, never messed with Solid Works, but I have been working with Tekla for 4 years now, in metal building fabrication.

I've been fighting and scrapping to get something going on this for some time for my own car. The biggest hang up I have is, I don't want to cut my dash, and I want gauges bigger than 3 3/8". I posted some pictures in this thread, with some ideas about what I wanted.

For what it's worth, I have the perimeter pretty scienced out, it's getting the gauges to fit without cutting that has had me stumped. I think I've got it, but need to do another mock up.
 
BTW, this is for a later A-Body dash, don't know how different the earlier ones are.

I will say though, I fought to get 5" gauges into the panel, and I don't believe it is possible without cutting the dash, while dusterdb13 put 5" guages in his ralley dash without a problem.

They must be different.
 
DionR said:
BTW, this is for a later A-Body dash, don't know how different the earlier ones are.

I will say though, I fought to get 5" gauges into the panel, and I don't believe it is possible without cutting the dash, while dusterdb13 put 5" guages in his ralley dash without a problem.

They must be different.
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No offense, but what's the big deal about cutting the dash? You could probably pick up another one for $50 from someone, put yours away, and cut up the new one, and have the gauges you want.
 
Tincup said:
No offense, but what's the big deal about cutting the dash? You could probably pick up another one for $50 from someone, put yours away, and cut up the new one, and have the gauges you want.
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No offense?!?!? But I am!

No not really, just joking. I agree, it shouldn't be an issue, but it is.

Root of the problem is the VIN tag. Car is a 1 of 586 1974 Duster 360 4 speed cars. Not a Hemi car by any means, but not something I really want to cut up, and I certainly don't want to lose the tag. I'm not a huge numbers guy, and I don't think the car is special enough to restore to OEM original, but I hate to cut something and then have to fix it later if it ever becomes necessary.

True, I could cut mine and find another and save it, or even find another, cut it and save my original one, but I have little or no storage space, and I don't want to find a place to put it, or worry about losing it. Just rather leave it alone.

If I can find a way to not have to cut it, then less work is required, too. Besides, I'm a member of the Poor Bastards Club, so it's not like I have money burning a hole in my pocket to buy gauges with anyway. It's free to mess around with it in AutoCAD right now, so why not keep trying to get the gauges in without having to modify the dash?
 
Hey tin sorry to me a min to get back been busy and all... That pic looks good um i was thinking about doing a vacuum mold i been talking to plast tech and they told me it be pretty cheap to do depending on how many i do. but a vacuum mold be easy but they said they have a cnc shop to but maybe i can see what they charge...



Tincup said:
No offense, but what's the big deal about cutting the dash? You could probably pick up another one for $50 from someone, put yours away, and cut up the new one, and have the gauges you want.
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scampmehard said:
What you think would be best rate

Fiberglass mold

CNC mold out of alum

Or injection mold

I also heard something about a Vaccum mold.
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I saw a vacuum mold machine yesterday that is one of 5 in the country - new company. Pretty cool as they use silica (like sand) and water to make a slurry. There is a membrane on top of the sealed slurry filled "table" that the part is laid onto. They put a cotton blanket over the part and then a top piece to force the part into the membrane which makes an impression into the swet slurry. When the water is sucked out via vacuum and the top is removed the part has made a very nice impression into the now solid slurry which can be used to pull a mold.

CAD generated stereo-lithography can be used to make the part which the vacuum table is used for the mold.

All this is for work at a Army prototype facility. You can bet as I was fondling a half of a "suitcase" they made from carbon fiber I had visions of hoods and center consoles bouncing through my mind. Dash didn't cross my mind but that would be cool also.
 
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