I had electronic "guizmos" that I wanted to install in my Z, but I had already be drilling two holes by the clock, and I wanted either something looking factory, or hidden, but with a professional quality.
Looking around in the cabin, the only "naturally hidden" place would be to use the useless (for me) space located, into the ashtray.
So, I decided to start the "ashtray insert" project.
I thought is was a couple hours project....it turned out to be a "little bit" harder than that.
First, I melted some plastic, to be able to have the internal dimensions of the ashtray (down to 1/2 millimeter).
Then I tried to cut some "plate" in the following material
Wood, from a couple millimiters, up to one centimeter thick
Plywood
Plastic sheets
Carbon Fiber
CD-ROM ( yeah, they're pretty easy to cut )
Brass
Polycarb
Lexan
But, all had the same problems, the plate was either not fitting properly and/or was not stable enough.
To fix the stability problem, a 3-D design was invented, using some "legs" for stability.
As material, I decided to use....industrial polished stainless steel sheets.
First of all, I had to do a prototype.....it was messy.
0.5 mm thickness was not rigid enough, 2mm was too rigid / strong, and impossible to work with. Ever tried to fold a 2mm sheet of steel, and cut it to fit....well, your average saw won't cut it...pun intended...you've got to use something a little bit stronger. And your average wise won't do it either.....you need a (ahem)...60 TONS press to have a nicely looking form.
Then, when the prototype is done, and fitting perfectly, you've got to measure it (angles)....and SMASH IT flat...to remeasure it (dimensions).
Then, you JUST got to program a CNC machine, to be able to cut the next templates.
And finally, when you bought a large & expensive sheet of industrial stainless sheet, you have to get the CNC to cut the flat forms, and then have them folded....and it MUST be folded with the correct angle....from a visual perspective, the angle may look to be 90°, but in reality, 90° is a loose fit....and 92° is too tight. Well, basically, all of them had to be manually adjusted....
Finally, it was a long, and difficult project, much harder than I expected. And I did one run of these inserts, the first one, any very likely the last one as well, as it's simply too hard, and too much time consuming.
But enough reading....it's told that a picture is worth 1000 words, and I'm tired typing ;-)
Stainless Steel Ashtray Inserts
Once upon a time....
I had electronic "guizmos" that I wanted to install in my Z, but I had already be drilling two holes by the clock, and I wanted either something looking factory, or hidden, but with a professional quality.
Looking around in the cabin, the only "naturally hidden" place would be to use the useless (for me) space located, into the ashtray.
So, I decided to start the "ashtray insert" project.
I thought is was a couple hours project....it turned out to be a "little bit" harder than that.
First, I melted some plastic, to be able to have the internal dimensions of the ashtray (down to 1/2 millimeter).
Then I tried to cut some "plate" in the following material
Wood, from a couple millimiters, up to one centimeter thick
Plywood
Plastic sheets
Carbon Fiber
CD-ROM ( yeah, they're pretty easy to cut )
Brass
Polycarb
Lexan
But, all had the same problems, the plate was either not fitting properly and/or was not stable enough.
To fix the stability problem, a 3-D design was invented, using some "legs" for stability.
As material, I decided to use....industrial polished stainless steel sheets.
First of all, I had to do a prototype.....it was messy.
0.5 mm thickness was not rigid enough, 2mm was too rigid / strong, and impossible to work with. Ever tried to fold a 2mm sheet of steel, and cut it to fit....well, your average saw won't cut it...pun intended...you've got to use something a little bit stronger. And your average wise won't do it either.....you need a (ahem)...60 TONS press to have a nicely looking form.
Then, when the prototype is done, and fitting perfectly, you've got to measure it (angles)....and SMASH IT flat...to remeasure it (dimensions).
Then, you JUST got to program a CNC machine, to be able to cut the next templates.
And finally, when you bought a large & expensive sheet of industrial stainless sheet, you have to get the CNC to cut the flat forms, and then have them folded....and it MUST be folded with the correct angle....from a visual perspective, the angle may look to be 90°, but in reality, 90° is a loose fit....and 92° is too tight. Well, basically, all of them had to be manually adjusted....
Finally, it was a long, and difficult project, much harder than I expected. And I did one run of these inserts, the first one, any very likely the last one as well, as it's simply too hard, and too much time consuming.
But enough reading....it's told that a picture is worth 1000 words, and I'm tired typing ;-)
Here they are....
http://www.angelfire.com/geek/vg30dett/Stainless/index.html
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