Friday, April 6, 2012

The First set of TZ250 Cases

Wow.  That's all I have to say after finishing the first sample set of cases.  I went from this:


To this:



And only broke one drill bit and slightly dented a boring bar.  Not too bad.  This one set of parts created nearly 2-55gal drums full of chips and a bunch of cutoff sections.  This was definitely the most complex machining job yet.  Although there were a couple of digitizing errors they were able to be patched up and these cases are useable for dyno testing.  I'm very happy with the results so far although it has taken longer than expected to reach this point.

The rough assembly shots are not that good as I was rushing to send them to Bruce so he could test them before going away.









After dyno testing I will make any updates needed then hopefully be able to jump right into a 5-10 set order.  That will definitely keep the mill busy for a while and the metal recycler flush with turnings.  Hopefully I'll be able to coordinate with Gregor and get some nice photos of the parts.

Now back to some 4-stroke work!

Chris

Back in action, now with T-shirts

Well, that was an extended absence.  It was not too bad from my perspective since I was working on a motorcycle-related project.  Now that the first stage of the TZ250 engine case project is done so I can get some time to get some of my bike project in.  I'm sure my control arm material stock and programs are feeling neglected, but hey, that's life.

One point of good news is that the T-shirts have finally come in.  I ended up using Metro Printing & Promotions because of their good turnaround and great pricing.  Steve was a big help in getting the graphics sized and located properly.  In keeping with the Made in USA theme of the project I aptly chose American Apparel t-shirts.



The shirts look great (apart form the wrinkles) and are super comfortable.  Thanks again to Sacha Halenda at Form Five for the clean and elegant layout.  I'll be sending out the first batch of shirts next week so all those who so generously gave to the cause can expect something in the mail soon.  If anyone else is interested I have plenty of extras ready to ship.  All donations are appreciated.

Finally, next week is a bike part week.  I'll be definitely machining the upper control arm and hopefully getting the lower control arm done too.  Posts and pics will follow.

That's all for now.

Chris