Need ideas for custom fabricated steel or aluminum parts

[terrawombat]

So I have one of these:

 

 

And also have one of these:

 

 

I've had them for about 6 months now and have just finally gotten around to using it on a consistent basis. Had a ton of trouble with it in the beginning and very little help was offered by the manufacturer, but that's a whole different story. With the help of a fellow CNC hobbyist, I've finally got the thing working almost to my liking.

 

So, if you guys have any ideas for some custom Comanche fabricated parts that I could cut out, let me know. Keep in mind that I do not yet have a mill or lathe (I should have a mill within the next two months, though) so I'm limited to just cutting 2D profiles out of steel, stainless, and aluminum plate. My cutter can do up to 5/8" steel.

[terrawombat]

Heh - I sort of expected this as I've seen that a lot of Jeep owners are generally pretty savvy when it comes to fabricating their own stuff.

 

I'm just getting tired of making metal art for my friends and family - I want to get into something more car-related.

[Automan2164]

Maybe you could 2d cut out a weld-yourself bumper kit? I'd be interested in something like that...

 

I have seen them... Wouldn't be too hard to do with some engineering...

Rob L.

[Hubbell]

Are you looking to common production items or one off custom work?

[terrawombat]

Are you looking to common production items or one off custom work?

 

Possibly both. It's just a hobby at this point in my life - I've got a 9-5 as my main source of income, but it never hurts to have a fallback plan. For now, I'm just looking for some ideas to get me tinkering with the machine.

[jpnjim]

Tim,

can you use that stuff to make more Router Tables & Plasma's for the rest of us. :brows:

 

 

 

 

Very nice BTW. :yes: :cheers:

[terrawombat]

Tim,

can you use that stuff to make more Router Tables & Plasma's for the rest of us. :brows:

 

 

 

 

Very nice BTW. :yes: :cheers:

 

Thanks! A lot of the CNC (computer numerically controlled) nuts would say I kind of took the easy way out by purchasing a pre-made and pre-assembled machine. I didn't really see a feasible way for myself to build one without putting forth a fairly large expense for a mill and all of the necessary tooling I'd need. However, now this machine, building one of my own doesn't seem like such a daunting task anymore. I can use it to build all of the motor adapters and whatnot and the rest is standard box tube and angle iron that can be picked up at any local hardware store that sells these metal shapes. Part of me does want to build my own table to take care of all the shortcomings I've found with the unit I currently have.

 

By the way - how did the radio and gauge cluster work out?

[DJM/78]

Be kind of cool to make custom gauge faceplate , slotted or vented aluminum would look nice .

 

Or even just brushed .

 

Armored speaker grill or a custom cup holder would be cool !

[jpnjim]

Tim,

can you use that stuff to make more Router Tables & Plasma's for the rest of us. :brows:

 

 

 

 

Very nice BTW. :yes: :cheers:

 

Thanks! A lot of the CNC (computer numerically controlled) nuts would say I kind of took the easy way out by purchasing a pre-made and pre-assembled machine. I didn't really see a feasible way for myself to build one without putting forth a fairly large expense for a mill and all of the necessary tooling I'd need. However, now this machine, building one of my own doesn't seem like such a daunting task anymore. I can use it to build all of the motor adapters and whatnot and the rest is standard box tube and angle iron that can be picked up at any local hardware store that sells these metal shapes. Part of me does want to build my own table to take care of all the shortcomings I've found with the unit I currently have.

 

By the way - how did the radio and gauge cluster work out?

 

 

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

I took the faceplate off your radio, and swapped them for the nearly unused buttons that were on my broken AM/FM only radio.

 

It came out very nice, I took pics, but haven't uploaded them yet.

I'll do a quick write up soon.

It's in the trail truck now, but I think I'll be swapping it into my daily driver MJ instead (your radio is more better :yes: ).

 

The gauges haven't gone in yet, I'm having gas gauge issues with the DD right now,

hopefully it'll stop raining long enough this weekend to take care of that, and some other stuff.

 

Thanks again Tim! :thumbsup:

[codybutz]

Bumper tie in brackets, bolt on armor for the bed sides ( like some sites sell for the xj)... more will come to later.

[gambit4000s]

Frame stiffeners w/rosette holes for MJ's would be cool, I can bend my own up but a cnc-ed plate to start with would be a nice start

[64 Cheyenne]

Shop Plaque-"MJ Comanche" in selected fonts etc.

I like bumper tie in brackets BTW I really need a set of these :brows: :D

[terrawombat]

Bumper tie in brackets, bolt on armor for the bed sides ( like some sites sell for the xj)... more will come to later.

 

Bumper tie-in brackets look to be very straightforward - definitely doable!

 

Frame stiffeners w/rosette holes for MJ's would be cool, I can bend my own up but a cnc-ed plate to start with would be a nice start

 

I had to do a bit of research to figure out what rosette holes were, but I think I found my answer. Frame stiffeners were one of the first items I had thought of producing for myself since my '88 MJ looks like it may be in the beginning stages of frame rot. I do have a question, though. Why would you use the rosette holes and fill each in with weld as opposed to doing a perimeter fillet weld?

 

Shop Plaque-"MJ Comanche" in selected fonts etc.

I like bumper tie in brackets BTW I really need a set of these :brows: :D

 

That's essentially what I've been using the machine for now - plaques, cliparts, etc. It's been good for the learning process of taking items from CAD and importing them to CAM and altering the machine code. I'm still not quite 'there' yet with my plasma kerf offsets and my cutting speeds as I'm still getting a significant amount of dross. Once I dial it all in, I should be producing parts with up to 0.005" accuracy.

[gambit4000s]

Frame stiffeners w/rosette holes for MJ's would be cool, I can bend my own up but a cnc-ed plate to start with would be a nice start

 

I had to do a bit of research to figure out what rosette holes were, but I think I found my answer. Frame stiffeners were one of the first items I had thought of producing for myself since my '88 MJ looks like it may be in the beginning stages of frame rot. I do have a question, though. Why would you use the rosette holes and fill each in with weld as opposed to doing a perimeter fillet weld?

 

From personal experience I would prefer rosettes over perimeter fillet because

A] with the holes in the right places is doesn't create a single shear plane

B] contact with more surface area of the stock material to prevent movement within the strengthener(flexing differently, box within a box, as opposed to unifying the structure)

C] both perimeter and rosette would probably be better than either but the A reason still bothers me(this is the recommended method for the HDOR rails)

D] depending on extent of frame rot, it might be possible to skip thin areas without loosing too much strength (not a great concern of mine but I live in the south)

 

HD Offroad Engineering (10Ga) XJ

http://www.hdoffroadengineering.com/collections/frontpage/products/xj-frame-stiffeners

Installed pic from SRMitchel on NAXJA

 

T&T Customs XJ

Installation instructions, at the end you can make out the weld, and they list XJ and MJ as being copyright, but no other mention of MJ anywhere

http://02ea137.netsolstores.com/xjchassisstiffners.pdf