My TLC experience (5 Viewers)

[sogncab]

I keep forgetting to order switches, so I haven't made any progress on the switch panel. I did clean up some tool paths to take care of some issues. I also clumped some processes together that should remove a few tool changes.

I'm not sure I'm doing this correctly, but I think it'll work fine. My body shop buddy who is painting the roof helped me get the cap glued down to the gutter. I didn't think it'd be a good idea to just rivet it on, so I bolted the gutter down, being that the body isn't square, and the chances of getting the gutter square is slim to none. Pulling corner to corner, the body was about 3/8" out of whack. Probably always has been, and was likely within spec. 70's vehicles were terrible for body work accuracy compared to today.

The cap is new from a Classic Cruisers, it did require a little trimming, but nothing crazy. Some places I took a 1/4" off, others nothing. I'd say on average I took about an 1/8" off all the way around. I trimmed a couple of problem areas first. Threw it back on the vehicle, then used a scriber going off the outside of the gutter to make a consistent line all the way around. I set it on top of the down draft table, and just used a belt sander with an 80g belt to trim it back. Worked extremely well I thought. Basically the same exact skill set I use when fitting wood parts to a wall. The down draft table sucked up most of the nastiness.

Going of body work buddy's recommendation, we used a 3M urethane glue to glue the two together

I've only got a few weeks until I need to throw this thing on a trailer and haul it to where the R2.8 conversion, AC install, and power steering will happen, so I need to hustle up and get this wrapped up.

I'm curious how much my productivity will jump at work. Two things; I'll have some big bills to offset so I need to turn and burn and get some dollars rolling in, and I won't be dicking around with a Landcruiser project every free minute.

I went to Menards this morning and cleaned them out of cheap little C-Clamps. Could've used a bunch more. The wooden Jorgensen Clamps worked well, and my hands understand pretty well how much pressure I'm actually putting on the work with those. So I'm not crunching shtuff together that I shouldn't be.

Took the 80 on a light off-road adventure yesterday. Went coyote hunting, I was a little concerned getting back up that hill, (it's way steeper than it looks), but a heavy gutless vehicle with good weight distribution, tires, and four wheel drive is hard to beat. My Super Duty would've struggled, the LC just crawled up no problem. I hope I don't win the lottery, blowing $200k on a resto mod 80 series would be hard to say no to. I like that thing. Probably more than I should.

 

[sogncab]

I'm pretty dang happy with this. Looks nice and should be plenty durable for what I need to do.

Some of the mounting bolts are going to be a straight up mofo to get in and tight. Other than that. I'm calling this a win.

I still need to figure out the tire carrier, and the swing out on the passenger side for a removable basket. I can't find a locking system I really like. I bought some pins that are spring loaded. It looks like everyone uses the same one, but also use a lever/cam setup.

I'm just going to hose it down with a sealer and call it good until I get the swing outs figured out, and the front bumper. Then I'll have everything powder coated at the same time. I'm not sure what color yet. I'm thinking a really dark grey. I'm hesitant to go black, but I don't really have a reason why.

 

[EWheeler]

I'm pretty dang happy with this. Looks nice and should be plenty durable for what I need to do.

Some of the mounting bolts are going to be a straight up mofo to get in and tight. Other than that. I'm calling this a win.

I still need to figure out the tire carrier, and the swing out on the passenger side for a removable basket. I can't find a locking system I really like. I bought some pins that are spring loaded. It looks like everyone uses the same one, but also use a lever/cam setup.

I'm just going to hose it down with a sealer and call it good until I get the swing outs figured out, and the front bumper. Then I'll have everything powder coated at the same time. I'm not sure what color yet. I'm thinking a really dark grey. I'm hesitant to go black, but I don't really have a reason why.


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This looks absolutely fantastic. Bravo.

 

[sogncab]

This looks absolutely fantastic. Bravo.

Thank you. I'm really pleased.


Anybody have experience with paint and plating? I'm thinking having both bumpers plated, then paint everything that is exposed. It kinda sounds like it's doable from the tiny amount of research I've done. There's not a ton of surface area there, so a really high quality industrial or marine single stage paint might be the correct path.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Thank you. I'm really pleased.


Anybody have experience with paint and plating? I'm thinking having both bumpers plated, then paint everything that is exposed. It kinda sounds like it's doable from the tiny amount of research I've done. There's not a ton of surface area there, so a really high quality industrial or marine single stage paint might be the correct path.

I'd just powdercoat. It will probably look just a good, and it is a lot easier than having to prep everything to paint.

 

[sogncab]

I'd just powdercoat. It will probably look just a good, and it is a lot easier than having to prep everything to paint.

I'm just kicking around options right now. You're probably correct, I'm just want to protect the metal everywhere. There's a lot of nooks and crannies that it'll be impossible to get paint into.

There's pro's and con's to just about everything. I'm at information/idea overload at the moment.

I'm also running out of time, and I need to get some things buttoned up. I'm pulling out to head west with it on 2-18 for the engine transplant. I'd like to have it strapped down on the trailer ready to go a few days ahead of time. I probably won't have the front bumper yet, and I certainly won't have what I want to do to it finished, so final paint on both isn't an option before I go. I'm just going to rattle bomb the rear until I get the rig back. Convoluted, but I'm counting on having a hitch on the back of the Landcruiser so I can put a trailer onto it, on the flatbed.... I'm hoping the weather doesn't suck when I drop it off.



I got switches ordered. If they show up this week, I'm hoping to yank the console this weekend, cut another beta of the switch panel, then hopefully a final version. It'd be cool to get that wrapped up as well, even though I won't get the wiring even started.

I ordered a set of 6" Rigid lights for the front bumper. They should be obnoxiously bright. Between those, the other lights I'm going to put out in the wings of the front bumper, and the headlights, next time I'm driving through the middle of nowhere iowa, I should be able to kick everything on and spot Bambi's mom from a thousand yards. And hopefully be fast enough on the switches to not burn the retina's out of another motorist's head when I meet them on the road....

I'm going drill and temporarily mount the front windshield/roof piece, (I'm retarded right now and can't think of the name). I might glue it in with it bolted on the vehicle and temporarily bolted to the roof cap, not sure. I pulled it out when doing the gutter to try limit potential problems. One issue at a time I figure.

 

[DangerNoodle]

I'm just kicking around options right now. You're probably correct, I'm just want to protect the metal everywhere. There's a lot of nooks and crannies that it'll be impossible to get paint into.

There's pro's and con's to just about everything. I'm at information/idea overload at the moment.

I'm also running out of time, and I need to get some things buttoned up. I'm pulling out to head west with it on 2-18 for the engine transplant. I'd like to have it strapped down on the trailer ready to go a few days ahead of time. I probably won't have the front bumper yet, and I certainly won't have what I want to do to it finished, so final paint on both isn't an option before I go. I'm just going to rattle bomb the rear until I get the rig back. Convoluted, but I'm counting on having a hitch on the back of the Landcruiser so I can put a trailer onto it, on the flatbed.... I'm hoping the weather doesn't suck when I drop it off.



I got switches ordered. If they show up this week, I'm hoping to yank the console this weekend, cut another beta of the switch panel, then hopefully a final version. It'd be cool to get that wrapped up as well, even though I won't get the wiring even started.

I ordered a set of 6" Rigid lights for the front bumper. They should be obnoxiously bright. Between those, the other lights I'm going to put out in the wings of the front bumper, and the headlights, next time I'm driving through the middle of nowhere iowa, I should be able to kick everything on and spot Bambi's mom from a thousand yards. And hopefully be fast enough on the switches to not burn the retina's out of another motorist's head when I meet them on the road....

I'm going drill and temporarily mount the front windshield/roof piece, (I'm retarded right now and can't think of the name). I might glue it in with it bolted on the vehicle and temporarily bolted to the roof cap, not sure. I pulled it out when doing the gutter to try limit potential problems. One issue at a time I figure.

The 6" rigids are what normally go into the bumpers at work. They are pretty insane.

Are you talking about the inner windshield mount on the hard top? I'd rivet that one on, and seam seal like factory.

 

[sogncab]

The 6" rigids are what normally go into the bumpers at work. They are pretty insane.

Are you talking about the inner windshield mount on the hard top? I'd rivet that one on, and seam seal like factory.

I hope the lights are as good as the price.

Yes. I'm just going to bolt it to hold it in place until the adhesive is done. After that, I'll pull the machine screws and rivet it in place.

 

[sogncab]

I had to make sure everything bolted up correctly. I like it even more.

And my roof is ready to come off and go to the painter. Hooray!

 

[sogncab]

I cut another test run. Cleaned up some things, and had to adjust the openings a little bit, I was rubbing a little bit, so I enlarged the openings the switches by .031" in all directions.

I've got a couple more tweaks yet, but I think I can cut the final now. Just need to adjust the depth of the mounting screw holes, and adjust the feed rates for the different material.

I dig it.

 

[sogncab]

Welp, I'm a retarded A-hole.

It was going well.

I didn't like how deep the letters were, so I made a pocket in a scrap of sheet stock up take a few thou off.

Then I painted the letters.

Then I was going to skim off the surface in the widebelt to remove the surface paint, but my dumb retarded ass didn't set the bed height to the correct setting, and I ruined it like a stupid idiot.

I am furious.

 

[sogncab]

Alright, I'm done being pissed at myself.

Mostly.....



I called around to a couple of friends that own cabinet shops to see if they had any scraps of this material laying around, and got my hands on another chunk. I ran second one, then blew it up cutting the relief on the back. grrrrr. My fixturing wasn't good enough, and my part moved.

Ran a third one and everything went well. This is the process that failed on the second attempt. I made a box to trap the part in with essentially zero clearance, so it had to wiggle in just right. My machine uses vacuum to hold down parts, and with a down cutting tool, it should be fine, until it's not..... I ended up moving the order of some things around, and also using some tenacious double sided tape to keep it in place and I won. Gotta do that once in a while. Win. It keeps me outta the bottle, and my head out of the noose.

I covered the face of the console in masking tape then using a combination square marked out my hole. Then double checked to find I marked it incorrectly, marked again, and we're good. Then checked again, because I'm an idiot. I originally wanted the switches to be mounted higher, and have the flange of the panel covering up the two spot welds. The latch mechanism is in the way, and that won't work. Super weird, the spot welds are actually welding something together that can't be moved.
Fun how the brain works sometimes, and how reality works in the opposite. I used a death wheel in an angle grinder to make the hole, cleaned up some things with that and a file. Not real great steel, and a dull file worked well enough for getting the corners square(ish).

With my hole cut and cleaned up, I used the panel I dicked up yesterday to locate the mounting holes. I did screw the pooch here again. I should've used a 8-32, but drilled a hole so I could tap it for 10-32. I need to find some black machine screws for mounting with some really small heads. Or go with a stainless button head and just carefully grind down the diameter of the head. We'll see what I find digging around in the bins at the hardware store.

Test fit of the panel with fasteners. Cabinet knobs/pulls are typically held on by a 10-32 machine screw. I have zillions of them floating around at least. The heads are ridiculous looking.

I decided not to paint in the letters. This material was having some trouble reacting with the paint, and at the end of the day, I don't think it really adds anything. I could've done the same material, but in a different color and created an inlay, but I'm mentally about done with this. I did run it through the widebelt sander though. When I did that, (the first time yesterday, that went well), I liked the scratch patter that was left behind. I tried to kick it through the sander at a 45 degree angle, then back off the height a couple thou and run it opposite to get a cross thatch brushed looking finish, but it didn't quite go as planned. It looks fine, just not 100% what I was shooting for. Being the paint was struggling to layout nicely, I know this material takes oil well, and I just soaked in oil product typically used for breadboards. Richlite has a ton of applications, one of which is countertops, and oil is one of the methods for finishing it when used as a countertop. It also darkened it up a bunch, which I was real happy about. Though I think it looks darker in person than it does in the picture. All in all, I'm super happy with the end result.

The three empty holes are for switches that are on back order. The bottom row missing switches will be for the heated seats. HI-OFF-LOW. The missing switch at the top will be for the reverse lights in the rear bumper, That will be ON-OFF-ON w/ reverse.

 

[sogncab]

I'm finally getting to putting the front end back together from the Bambi experience.

I bought a used front bib, grill, and headlight bezel.

The bezel and grill were in pretty good shape, but there was significant rust between the face metal and the brace on the backside.

My auto body buddy whacked it apart and cut/welded in a new piece of sheet metal.

I bought a Harbor Freight blasting cabinet and blasted the brace for the backside of the bib so everything can be primed before being tacked back in. The steel in that brace is in pretty tough shape as far corrosion goes, but no holes. Less than ideal, but should be fine.

My roof cap is at his shop as well. Hopefully I'll see that back relatively soon.

 

[EWheeler]

@sogncab

I have a feeling if you made a run of 25-40 of those switch panels for the console, you'd sell out of them in short order.

 

[sogncab]

What do you think the price point would be though? It's about 22 minutes of machine time for the front face. Plus the backside, which is quick, but it's another step. I could probably optimize some processes, but I don't think I could squeeze two minutes out.

My target for my cnc at work is $300/hr. Which sounds crazy, but it will cost me $140,000 to replace it, support equipment and the tooling. Plus that material is hard on tooling. It'll only do it's job so long. I'm sitting on the forklift right now watching that big German robot whack through material at that rate. Also changed my oil and fixed my horn on the 80 this morning while it was running.

Anyways, being the dirty capitalist I am, I'm thinking the price is too high.

 

[sogncab]

Got some rattle can primer on the rear bumper. There's some work that needs to happen with the metal before actual paint can happen cleaning up some grinds and corners.

Also started thinking in earnest how the swing outs are going to work. They still need a lot to get them where I like them. My goal for the passenger side is to have something removable, and be able to open that door with the basket removed. I don't have a ton of vertical space to make that happen.

 

[EWheeler]

What do you think the price point would be though? It's about 22 minutes of machine time for the front face. Plus the backside, which is quick, but it's another step. I could probably optimize some processes, but I don't think I could squeeze two minutes out.

My target for my cnc at work is $300/hr. Which sounds crazy, but it will cost me $140,000 to replace it, support equipment and the tooling. Plus that material is hard on tooling. It'll only do it's job so long. I'm sitting on the forklift right now watching that big German robot whack through material at that rate. Also changed my oil and fixed my horn on the 80 this morning while it was running.

Anyways, being the dirty capitalist I am, I'm thinking the price is too high.

I would think sub $100 for sure. If you would've asked me the cycle time on that, I would have been WAAAY off. All good. Keep up the good work on your project, enjoy following along.

Interesting take on the rate for a machine like that. When you estimate work, do you plug that rate in your estimate for when you are building cabinets in house, or do you get to charge the table to outside clients at that rate? We have a CNC plasma table at work for steel cutting and it was paid for by 1 job a couple years ago and now it's just a tool we use to save time. We've never tried to approach it from a "we need to get XXX/hr out of this machine", but, we aren't ever trying to get into production cutting. It probably gets 2-4 hrs of run time a week at most. Always interesting to see other's takes on business. It looks like you do some really really nice work! I see those shop cabinets in the background, they are nicer than my kitchen!

 

[sogncab]

I would think sub $100 for sure.

Interesting take on the rate for a machine like that. When you estimate work, do you plug that rate in your estimate for when you are building cabinets in house, or do you get to charge the table to outside clients at that rate?

That's a complicated question. I kinda came to that number based on what it is capable of producing. It's main job, cutting sheet stock cabinet parts, it's about 5 times faster than I was at that job. A project that took 40 sheets, would take me about 30 hours to cut and machine manually, if I was really on top of my game. I budgeted 1 hour per sheet typically. The cnc cranks that out in a 8 hour day if I'm left alone and can just focus on loading sheets and clearing parts. Average cycle time from load to load is about 12 minutes.
What I was doing today, is we make doors that are one piece machined from a sheet of mdf. It's a garbage product in my opinion, but a lot of guys use them, I just don't use it on my product but in the weird circumstances. A 4x8 sheet is 32 square feet. These doors I charge $10 per square foot, which I'm probably too cheap on. So at 100% yield, (which is basically impossible), it's $320 per sheet. Reality is average yield is less than 90%, being conservative, call it 85%. That brings it down to $272 per sheet. The sheet, which I'm getting raped on right now, costs me $92. That's $180 in gross profit per sheet. An average sheet of 1 piece doors takes about 35 minutes, to run and a few minutes to unload/reload. Call it 40 minutes. That's $4.50 per minute, or $270 per hour.

Now.... My electric bill is stupid for my tiny operation. I pay a lot per kw/hr. 5hp costs me about $.01 per minute. When the cnc is running, it's a 11hp spindle. The vacuum pumps total up to like 13hp. The air compressor is running flat out, it's another 15hp. The dust collector is another 7.5hp. The spindle isn't at full draw, but everything else is. 46.5hp in total, but figure 5hp worth of draw on the spindle minimum. So in total, I'm burning $.39 per minute in sparks, or $23.40/hour. Add in an operator cost at $45-50/hr, tooling wear, and the eventual need to replace the machine, you're no longer killing it like you thought you were.

I'd expect the lifetime of that machine to not exceed 10,000 hours. That is probably being optimistic. So that's another $12hr approximately.

 

[sogncab]

A guess by somebody on Instagram to 3D print that was in the 30 hour range. Obviously you can go with a more course print and get there faster, but you'll never get that finish in less time.

I really need to get a myself a 3D printer. I've got a ton of projects that is the solution for.

 

[EmanC]

That looks like a pretty easy part to source. Try uploading the file to a prototyping house. MFG.com would be the best (but require more work to set up). But Xometry.com will give you a pretty quick idea, you just pay for the convenience.

A dedicated CNC house would be cheaper per hour. And even cheaper if your ok going overseas even. You could easily make them out of Acetal. But could even do 6061 + bead blast and anodize at a large enough volume.

The bigger problem is how much demand is there to get the price down with a large order.