July 1, 2023 Forum membership reaches 1,465 !!
This Community became 11 years old in April 2023.
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Just for your reference, here are some photos of the seat-back and bottom upholstery pieces I got from Europa Supplies (ex- Banks).Thank you for posting those pics - super helpful. Confirms that the vinyl matches the seats that are in, and has the same backing. I'll follow up with Banks. I don't mind waiting a bit, as I've got plenty of other bits to be working on! But would be good to get orders in now so it doesn't hold it back later.
Regarding the company, I have bought from both them and SJSportscars. Both can be responsive when you're looking to order; not so much once you've placed your order. Not very impressive, but ultimately I got my stuff from both of them.
Notice that I say "can be...". Not sure that they always are responsive when ordering.
Good luck, Richard!
The only thing that comes to mind for a product is aluminum alternator drive pulleys for TCs. A guy used to make nice ones but he’s not making them anymore. Of course, you want to make those on a lathe rather than a mill…
In another week I will know if I am going to have the funding to buy a smallish very low hours VMC.
That is a computer driven vertical mill for anyone not familiar.
I have owned these before, I used to make a lot of firearms parts and accessories.
It is being a real stretch to make the purchase and I know from experience that tooling up will be expensive too.
Need to find some products to make that folk will actually want to buy ASAP to begin the recoup.
Not sure what those might be, looking for suggestions.
For myself I am unhappy with the available air boxes and despise plastic.
Thinking aluminum base and fiberglass cover.
The machine can carve aluminum very well, steel runs too, just slower.
Not large enough to do a dashboard and wood is not good for the machine.
Once I get back in the groove roller rockers become a possibility, if I can find raw material to work with.
A lot of things can be done as billet, so long as the material does not cost too much.
Material cost and availability are now major issues for small time guys who did not pre-order in bulk some time ago.
No fourth axis on this machine and I am not competent to program 4D anyway.
4D and even 5D could be added but the tools for that cost much more than this machine.
There are virtually no decent jobs locally, and it seems what few there are practice age discrimination.
So the goal is to build up a side income and provide items no one else are doing.
Does not have to be Lotus bits, just not interested in going toe to toe with the Ford/Chevy/China companies.
Not intending to go back to eighty hour weeks, only need to about double my income.
