Design Machine Tech

F800 Skidplate development coming along

2009-12-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Ive been working with MOD this week on the new F800 skidplate design.
Heres a picture of the first version before the revisions.

New machine coming soon

2009-11-30T15:51:00.000-08:00

I just put a deposit on this new milling machine.
Ive outgrown my current mill and need a larger machine.

Thanks to Ted and Leif at Sharp Machine Tools in North Vancouver for the great service.

RC car rear view mirrors

2009-11-30T13:56:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of an RC car rear view mirror that I developed for a client.
To start the barstock is cut into short lengths

The length of bar is machined with the OD profile of the finished shape

12 parts are cut of in one setup. The parts are now ready for machining of the backside.

Fresh of the saw

Facing the backside

All faced and ready for the next operation

Drilling the mounting hole to prep for threading

Power tapping on my small tapping machine.

Loaded into a fixture to gang machine the angled cut on the end of the mirror

Into another fixture for another angled cut

The fixture on its own

Custom Cruiser

2009-11-29T23:10:00.000-08:00

I made a custom cruiser last year for a client in Vancouver.
The bike started out as a Kona 88 stock cruiser.

I spent approx 6 months working on this project

The intent was to build a bike that had a leaned back feel while in the saddle but that you could still hammer on if you needed to. I choose a shimano nexus 7 speed rear hub for the back and a Maillard for the front.

Originally I was going to make the front
hub but the client had a sentimental
attachment to the Maillard hub so it won
in the end.

Aside from the obvious....rims, saddle, tires, grips, etc
I machined every component for this bike on my
manual mill and lathe..... Oldschool style......except
for the fact that they were all designed in 3d
modeling software first.

The fork travels on 8 sealed bearings commonly used in bmx cassette hubs. 4 bearings in each linkplate, 2 on each pivot axle.It also features an innovative " no steerer tube" design that has the headset bearings pressed into the crowns instead of the cups.
This was done so that from the riders point of view you can see down through the top of the
fork and to the tire.

Suspension was handled by a ROCKSHOX air shock mounted on top of the leading link.

The handlebars are machined from 6061 T-6 aluminum and integrated into the top crown of the fork. No brake cables or shifter on the bars gives the bike a clean look.

Thanks to Russel for the design influence.

I machined a Jocky shifter housing for the downtube. The stock shimano Nexus shifter was modified and placed inside of the housing to provide a fully functional 7 speed shifter. Serving as a handle on the top of the shifter is a large version of a standard bicycle axle nut machined from delrin. The nexus rear hub is equipped with a coaster brake.

I had done some preliminary concept sketch's while pitching the design to my client and had played around with the idea of stretching the rear end out. In the end, he really like the idea and I machined a set of plates to stretch the rear end out 4". It worked out nicely as I was able to machine the inside of the driveside plate to accommodate the nexus hub.

A few years back over beers a good friend and I had come up with an idea for a crank / pedal threadless interface. I took this build as an opportunity to try it out.

The crank arms feature a clamping design similar to what Quamen first came out with last year. Full respect due to Quamen aswell, I just used the design for a cool oneoff.
The arms feature a compression screw inbound in the crank arm for tightening to the bb spindle.
The pedal axles are machined with a 1 degree taper that fits into a mating taper in the crankarm. Assembly is done via a pull screw from the backside of the crankarm. The pedals rotate on delrin bushings, no sealed bearings.

The seatpost in my opinion was the least fitting part of the overall build visually. I found that I couldn't come up with a design which made the seat blend in and look good while on its own, and
at the same time also felt good for riding. In the end I built 3 different designs and the client felt this one provided the best riding position. Although it may look a little funny, once you throw a leg over and go for a spin, you'll find that it rides great. Its a very comfy ride. Heres a picture of my 68 year old landlord going for a spin a few weeks after knee surgery to prove it.

You may also notice the lack of any welding on the handlebars and seatpost. This was a design criteria from the get go. My client liked the idea of a fully mechanical approach. Sure welding is the obvious choice, but this bike was built to catch peoples eye. The large fasteners used to fix the various components together do just that.

This bike amounts to approx $6000 worth of custom design and machining, but by far the coolest feature is that 3 cans of beer fit into the gas tank, and are easily accessible with with the supplied lock and key........"No Officer, I dont have any beers in my backpack"...haha

All parts were hand polished to a mirror finish and the frame was powder coated by Rainbow powder coating in Port Coquitlam BC

If your SERIOUSLY interested in comissioning a fully custom built bike for yourself or to promote your business drop me a line.

Trying to keep on top of it all

2009-11-29T19:12:00.000-08:00

It seems to me that Im constantly telling myself that Im going to take tomorrow off, but it never seems to happen.
Ive got a full plate lined up for this coming week and Im excited about getting into my upcoming projects.

On the table... or in my case....on the machines we've got the following jobs.

-Ive got 2 large 6 foot camera rails in the shop that were dropped and slightly bent.
They need to be examined and straightened out if possible.

- CNC turning work manufacturing some threaded collars from mild steel.
- CNC turning work manufacturing some aluminum washers and fittings.
- More design work with MOD on the latest skidplates for KLR's

- A run of bicycle hubs for a new Vancouver components manufacturer.

Aside from the work, Im also currently working on gettin my Monarch 10EE lathe running again, aswell as getting upto speed with programming and operating my new cnc mill.

I'll be posting pictures daily so you can keep track of whats going on at DMT.

Thats it for now.
Cheers
Dennis

MOD Dave stopped by this afternoon

2009-11-29T18:55:00.000-08:00

Ive been working with a new vancouver based company, Moto Overland Development
over the last few months on a few jobs.

Currently I'm helping MOD with the development of a number of products
for dualsport touring bikes.

Heres a few pictures of a frame mount that gets welding into a BMW skidplate assembly
The mounts are machined from 6061-T6 Al barstock on my cnc lathe.

Short runs of parts like this are common in my shop. Due to my unique shop setup and user friendly cnc control on the EMCO cnc lathe, I can still be very competitive and fair on price with runs as small as 50 to 100 units.

When most shops wont look at your job because the volume isnt big enough, give me a call. I'll be more than happy for the opportunity to quote you on your project and do my best to stay within your budget.

toolmaker1973@gmail.com

For my buddy Big Al

2009-11-29T12:02:00.000-08:00

Its sunday and I REALLY dont feel like working, but Ive got a ton of work
to get through and nobody else is going to do it for me!

I started the day off by turning a set of 4130
brake posts for my buddy Big Al on the Smart and Brown.
Its a nice old lathe but has hardly enough HP to turn 4130 HTSR
I cant wait to get the 10EE back up and running.

The cnc lathe is running parts in the background and every
8 minutes I get another 3 parts. Gotta like that!!

Remote control lens actuator project.

2009-11-28T23:26:00.000-08:00

I built this remote control lens actuator housing for a client a few months ago
The project was interesting and challenging.

My shop

2009-11-28T23:02:00.000-08:00

My machines

Aluminum cast part modification and setup

2009-11-28T22:28:00.000-08:00

Heres a few pictures of a quick job I did a few weeks ago.
The client needed a cast aluminum part modified to test out a new concept.

I turned a simple fixture on my manual lathe to hold the part and had at er.
I used a boring head with the tool turned inwards and essentially turned on my mill

2009-11-28T22:20:00.000-08:00

More pictures of the Overkeeper

Overkeeper prototype 002

2009-11-28T22:12:00.001-08:00

Ive been working with a great new client for the last few months.
I reverse engineered and built an initial proto that worked out great.
After a bit of testing a few revisions were made, and I just finished building the 2nd version

If all the testing goes well I'll be building a run of 10 rails in the near future

This weekends work

2009-11-28T21:56:00.000-08:00

Heres a few pictures of the current cnc lathe job Im running

Mild steel
2500 rpm
3 parts per cycle
8 minute cycle time

Ive got tons of turning to do in the next 2 weeks.
The materials already sitting onmy shop floor
I'll be posting more pictures as I get through these jobs.

My first post..here we go kids

2009-11-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

My intent has been to get a site up and running for awhile now.
With the amount of interesting projects coming through my shop these days
I needed a venue to showcase my daily work.

Heres a few photos of a job I just did a few days ago.
160 parts that needed a bored hole machined larger in diameter.