Custom Center Caps for Porsche Wheel [from CAD, prototyping to finish]

[steved0x]

Must be global cold/flu season, my whole house it right now, but I think we are finally on the tail end of it. Hope you are feeling better!

[Dubaday]

Originally Posted by steved0x

Must be global cold/flu season, my whole house it right now, but I think we are finally on the tail end of it. Hope you are feeling better!

I think you're right, my whole house still has it...
(including myself, who hasn't been sick in years!)

Take care and get well soon fellas!

[Nine8Six]

Ouch, already feeling better at least to know that I'm not alone lolll Get well soon fellas, this virus is by far the worst of all (in the lightweight virus category anyway).

Quick Update:

Good news; we are nearly there lolll I think we've done all the fixtures (jigs) that we needed to get these parts done to the tolerance we need (i.e. less than 0.05mm). IN fact, we did so well that most of the parts are ranging between 0.01~0.03mm. So... anything vibrating in your wheel I promise you its not The Great Porsche Center Caps - its the wheels themselves - or the road

Some of you might think I am 'really' picky. The thing is I know for sure that some of my mates will drive their P car on the Int'l Circuit here in Shanghai and its a fast one (+320km/hr). As I know them well they just won't bother removing those caps so "they-have-to-work". Besides... I just don't want to end up being "the talk" at the track, not even for an afternoon!

So that precision/fit challenge is completed - finally lolll All we need to do now is 1,600+ holes and off they go to anodizing (this coming week).

In the Media this week:



^ Looks weird, I know. Those are the precision threads I was talking about a week+ ago. The first turning operation for the main cap.




^ Again! Needed a fixture done for turning the other side of the cap, the side facing the world. Parallelism, always... those two spacers made out of Acetal are also precision machined... and so is the fixture :/ Took me almost 1 day to make this item lolll




^ More of the same, shows the rough piece of stock that precisely screw/thread on the fixture. Those same you saw on the green floor (pic 1)




^ More of the same, again (not creative this week huh). That's what comes out of it. I'm attaching a Youtube vid below to show how this works.
Notice how violent the first operation removes the metal... that screw the cap thigh to the fixture and this is where those Acetal spacers comes handy! The only way to unlock this part after machining really.




^ And finally, on the workbench. If all my parts would end up with quality surface finishes like this I'd do this everyday lolll Look sooo nice in person.


All the above, real-life!

[Nine8Six]

Next:

Off to the final operation! 16 slots per cap, we have something like 115 to make. That should keep me busy for my entire Sunday night I'll make a video of how this is machined using high speed toolpath. We have a high speed machine here so might as well use it to its real potential!




^ Last (last!) fixture here. All geared up for Sunday... all what's left to do is pressing the "Cycle Go" button.




^ Final product. DON'T PANIC; the product won't look silly shinny like this, no worries. The anodizing dulls the metal a little + color dyes makes them look & feel just perfect. Wait and See!




^ And finally. Quite exited to see this on the workbench. Once the final operation (16slots) is completed, all we have left to do is anodizing and laser!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Beware - Sharp! Random pic. Because we can....





I'll update in a few days - enjoy!