regarding this type of grille they are in production for ram trucks as a
stick on cover for the stock honey comb grille...
a shop down the street from us... The Trend Setters Inc. produces them... I
need to find out more...
Gregg
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miles Harris" <spikes_duall@hotmail.com>
To: <dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net>
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 9:18 AM
Subject: Re: DML: Homade grill insert question
> You got me thinking of what it would take to make a grill with small ram
> heads.
>
> For mass production you would need class "A" progressive tooling and run
it
> on a punch-press. Rather costly. It has been a long time since I priced
> tooling of this type but I would guest at least 3 grand (cost depends on
> how many ram heads you are making at a time).
>
> The next best way that would provide really clean results would be to
laser
> cut the images. For metal, this would require a pretty hefty laser. I've
> seen small units (that cost $20,000) that could barely etch the surface of
> the metal. If you wanted plastic, one of these units could do the trick
(or
> someone who has one).
>
> A CNC mill could cut the pattern, programming might be a bitch. Having
> never gotten my hands on one of these I'm not sure how easy this would be
> (or costly).
>
> A computerized router (used in sign making) could also do the job.
> Programming is relatively easy the problem is in how small you can make
the
> image. If you are running aluminum the smallest bit you could use would be
> a 1/16" so the cutouts can be no larger than 1/16 wide. Depending on the
> thickness of the material it will take a couple of passes at the slowest
> the machine can go (5 inches/minute for the machine I have access to) to
> cut through 1/16 material without snapping off bits. This would take a
good
> deal of time to run off a grill. If the grill was made of plastic you
could
> use a 1/32 end mill, up the speed and do the thing in 1/4 of the time. If
> you kept with the 1/16 mill you could run the machine at max speed (54
> in/min) and crank out a grill in less than an hour.
>
> Now that I have rambled on, what does this all mean? It means you have
> added one more idea of how to customize my truck (thanks). Now all I have
> to do is figure out when I can play with this idea and make a grill with
> ram heads. If and when I do, I will let you know how it comes out
(probably
> make two if you want one).
>
>
> --
> Miles Harris III
> Simi Valley, CA
> 01 Silver Dakota CC Sport, 2.5L, 5speed
> 01 Gold Saturn SC1 (3 door coupe) 1.9L SOC, 4speed auto
> http://www.spikesautos.homestead.com/Dak1.html
> Profile: http://www.twistedbits.net/WWWProfile/dakota/PfCA4R1zO470w
>
> Puddlestompa@aol.com wrote in article <90.11a16da3.27e55393@aol.com>...
> > I am thinking small ram heads would be very cool.
> >
> > Aaron "The Man"
> >
>
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