Design and manufacture of rare or custom parts

[noblet]

I am able to offer both design and manufacturing services for rare or custom parts, including reverse engineering. I am a professional design engineer, competent with CAD software and creating engineering drawings. I also have access to a large catalogue of suppliers to manufacture these parts or assemblies. My (non-exhaustive) list of services will be as follows:

• Design and procurement of steel fabrications, including: flat profile plates, bent profile plates, and welded assemblies. Can be offered with a variety of surface finished including paint, powder coating, elecroplating etc.
• Design and procurement of machined parts. Primarily offering various grades of aluminium and steel, but other materials can be considered on a case-by-case basis.
• Design and procurement of 3D printed plastic parts in a variety of materials and finishes.

If you require anything not on the list above, let me know. Variety is the spice of life and the worst I can say is no.

Costs will vary based on the work involved, but will typically cover the cost of manufactue (including prototypes), cost of shipping, and enough to cover my own time on top. As with anything, costs will obviously make a lot more sense for larger runs of parts as opposed to one-offs, so I would encourage interested members to try to drum up some interest among peers if they are interested. Any popular requests could be offered with a fixed price on the market place if there is enough interest after design and prototyping.

One last point - I would like to avoid stepping on the toes of members who are successfully peddling their own (excellent) products on the forum. for example, I would refuse to offer wiper blade joint covers or fuel filter housing drain screws as the wonderful @depronman is already doing a roaring trade in this area.

Thank you all for reading, and please do ask if you want any more information or clarification on any of the above.

 

[A2_HL_jense]

Hi,

can you construct and print or produce something like this? I Think many people would like to have the additional handbreake storage and it is very rare to find and the original one is smaller, too

Probably just a case between original handbreake cover and gear stick cover?

is there any posiibilty to calculate the cost, if there is a bulk order from the forum?

Is this part identically for left hand and right hand drive?? I am not sure about that!

The measueremt is not accurate, this is just a sketch without any scanning before.

Thanks a lot!

 

[A2_HL_jense]

and of course a remake of the multibox with the brackets (not avaliable anymore) would be great!

 

[Evripidis]

If you could take your chance on the 1.6FSI thermostat housing it'd be great!

 

[noblet]

If you could take your chance on the 1.6FSI thermostat housing it'd be great!

Hi, when you say thermostat housing, which part in this diagram are you referring to?

A photo would be very helpful in determining feasibility for reproducing the housing.

 

[noblet]

Hi,

can you construct and print or produce something like this? I Think many people would like to have the additional handbreake storage and it is very rare to find and the original one is smaller, too

Probably just a case between original handbreake cover and gear stick cover?

is there any posiibilty to calculate the cost, if there is a bulk order from the forum?

Is this part identically for left hand and right hand drive?? I am not sure about that!

The measueremt is not accurate, this is just a sketch without any scanning before.

Thanks a lot!

I'm happy to have a look into this. My car has an original handbrake tray which I can use as a starting point, and I have access to 3D scanning and/or photogrammetry to speed things up. In theory these could be batch ordered unpainted and I could use Volico to match to anyone's interior.

Other modifications could be included too, alongside the increased height you have suggested. A couple of ideas from 5 minutes of fag packet scribbling:

• USB PD (fast charging) ports where the 12V port currently lives - faster charging for whatever you like and much neater than leaving a plug in there all the time.
• A custom TPU mat/insert instead of the fabric used from factory - much easier to clean and could be customised with branding or partterns of our choice (A2OC logo perhaps?).
• Mounting for a wireless charger underneath the tray - I know this has been done before with adhesive, but some retaining clips would be much sexier and allow it all to be disassembled more easily. This could also be integrated into the TPU mat discussed above rather than the tray.

I'll start investigating this in my spare time report on progress as and when. As soon as I have some ballpark CAD together, I'll get some indicative prices together and gauge interest from there.

and of course a remake of the multibox with the brackets (not avaliable anymore) would be great!

If you are referring to the boxes which sit in the rear footwells, reproducing these would be a financial and logistical nightmare, and I think the result would be cost prohibitive for most members.

 

[Proghound]

If you are referring to the boxes which sit in the rear footwells, reproducing these would be a financial and logistical nightmare, and I think the result would be cost prohibitive for most members.

I think the intention is the central rear cupholder unit as that has brackets and the space-floor box doesn't. But I suspect, equally cost-prohibitive.

 

[Evripidis]

Hi, when you say thermostat housing, which part in this diagram are you referring to? View attachment 117530
A photo would be very helpful in determining feasibility for reproducing the housing.

Hi, the entire part, numbered 7 in the diagram above.

You could actually leave 8 behind as it can be purchased separately. But the rest of it has some intricacies. For example, mine has deformed where it meets the head and had to lap it to make it seal. Also the o-ring is a peculiar shape and not round (#10), so a redesign where a round, standard size oring would fit is great. Then you have the multiple ports that could do with a redesign so as to accept standard hoses you can find in a shop. I suspect you'd spend a fair bit of time machining and fabricating.

I was only being funny mentioning it but if it is something that can be done at a reasonable price then ok. Someone has reproduced the pipe that attaches to this as well, in stainless, so the two could be a nice fit.

Evros

 

[BearMcPear]

Hi,

can you construct and print or produce something like this? I Think many people would like to have the additional handbreake storage and it is very rare to find and the original one is smaller, too

Probably just a case between original handbreake cover and gear stick cover?

is there any posiibilty to calculate the cost, if there is a bulk order from the forum?

Is this part identically for left hand and right hand drive?? I am not sure about that!

The measueremt is not accurate, this is just a sketch without any scanning before.

Thanks a lot!

Are you referring to laser scanning?
Due to my research I have access to a high quality laser scanner. If someone could use that data to fabricate a part and it exists on my car (like the handbrake cover, minus the storage part), I can help with that.

 

[A2_HL_jense]

I think the intention is the central rear cupholder unit as that has brackets and the space-floor box doesn't. But I suspect, equally cost-prohibitive.

Yes, I meant this part, for me it doesn't have to have the closable compartment, 4 cupholder or a open tray would be fine for me, too

More Infos n this here:

Multibox – A2-Freun.de Wiki

wiki.a2-freun.de

 

[BoeingPenny]

Hello can you do carbon fibre composite door re-enforcing bar for a classic mini. ????. Not metal as it just acts as a drip rail , plus require the weight reduction , and want to be able to replace steel item with composite one, 4 bolts each end simple round bar with holding bracket . Pls advise thanks

 

[noblet]

Hello can you do carbon fibre composite door re-enforcing bar for a classic mini. ????. Not metal as it just acts as a drip rail , plus require the weight reduction , and want to be able to replace steel item with composite one, 4 bolts each end simple round bar with holding bracket . Pls advise thanks

Do you have a photo of the steel item to give me an idea of complexity? Carbon fibre isn't a material I have much experience with and complex shapes can be difficult to achieve. You might be better off going with aluminium tube welded to the fixing brackets, much the same construction as I imagine the steel version to be.

 

[BoeingPenny]

It’s the strength to weight ratio, carbon fibre will take a side impact whereas the aluminium tube will buckle .
But thanks anyway. !

 

[PlasticMac]

It’s the strength to weight ratio, carbon fibre will take a side impact whereas the aluminium tube will buckle .
But thanks anyway. !

I thought that carbon fibre parts, such as you describe, were. laminated then autoclaved. The cross woven long fibres giving strength. 3D printing, (unless you're an F1 team), use short fibres, I think.
Mac.

 

[A2_HL_jense]

It’s the strength to weight ratio, carbon fibre will take a side impact whereas the aluminium tube will buckle .
But thanks anyway. !

But not printed ones ...

 

[BoeingPenny]

Had an old aviation mate that could make them on a former , round bar using aero grade flap repair composite material. Suitably baked , the ends being flared so that the stop brackets stayed on bar .
Fantastic strength and 1/4 wt of a normal bar and No condensation inside door, ! But trying to find some thing similar , that he no longer in composite shop and retired proving to be difficult.

 

[BearMcPear]

I thought that carbon fibre parts, such as you describe, were. laminated then autoclaved. The cross woven long fibres giving strength. 3D printing, (unless you're an F1 team), use short fibres, I think.
Mac.

Yes as far as I know 3D printers will use short fibres in a random orientation, akin to this:

Custom carbon fibre components either requires a combination of lots of money, skill and/or people in industry really willing to help you.
It is also very much worth bearing in mind that in reality carbon fibre (or other composite) items really don't get the kind of strength to weight ratio advantage you often hear about. When people do achieve that kind of ratio it is often because they are neglecting shortcomings of the composite and getting impaled by carbon fibre strands in a car crash does not sound desirable to me.
I would strongly recommend going for steel/aluminium in 99.9% of cases.

 

[A2_HL_jense]

I thought that carbon fibre parts, such as you describe, were. laminated then autoclaved. The cross woven long fibres giving strength. 3D printing, (unless you're an F1 team), use short fibres, I think.
Mac.

Exactly!

 

[Robin_Cox]

Had an old aviation mate that could make them on a former , round bar using aero grade flap repair composite material. Suitably baked , the ends being flared so that the stop brackets stayed on bar .
Fantastic strength and 1/4 wt of a normal bar and No condensation inside door, ! But trying to find some thing similar , that he no longer in composite shop and retired proving to be difficult.

I used to make carbon composite layups for rowing boat repairs (not just skin repairs - actual structural ones). Probably the biggest was when a boat had been hit by a car and had an end knocked off. The repair was light and strong and good enough for the job in that you couldn't see the repair afterwards and it had no impact on the rowing characteristics. I had no qualms whatsoever coxing that boat and sitting inside the area that I had repaired under all conditions, but that is because the forces in and around a rowing boat are a lot less than a piece of car safety structure that may on an occasion need to be sacrificial in a one-off emergency.

Personally I wouldn't go near a job like this, and I wouldn't drive a car that had essentially a piece of home-built safety kit in a critical function unless it had an F1 engineering unit behind it with proper CFD of the force paths and so on. Even then one also needs to think about whether this in turn would be in conflict with other aspects of the existing safety cell (I know in a classic Mini that is a bit of a contradiction in terms). Do you not have a roll cage?

 

[Deleted member 20348]

I have a simple part suggestion/request.
It's for the rear drum brake backing plate glide clips.
A full set of 12 is £20 (Jan'24).

Glide piece

6N0609589​

It would be good to hear your thought on such an insignificant bit of plastic. Is it worth the effort to produce such a thing.
The copy part in the bag labled 6858K are not as good quality as the VW part.
The charactoristics of the plastic in the non oem part is hard which is what the design calls for but the elasticity is poor and the four clip fixing leg pins are easily damaged.
The vw part also has a dimple in the middle of the flat disc is maginally thicker.

Your quite right in thinking this is not a rare nor custom item but any advice on where to get a bog standard plastic part made is welcome.

Are the A2 custom parts that others have requested been constructed? I'm hoping to see a handbrake tray on sale soon.