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So my materials were...
3/4" Scotchbrite discs
twist-lock chuck for the discs
Valve lapping compound
masking tape
Double sided foam tape
WD40 (or any other light machining oil)
Drilling press...well, a Bridgeport really really helps
I did this the lazy way, with the scotch bridge discs. The proper (traditional) way to do this is the use a wooden dowl, and valve grinding compound, but I have not jeweled anything since college, so I could not find any of my dowels, therefore I did it this way. It creates a little ghosting here and there (where deep parts of each facet show through to the overlapping facets trailing edge), and you will inherently have one or two deep spots in each swirl, do to the uneven shape of the cutting face. So it's not vintage bugati worthy, but it is unique, and fun, TIME CONSUMING, and shows off the abilities of a skilled machinist.
The tricky part is getting the cutting time, and pressure very even across the entire piece. Now I know what your thinking, and YES this can be done on a cnc machine, but the pattern is inherently NOT supposed to be perfect. When this was first done by coach builders of fine automobiles in the 20's, it was done by hand, and eyeballed the whole way. Its this tiny factor of imperfection that shows that your piece is made by hand, and the rearson that I do this myself, instead of buying pre-fab sheets.
This 10X5 inch sheet took me roughly 2 hours, with a small break between to maintain my sanity haha! But when done properly, appears 3-dimensional!
Then I test fit a piece of cardboard to the shape that I desired, transferred it to my piece, and cut it out using a band saw. When working with a delicately finished surface like this, its always in your best interest to cover it with tape to preserve the finish while you burr edges, and grind things into shape.
With my piece worked into the shape that I wanted, I applied a little rubbing alcohol on the contact patch, where i then applied 3M double sided high density foam tape to the vertical ribs common to the outer wall of the cargo hump. I cleaned the back side of my jeweled piece the same way, and using an engineers square, and the calibrated eyeball, I positioned the piece into place, and applied pressure to activate the adhesive.
And there you have it! Probably the only engine turned exhaust filler plate on a C5 anywhere I will get better pictures when I have my DSLR these were done with my phone, these ones dont do it justice.
I ran into another thread where a fella was showing off his custom exhaust filler plate. I commented about how I liked it and he offered to make me one, free of charge! cool community we have here.
it's still bear metal, he treated it with some anti corrosion stuff that I'm not familiar with. I still need to find the time to prime and paint it and get my car club's logo on it.
Yeah i just couldn't see spending $75-$125 for a small plate that i can quite literally make completely from scrach using my existing materials, a couple scothbrite pads from tool town, and aluminum sheet stock you can order for $5 by the square foot. Thanks mr.peabody I love this place too, Corvette people are the nicest car people, in general, that I have had the privilege to be acquainted with you'll have to post pics of it when its done, is that for a C6? Now, my next big project is that im going to make hand made filler plates to fill the voids in my underhood between the reinforcement ribs, and remove my hood liner, also going to engine turn all of those as well! Should earn me some points for uniqueness
That will probably take an entire week to complete though.
Last edited by ErikwithAK01; 01-15-2015 at 07:50 AM.
01-14-2015, 11:13 PM
I will get better pictures when I have my DSLR these were done with my phone, these ones dont do it justice.
