MyE28.com

Put me down for one, unpainted. Thanks!

86GT635 1-painted
afeustel 1-painted
athayer187 1-painted
atibbitts 1-painted
Bimmerman 1
camplo 1-unpainted
cibie 2-painted
dsmith 2-unpainted
flywheel86 1-painted
kittenmittonz 1-painted
ma.jomaa 1-painted
matchgrade 2-painted
MattC 1-painted
MicahO -2
Nebraska_e28 1-painted
onceler 1-unpainted
Philo 1
Rich in Tupelo 1-unpainted
russellrh72 1-painted
Sam 84, 533i 1-painted
SlickDizzy 1-painted
tangerineman91 1-painted
TCBimmer 2-painted
Valve_clatter 1-painted
Wolf1971 1-painted
Tempest22 1-unpainted
LandCruzer94 1-painted
Solarphil 1-unpainted
Sascha_cooper 1-painted

Total = 34

Apologies for the delay but I had visitors last week and didn't do anything. I have the sample in hand. Just need to try it out.

I will take one painted. Thanks.

demetk wrote:I have the sample in hand. Just need to try it out.

Marked and drilled the holes and the sample fits nicely. But at 18 gauge steel, it's too thin and the switches flop around because the locking tabs on the switches don't make contact. I'll probably have to make it out of something thicker like maybe aluminum. Thoughts?

Machined from billet aluminum would probably be great, but surely significantly more costly than a die cut sheet metal component.

Thanks. I'll call the shop tomorrow and talk to them about options. I'm assuming you can still laser cut aluminum?

I'll almost always buy something forum members make.

Put me down for 3, painted.

What about doing a wrinkle powder coat? I understand it will raise prices a bit, but it will mimic the original part better and will also increase the material thickness. Also, it will be supremely durable. I'd want to do that with mine, but economies of scale and whatnot...

wkohler wrote:What about doing a wrinkle powder coat? I understand it will raise prices a bit, but it will mimic the original part better and will also increase the material thickness. Also, it will be supremely durable. I'd want to do that with mine, but economies of scale and whatnot...

This.

Thicker aluminum would be ideal. Match the thickness of where the switch tabs grab. Advantage, it won't rust and it will be lighter and easier to work than thick steel. Yes, you can laser cut aluminum.

Thanks for the comments. If you guys are serious about crinkle powder coat, I'll look into it. Would it still be satin?

If you can crinkle coat to match the original, then change my order to painted

I'll take one as well. Painted.

The crinkle finish sounds pretty appealing, if that comes together, I'd also like to change my preference to painted.

just make it as thick as it needs to be. Crinkle cut or waffle fries are only going to upset the people when it "doesn't match" the original grain of the "sand cast" plastic.

-- Added Jun 27, 2017 8:49 PM --

Im not trying to be a naysayer, but crinkle black looks like this

Not like this:

Satin black is going to be fine. You want something factory, you know what to do.

Thanks 86GT635. I think you guys need to have the debate on the crinkle finish. I can certainly send them to powder coating if there's consensus. Just let me know. I guess I can do a batch in powder coat, another in painted satin, and just plain vanilla.

I need to take another drive up to the shop for them to run another sample in something thicker. So far they have not charged me for running off samples. Hopefully this will the be last one.

And I appreciate your patience on this.

No one said anything about matching. If you look at the original part, it's not as far off as you would think and a helluva lot closer than the painted finish which won't be particularly durable. I think enough people would go for it and considering there really isn't another way to make a piece of metal mimic the finish on the plastic, so whether or not it perfectly matches the original is
Immaterial. Take this to a powdercoater and ask to have it done and it would cost $20 on its own. Take 50 of them in and it might add $2 to the overall cost.

But if people don't want it, whatever. I just thought it was a good suggestion.

demetk wrote:

demetk wrote:I have the sample in hand. Just need to try it out.

Marked and drilled the holes and the sample fits nicely. But at 18 gauge steel, it's too thin and the switches flop around because the locking tabs on the switches don't make contact. I'll probably have to make it out of something thicker like maybe aluminum. Thoughts?

Make small spacers and tig fuse weld them in place.

Or just 3-d print them out of plastic.

If you take a look at the original part in place with the blank covering on the right, you can hardly see the surround itself, much less its texture. My guess is that if you painted it flat black, once you installed it with the blank, the fact that the texture was "wrong" would be invisible unless you really scrutinized it and were looking for that specific aspect.

RonW wrote:If you take a look at the original part in place with the blank covering on the right, you can hardly see the surround itself, much less its texture. My guess is that if you painted it flat black, once you installed it with the blank, the fact that the texture was "wrong" would be invisible unless you really scrutinized it and were looking for that specific aspect.

The only way you will be able to install the blank will be to glue it on or if you drill your own holes to snap it in place. That could be problematic for some.

The shop has been closed for 2 weeks so nothing has been done on this. I'll call them Monday and get the ball rolling again.

The proposed 18 gauge steel version will work if I can get some small extensions cut and bent to match the extensions on the original oem piece. The laser will hardly break a sweat making them.

Can you update the pics? Can't see them right now. I love the idea. Put me down for two. I'll decide painted or unpainted once I can see some pics.

Pbucket is causing issues. I'll have to use another hosting site.

I would be in for a painted one too...

• 86GT635 1 painted
  afeustel 1 painted
  athayer187 1 painted
  atibbitts 1 painted
  Bimmerman 1
  camplo 1 unpainted
  cibie 2 painted
  dsmith 2 unpainted
  flywheel86 1 painted
  kittenmittonz 1 painted
  ma.jomaa 1 painted
  matchgrade 2 painted
  MattC 1 painted
  MicahO 2
  Nebraska_e28 1 painted
  onceler 2 unpainted/crinkle
  Philo 1
  Rich in Tupelo 1 unpainted
  russellrh72 1 painted
  Sam 84, 533i 1 painted
  SlickDizzy 1 painted
  tangerineman91 1 painted
  TCBimmer 2 painted
  Valve_clatter 1 painted
  Wolf1971 1 painted
  Tempest22 1 unpainted
  LandCruzer94 1 painted
  Solarphil 1 unpainted
  Sascha_cooper 1 painted
  jeffg 1 painted
  cek 3 painted
  carlb 1 ?
  BimmerDan 1 painted
  
  Total 41

I'll be finalizing the adjustments to the prototype this week.

I'm also going talk to a shop to see how much it would cost to powder coat them.

I'd be in for two.

I'll take 1 painted.

Don't see my name in the list-please add me for one painted as well.

demetk wrote:Pbucket is causing issues. I'll have to use another hosting site.

Jim, Flickr is best.

Please put me down for one painted surround. If the wrinkle finish becomes an option, I would go for that.

harrypalmer wrote:

demetk wrote:Pbucket is causing issues. I'll have to use another hosting site.

Jim, Flickr is best.

Yup, I downloaded all my albums for a move but somehow the pics came back. Did pbucket change their minds?

-- Added Wed Jul 19, 2017 2:53 pm --

Updated (in alpha order),

• austin8753 1 painted/crinkle
  BimmerDan 1 painted
  Bimmerman 1
  camplo 1 unpainted
  carlb 1 ?
  cek 3 painted
  cibie 2 painted
  dsmith 2 unpainted
  flywheel86 1 painted
  glowell222 1 painted
  jc72 1 painted
  jeffg 1 painted
  kittenmittonz 1 painted
  LandCruzer94 1 painted
  ma.jomaa 1 painted
  matchgrade 2 painted
  MattC 1 painted
  MicahO 2
  Nebraska_e28 1 painted
  onceler 2 unpainted/crinkle
  Philo 1
  Rich in Tupelo 1 unpainted
  russellrh72 1 painted
  Sam 84, 533i 1 painted
  Sascha_cooper 1 painted
  SlickDizzy 1 painted
  Solarphil 1 unpainted
  tangerineman91 1 painted
  TCBimmer 2 painted
  Tempest22 1 unpainted
  Valve_clatter 1 painted
  wkohler 2 painted/crinkle
  Wolf1971 1 painted
  
  Total 46