Ok, I have been thinking about this forever for myself but I think if I go through all the work to do it I might as well make enough to be worth my while.

I collect 53-56 ford truck radios, buy and sell etc.

It seems they are always missing *****. The last radio I bought the ***** were broke in shippment.

I want to "make" new *****.

Does anyone have experience doing something like this? What type of glue/plastic/resin etc would be used. I have ***** to use for molds.

What do you think?

 

Are you thinking about injection molding?

Home Injection Molding

 

While you are at it how about a way to make the trim ring? Many times they are missing...

Can't help you with how to make *****, sorry.

 

A while back there was a guy selling reprduction stainless trim rings on ebay. I never bought any but IIRC they were around $50.00 each. I have not seen any listed for a while now.

 

On my DD, there are plastic pieces that are used to anchor the sun visors. They are not designed to resist UV, so they crumble and break frequently. A guy on the forum for those cars saw the need and started casting them out of SS. He does that kind of stuff for a living and does these on the side. If you want me to hook you up with him, let me know.

 

Mid Fifties is offering the trim ring: Mid Fifty F-100 Parts - Search

In their print catalog on page 32 it states that Sy "is working on" radio ***** and instructions on how to get on their first come/first served list.

Perhaps, Kevin, you should check with them, your idea may already be in the works.

 

I do a lot of molding/casting and have made various parts over the years including parking/tailight lenses and *****. The route that I would recommend would be to buy a starter kit from Smooth-On and use silicon to construct a 2-piece mold...this is assuming that the ***** you are considering have a flat side to the shaft hole. If the hole is round then you could use a 1-piece mold and drill the shaft hole after the **** has been cast. There is a black casting resin that would be suitable for ***** so that should not be an issue. I have also seen resins that have metal powder mised in them...when using this resin to cast a part, the part looks to be made of metal rather than plastic. I looked at some bronze and copper parts that were made from this resin and they weather just like the metal used in the resin. Pretty fascinating stuff.
There are lots of videos on YouTube on this topic.

 

just a thought....has anyone considered ford copyright infringements? i once, back in the 90's considered making 65 gto tail light lenses. luckily, before i got started, gm got wind that i was ready to go and they got hold of me. they wanted to be partners....hmmmm. they even said that i could use thier moulds!!!....one small asside, they wanted $5,000 up front and mandated that i advertize in thier gm magazine at an unbelievable cost......so, be careful.

quentin in syracuse

 

another way to investigate is 3-D printing. The printers are now dow in price and you can make just about anything you can CAD. Our son uses one in school where he teaches shop. Makes all kids of cool stuff. The material can be of many different types. Chek it out on the web.

JimG 1098

 

I wouldnt trust the 3d printer material to last as a radio ****, or just about anything except for prototypes. Unless they make a stronger material than what i have used at school, that stuff is really brittle.

 

Our printer (day job) prints in ABS plastic. For longevity, I will mist finished pieces with solvent to bond the layers. Final surfacing and painting then they will outlive me by far.

 

Commercial 3D printers and some homebuilt ones can use pvc (same as plastic plumbing pipe) as the build material. You can bounce it off a concrete floor without damage. The commercial printers are amazing I saw an adjustable crescent wrench modeled in one printing (no separate parts) that worked perfectly after completion! Any part that can be drawn in 3D cad can be reproduced, no matter how complex internally or externally, blind holes can even be modeled with internal threading in place.

 

Kevin,

Didn't George experiment with trying to cast emblems for Earl way back when? It seems like i remember reading something on his website about it a long time ago.
I don't have the link to "Earl's World" anymore but a google search would probably turn something up.

Bobby

 

I think George was going to try to make the V-8 emblem. I remember he made the mold from his old emblem.

I just thought this was a cool idea as its something I could do in the basement during the winter and not take up a lot of space.

When my Dad was alive, if you gave him a sharp knife and a block of wood he could make one for sure!

 

I say go for it
Worst case scenario is that it doesn't work and you're back to square one.

Bobby