Barry writes...
>Possibly because they are not as simple as they seem. I believe there are
>in actuality FOUR distinct and slightly different shapes requiring four
>different molds to PROPERLY recreate the rubber gaskets used in the
>production version of the Spitfire lamp assy. A different mold for each
>corner as the contours of the body are slightly different. I did however
>do two Pro Engineer models (right and left) of a part that could be used an
>all four corners, but would still require two molds. One for each side of
>the body. Anybody wishing to pursue this further (you will probably be
>surprised at the cost of such a mold) can have the cad models in Pro-E or
>IGES (if I can still find them:-})
Yup! Four different parts. And as far as I know they're specific to
squaretail Spits and late GT6s? And not UK versions. This is too bad
because there aren't enough cars out there to justify new tooling.
It's a fairly complex part. Sections are undercut and tolerance needs
to be decent to hold the lenses and bezel in place securely.
I'd imagine the original mold was four cavity type weighing something
on the order of 1000 pounds. Maybe 50k to built one today?
Now I suppose that Lucas may still have the original mold. The
company I work for still has hundreds of old molds stored in the "dead
house" of long obsolete parts. I seriously doubt that management
knows what half of them are because old records are being thrown out
and you can't exactly pop these things open easily for a look-see. :-)
But molds do wear out or get damaged. If one cavity is damaged you
can still run the others but you can't market a complete set. :-(
Sometimes a mold is designed with removable inserts that allow it to
produce different parts. I could see Lucas taking this route with
these gaskets and designing an identical face to be used on many
different models, and then changing inserts at the back of the gaskets
to fit the correct contour of specific models. But normally this type
of mold will show a "parting line" in the finished part where this
technique is employed. I don't see this on my (admittedly aged)
gaskets.
Cheers!
Tom O'Malley
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