First Post - Introduction

This blog page is a collection of Idea's of things I would like to try in my shed. These will mainly centred around metal working and automotive things.

Wish List:
- Working with Carbon Fibre, vacuum forming, using fridge compressor for vacuum forming.
- Getting a couple of old ovens removing elements and creating large oven big enough to bake large carbon objects.
- Setup Electro plating to be able to plate with Nickel, Copper, Chrome.
- Try some anodizing of aluminium.
- Attempt to chrome plate plastics.
- setup a plastic injection mould using a drill press (get a drill press)
- build a gas furnace with refactory cement to smelt aluminium
- Learn how to TIG weld.
- Get a lathe and mill.

The Shed
I completed the construction of my shed some months ago but currently have 8 pallets of pathers in there from the drive way that are waiting to be relayed following the construction of the drainage. The shed is 7X7 meters having one single large 5m long roller door for access.

After Digging out the backyard

The end result.

Layout As space is somewhat restricted I'll be trying to setup the shed into a series of functional areas. I.E welding, Soldering, Metal work, Wood Work, Mould making and Painting. Obviously as space is limited I'll need to make some of the areas multifunctional, however I'll try to group activities with similar levels of function and cleanliness together.

Comments

Shortening the Diff

I have a Ford 8.8 inch diff from a EF/EB Ford Falcon with a Limited Slip Differential. I want to shorten it down to suit the 323. Due to the RX7 LCA in the front, the front tyres(205X50X15) now protrude from the front guards by 65mm. Making the overall front track width 1,675mm. With 225X50X15 tyres on the rear and the standard diff the rear is 1,610mm. Meaning that the rear track width is 32.5mm narrower on each side. To widen the rear when I shorten it, I'll make the rear axle 65mm wider than the standard rear axle. The standard 323 Diff width is 1,338mm and the Ford 8.8 is 1,547mm for a total difference of 209mm. So the Diff needs to be shortened by 209mm - 65 = 144mm or 72mm per side.

Suspension Design Solid works

To assist with integrating the Mazda RX7 S4 FC front suspension into my Mazda 323, I've decided to see if I can create a solid works model for the suspension and then one for the Mazda chassis to see what fabrication work is need to integrate it. Looking online into engineering tutorials I found a site called Grab CAD community and a tutorial on there around spring design in solid works which looks fairly strait forward. https://grabcad.com/tutorials/tutorial-how-to-model-a-suspension-spring-in-solidworks-and-show-design-intent The main issue I have is the Lower Control Arms (LCA's) are a rather complex shape and will require me to up-skill in SolidWorks to be able to reproduce them. I'm in the process of sandblasting the part and taking some better images from which to model it. *UPDATE -- 1FEB17 nearly finished sketching the LCA and spindles

Mazda_323

Mazda_323 The above link is for a suspension model I measured from the stock Mazda 323 suspension and setup in the model creating tool at Racing ASP to assist in mapping the stock Roll Center and predicting the new roll center with the RX7 FC Suspension.

Sams Shed

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