clinto
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That's gonna be a good trick to manufacture
Yeah that doesnt look like a simple piece to reproduce.
Well, in the nearly 30 years since the last dual circuit M44A2s left the assy. line, only M-series restoration has managed it but at a pricepoint that no one could afford. And I'm not sure it even took the correct master cylinder.
But I'm not your average guy and I have some people helping me who are extremely competent. We'll see what happens.
Biggest fear is what's it is going to cost. I need to get it done at a price point that people can afford.Oh, I'm sure you'll get it done, no worries there, just noticing its gonna be an accomplishment.
Laser accuracy is very good and to me that is worth a lot. My last fabrication project was all stainless steel mostly 0.25 inch thick had a lot of weldments with keying features for welding assembly and rectangular tubing with bushed pass throughs for pivots etc. I spoke with the fab shop owner and asked him about the laser's accuracy so I could determine tolerance stack ups and such. He told me it's pretty much dead on. The worst case would be about 0.002 +/- which for my project was nothing. When I got the prototypes I found out that he was right. I checked a couple of the smaller pieces on the MicroVu and they were just like the drawing. I was very impressed.I agree. Plasma would be cheapest but laser or water more accurate. Could probably cut the bolt holes and pilot/locator in the plates close enough with either of the latter. Some cutting tables have milling/drilling/tapping heads to speed up those processes. Cut the pieces out with tabs and notches so they interlock and locate each other, weld together and weld tubes in with inside bores undersize, bore to finished size after welding.
I wouldnt recommend casting. The amish in PA are off grid but do good casting work for decent prices. I have some contacts there and China if you want to give it a shot. China wants a large minimum though (100 I think). Machining something like that doesnt look cheap either. Laser/waterjet weldments probably the easier/cheaper route.Laser accuracy is very good and to me that is worth a lot. My last fabrication project was all stainless steel mostly 0.25 inch thick had a lot of weldments with keying features for welding assembly and rectangular tubing with bushed pass throughs for pivots etc. I spoke with the fab shop owner and asked him about the laser's accuracy so I could determine tolerance stack ups and such. He told me it's pretty much dead on. The worst case would be about 0.002 +/- which for my project was nothing. When I got the prototypes I found out that he was right. I checked a couple of the smaller pieces on the MicroVu and they were just like the drawing. I was very impressed.
As far as boring tubes to size for bushings, clearance, etc. It is much more cost effective to size the tubing with the bushing size in mind so you limit the secondary operations. There is a pretty wide selection of tubing sizes available so you can probably find one that will work. If you find one that works, buy enough for your production run. Mills change processes and tolerances on tubing can vary widely from lot to lot. I discovered that after buying enough tubing to build 50 units for the initial production run and we bumped it to 100 during production. Half way through we had to start machining the bore to fit the bushing. Same tubing supplier, different lot. Lesson learned.
Has anyone considered using the electric/hydraulic boost pumps they use on hot rods that have big cams/low vacuum? If someplace like wilwood has a MC that fits the existing bracket with f/r outlets it would eliminate all the hassles/plumbing and second expensive air pack that come with retrofitting the air side.
I was looking into something like that for the 5-ton, maybe even using the hydraulic pump of the power steering. I think the CUCV has something like that, called hydro-boost? I forgot the details, but had decided that it was too complicated, expensive if bought new, and getting too far from original.
Some of this discussion is probably moving outside the realm of this thread. Fuzzytoaster had started a "dual circuit engineering" thread that would cover a lot of this.These are a electric pump that provides the boost to the hydraulic side of the brakes, no engine driven hyd pump needed. I think , and Clinto can verify I'm sure, that fitting a dual circuit master cylinder to the bracket on a single circuit truck is a big problem and I believe why he's looking to make brackets. I've read about this some but have never seen a dual circuit setup so it's hard to visualize.
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