I'm still around, just very busy. My wife and I recently started our own Art business (the reason I originally purchased my CNC Mill) and I work Full-Time at Microsoft so my free time is next to nothing. I've been waiting to get several fasica orders before I went ahead and purchased more supplies and set back up the shop. I now have about 7 orders and most of the supplies have arrived (some wood is back ordered) so I will begin fabricating more custom wood fascia's next week. I'm not giving anyone a timeline for completion as I just can't guarantee anything. I'm no longer making the maple burl fascia's as the wood is very soft and difficult to work with. Each one took me at least 4 hours and $25+ in supplies so it's not worth my time. For the next batch I will be cutting approx 10-15 fascia's (using 4 different woods) and then people can just choose what they want from a series of photographs. Again, the fascia's are $100 + shipping.

Rob

So what kind of chemicals are involved? Basically from what I've gathered you kind of have a metal finish by having a powder coat of metal on your plastic to electroplate.... I think you just put it in your chemicals and fry away???? Would the materials be costly?

as far as the milky buttons not yet.... I'm still trying to get perfectly clear buttons.... I'm getting agitated about that too . Every set I cast has tiny bubbles, not due to air in the mold but due to a chemical reaction that occurs due to moisture in the silicone (or so the guy at smoothon tells me), it's not really that noticable until you look closely but it's annoying the crap outta me. I've tried baking the molds... storing them with silica gel... everything I can think of to reduce moisture to no avail, does anyone know what Brian is using to cast his buttons?

That is way cool looking! As long as you are creating new fascias, have you worked with creating a new design, or manipulating the existing one, that will overcome the top left corner issue of the original?

-Mike

overcome the top left corner issue of the original

Ahem.

I am using Smooth-On products as well. I've used both the OOMOO and Mold Max products for the molds. For the plastic I'm using Smoothcast 325 Colormatch, which is amber in color with no pigments added. I have not baked my molds and haven't had a problem with bubbles.

More and more subtle..... I had read that, and am holding off on it. It doesn't bother me too much. But new fascia designs even in plastic, such as this would be very cool. This is kind of the hope I was getting at.

-Mike

Wow.... we're using the exact same thing! Maybe it's just because I do this in my basement where it's more damp than the rest of my house? Do you live in a dry area? Sometimes northern VA can be humid... I've made 4 or 5 different molds so far and I get the same results each time.... arrrgh....

How are you making your molds? Pouring or brushing? I poured my molds.... perhaps it has something to do with the density of the silicone itself?

>>overcome the top left corner issue of the original

>Ahem.

Excuse him, he meant top left corner FLAW...

It's been pretty dry up until lately. I'm in Nebraska and it gets humid in the summer so I'll have to see then. I pour my molds, but I do vacuum degas them before pouring.

I was going to try pressure casting... but perhaps I'll give vacuum degassing a try, how does one go about vacuum degassing?

Can I get everything I need at a hardware store?

I only vacuum degass the silicon before pouring over the model. I tried it with the plastic casting and didn't get good results. To do it you have to have a vacuum pump and suitable chamber.

oh... just on the silicone... hmmm... I have good molds... so I don't think degassing my silicone would do anything for me. I guess my next step is to cut the humidity level, if that doesn't work I'll try pressure casting.

I was thinking about knob illumination, and thought about that neon rope lighting that you can take and throw everywhere in your car. I have only seen 12V, so I don't know what problems we would encounter, but we would only need like 1.5" - 2" to make a loop that would make the whole knob illuminated, and would give the diffused look better than 3 or 4 LED's would do. Any thoughts?

-Mike

According to their FAQ, those neon cables run off of a high voltage AC driver. Although I don't see this pictured at their web site, I assume it is some sort of a power converter module, like a "box" of some kind.

In order for the rope stuff to illuminate the buttons in your car, this "box" would need to be integrated into the interior of the empeg unit itself, and somehow this sounds to me like a bad idea all around. RF noise issues, thermal issues, magnetic field issues, etc.

You're right. I didn't see that. Looking at other sites, these "drivers" also creat a high pitched hum. Which is somthing I'm sure we wouldn't want. Too bad. Would have been a nice effect.

unless you can build something that would dock with the unit itsself? just an idea

Oh yes, this is what i'm waiting for, too. A time ago i saw this design in a thread about anodized alu-fascias, which CruzThs wanted to make, but he went over to wood, which is not my taste (although excellent work!!!).
This design is more techie, but i think, the original buttons and knob would do it. It would be easier to use the backlit kit from Brian.
Anyone interested? I'm sure, someone will make them if enough of us want them...

Well... I ordered a electroless chroming kit today... I'll be experimenting with chrome plating fascia's. I'll post pictures of the results when I get finished