I'm asking for help from a big wide range of skilled experts here, so i'm sure someone can do it!!!


Essentially I have a wooden template, approx. 18-20" across, roughly circular & with a big hole in the middle and small ones round the edge, which I want cut in ideally Ally or if not, Steel, about 8-10mm thick. Of course i'm happy to pay a reasonable price, i'm not begging a freebie!


Some of you might've guessed...... It's an adapter plate for an unusual combination of Rover K series from a Caterham, and a Mazda RX8 gearbox.

I know, I know, you might all say - "buy a different engine/box", or "buy a plate from a supplier off the www", but I don't think either works.
- I have both the engine & box already and don't want to sell, and we've made a dummy wooden adapter which all fits together, so just need to replicate it in metal
- I've tried one supplier (p9cyo) who's just not up to it, and another (freddy) who hasn't had demand for that combination and is busy doing the more common zetec/pinto/duratec/VX etc, so he doesn't want to do a one-off which is fair enough
- So I think I've covered all the 'off the shelf' options, and hoped someone could just cut one from my template

Anywhere vaguely near the Midlands/Staffordshire would be great, I could drop off our template with you, you scan/measure/etc it, cut the new one and we'll collect to save postage. I can't provide a solidworks/dwg/pdf file i'm afraid.

Can anyone do that sort of thing, and could you give an approximate price?

Thanks in advance
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might be worth trying here http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/

I would strongly recommend having it cut with a water jet. Find a local cutter and have it designed on some CAD Software.

Have a chat to Freddy686868 on Turbosports forum, he has a side line in designing and making adaptors for the RX8 box, he may be interested in adding another to his list.

if you have a CAD file then I would recommend Lasermaster in Cornwall for the waterjet cutting, they have done 8mm ally plate for me before.

[Edited on 25/7/16 by hkp57]

http://www.p9cyoplates.co.uk/

list K series to RX8 cpnversion kit

quote:

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Originally posted by monkeyarms
http://www.p9cyoplates.co.uk/

list K series to RX8 cpnversion kit

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I have a CNC plasma that would cut this, do you have a CAD drawing?

Like others I would recommend laser or water jet for ultimate precision but if you can tolerate drilling the precise holes yourself or slightly oversize bolt holes then plasma will be fine.

....unfortunately:

- As I said, I don't have a CAD file (I wish I did!), I only have a wooden template my dad made, old-school.

- Also, P9cyo is the one I mentioned who says he can do one, but then fails to actually supply one, and
- Freddy is the one I asked who does seem capable, but isn't interested in making one as he's had no demand for that combination.

(I could ask Freddy if he's willing to make some if I order a batch, but then I'll need to lend him my engine for a while, and I'm funding them and stuck with them until I can sell)

I really don't want the faff of switching boxes, aaargh!

Thanks again, but does anyone have any other ideas?

- I could just buy a blank, we have a pillar drill and so could drill the holes no problem, but with just small garage tools it'll be hard to get a neat cut around the flywheel, the starter cutout, and the outside

- Is there anything i'm missing?

Thanks hopefully......
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I've emailed LaserMaster as they can cut from a paper drawing or dimensioned sketch in ppt etc so I could possibly make a simple drawing of key points etc.

Fingers crossed!

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quote:

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Originally posted by adampage

- I could just buy a blank, we have a pillar drill and so could drill the holes no problem, but with just small garage tools it'll be hard to get a neat cut around the flywheel, the starter cutout, and the outside

- Is there anything i'm missing?

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Hi, I have recently done this for my engine as there wasn't an adaptor available, do you know the thickness of the plate that you need? I needed bang on 20mm, which I had water cut (after drawing it up on cad) and then I had all the holes drilled and tapped. I downloaded a free version of cad called a9 cad it it did everything I needed it to do, message me if you'd like any more help.

Sounds complicqted! Impressive though. 8-10mm would be fine for ours.

Do you mind me asking what yours cost?

Thanks
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Learning how to use cad was a little complicated but over time get used to it, the plate out of 20mm mild steel cost £130 water jet cut. That is material included. Cheers

That price seems pretty good to me for a 20mm plate all in....

Marc very kindly offered to knock up a simple drawing in CAD for me, thanks mate, will organise a little reward!

I've sent photo & diagram with some measurements (not to scale or pretty....!).

Thanks again
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I made one to join an Audi box to a v8 rover, cut the front bell housing off a rover auto box with a hack saw then milled to 2" thick, then welded to the front of the Audi box.


Gearbox adapator


Chassis with engine in

Nice work, I think we're some way off that ability.....

I would definitely look at doing it in stages thought. Get a scan of your template, get it converted to a usable file type (.iges / .igs / .stp) and you should be able to find a web browser based CAD system to freely put it on and check/create drawings (if not drop me a U2U, I can help with that). Once you have a CAD file or drawing, then find a waterjet company to do the profile and holes. After that, you can then either tap yourself or get a local engineering company to tap any holes and/or sort any counter bores.

I recently made an Aluminium adapter plate for my kit and used waterjet to get the main profile then drilled all the holes myself through a wooden template. I then used Forstner Drill bits on the aluminium to make the counter bore holes

Thanks, that's what i'm hoping to do, get a first working drawing with basic features (i.e. not every hole), check it carefully, get it cut, then do the holes and refining ourselves.

Thanks all!
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If you have a flat bed document scanner/printer you can do the following -

Take a scan of your wood/card pattern, you may need to do this in sections and align and merge in a paint/photo software (draw on some lines to help alignment), output will be jpg, add a ruler into the scan for scale
Print out and check/modify/scan again
Most 2d cad packages will import the scan as a picture, put this on a new layer (auto ad can do this, imageattach is the command I think)
You can now trace this with cad lions/curves/circles on a second layer
Print/check/modify etc.
save as dwg/dxf/iges and send off for cutting.

I did this for exhaust and inlet manifolds, engine mounting plate, gearbox mount and a few other bits with kasermaster and it worked well.