Brand new A hoods

[Trevor Gates]

Just think of the market for aluminum hoods.

Now we're talking!

[Mike DeJonge]

here are a few more pictures. Male part of the die and the die on the mill is the female part

[Mike DeJonge]

male side of the die

[Mike DeJonge]

One of the concerns with shipping a hood is damage caused by the carrier, so we have had a fully recyclable box designed. this box can be used for the A, B and C hoods. Laying down flat this box can be walked on without causing any damage to the hood inside. The hood is fully supported inside the box. All cardboard, no wood, no foam, no filler

[Mark Cohn]

Vey nice. Out of curiosity, what is the run time for the mill to get through all of the rough and finish cuts?

[Mike DeJonge]

The run time on the mill has not been added up yet, since we are not finished. the most time consuming is turning the die around and remountind in the mill. the die is so large that only one half can be done at a time, it has to be spun around on the bed of the mill, and then the milling can continue.

[Mark Pribanic]

Very cool. Thank you for sharing the pictures. I always wondered how stuff like this was done. Please keep your progress reports coming!

[Mike DeJonge]

Female side of the die done final machining. Marker outlines the final shape of the hood. Many lines are seen and this is because of the composite material sandwiched between the 2 steel plates. Using composite material saves a great deal on $$ on machining time and polishing time. Machining time on this die half is 425 hours. CNC mill is running 24/7
Came in this morning to remove this die and put the blank in for the second half, so the mill can run while we are eating our Christmas diner.

[Mike DeJonge]

another picture of the female side of the die

[Mike DeJonge]

Good thing son is the computer wiz

[Mike DeJonge]

Female side of the die before rough milling. Again you are seeing space age composite material glued together

[Mike DeJonge]

Mounted in and ready to go, while we have our dinner. Back after dinner to check

[Dan Macdonald]

Mike,
This is fun to watch. Very interesting.
Does the sheet steel have "memory"? Do you have to account for that in the die?

[Mike DeJonge]

Yes sheet metal does have memory. It depends on the thickness of the steel and the amount of carbon in the steel. Other additives also affect the memory. There is also a "grain" similar to the grain in wood which also affects the springback in the steel. We have a calculated guess of about 3-5 % springback on the steel.

[Mike DeJonge]

1st half of the male die rough cut, 18 hours machining time. We turned it around on the mill so the other half will get rough cut while we are having our beauty sleep tonight. Monday afternoon tooling will be changed and then final milling will begin on one half, then turn the die around again for the final milling on the second half.