1987 pro-touring grand national, from the ground up

[coach]

Ok fellas,
I was tasked with building totally one-of-a-kind Grand National emblems for Dave. He ran a design contest for self employed designers to put their own touch on our 25+ year old emblem. Well he chose a winner and sent me the file. With the help of Rick Hunt...aka X-ray, I am finished with the conversion needed to make it into a reality. I snapped a few pictures tonight of where it stands as we speak. It's actually burning as I type this.
Picture 1. The finished computer design of the electrode needed to make the emblem.
Picture 2. The graphite blank before it was machined.
Picture 3. The finished electrode
Picture 4. The electrode mounted in the CMM.
Picture 5. The electrode being measured on the CMM machine.

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[dsapper]

Looks awesome, its like the worlds coolest stamp haha

 

[coach]

Picture 6. Mirror polished 304 Stainless steel...no plastic emblems here!!!
Picture 7. The Stainless being located on an EDM machine.
Picture 8. The electrode located over the steel
Picture 9. The electricity being applied to the steel.
Picture 10. A quick glance of the outline...you'll have to wait to see the finished product!!!

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[EYE-OPENER]

That's awesome....

 

[coach]

The finished emblem!!!
It needs a surface polish and painted.

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[jlat]

hello people; Coach, you got some fine equipment and clean. Just how it should be.
keep up the good work.
IBBY

 

[Boston GN]

Very trick! Any chance a couple of these may make it out to the market place???

 

[dsapper]

Very trick! Any chance a couple of these may make it out to the market place???

No, they are very cost prohibitive to make and then you run into trademark issues if you sell them, plus thats a custom design I had done just for my car.

Amazing as always coach, instead of polishing would it look good if I brushed them? I don't have any chrome on my car as is, just a thought

 

[Boostian]

Looks great! How easy would it be to powder coat them similar to look like stockers?


From my iPhone

 

[dsapper]

Looks great! How easy would it be to powder coat them similar to look like stockers?


From my iPhone

Patience

 

[coach]

A few better pics...

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[X Ray]

Turned out awesome....nice job Coach.

 

[coach]

Turned out awesome....nice job Coach.

Thanks Rick. Thanks for helping


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[Boston GN]

Wow! Gorgeous. Sick work Donnie

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[coach]

Wow! Gorgeous. Sick work Donnie

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Thanks Bill. A big thank you to my young programmer...Justin Peters for helping on the weekends. He makes the graphite cutters that I use to burn the image.

 

[6APPEAL]

Just jaw dropping. The next piece that takes the car even more over the top.

 

[dsapper]

It does look amazing, as soon as I get them in my hand I'm going to start on the color

 

[coach]

Ok...here's the pair together. They are packed already and shipping to Dave thus afternoon.
The color difference is shadow.

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[GNONYX]

I have worked and saw many true machinist showing their craftsmanship, and you sir have displayed your skill and talent.
Thank you, Julio

 

[dsapper]

So, I've been very busy with work but I finally got around to doing the paint on the emblems coach made for me. I basically painted everything then rebrushed it to keep everything uniform. Came out looking like it was factory.

First, tools... Just used some tape and a razor blade to mask

I masked where the yellow and red would be

Then a few coats of gloss black enamel

You can't tell but the red and yellow areas are very thin, so I used toothpicks to sort of flow paint into the area. Came out very smooth and nice

After that I used some sandpaper and sanded the face again to remove all the paint on top and "rebrush" the stainless and here is the way it came out

And this is the the rendering that started it all, pretty damn close

I'll probably get it on the car this week