WLJayne
Well-Known Member
Hi guys,
I mentioned this in someone else's fred, but as this is likely to be a fair old challange I though it'd be better to start me own. Lately, myself and DD have been jawing about things we can make for our Freelanders. With my industrial design background, and his mechanical background, we should be able to come up with some neat stuff. The purpose of this thread will be to present our ideas to you guys. Partially for technical input, partically for design feedback and partially for market research.
I am wary of showing early WIP's and such, but in this case I think it's ok and this will be an entusiast driven project.
We've been talking about developing the following gear:
- Bonnet light pod (that actually fits)
- Roof light pod
- Snorkel
- Bolt on ali sump guard
- Eggsauce guard
We already have ideas and designs for some of those. Some are really easy to get into production, some will take some time and alot of coffee.
This isn't something we'll be going to the banksters to get a loan to do, we'll be doing it in our spare time when funds and time allow. But if we do put something out for sale it'll be quality kit, and we want to make it all affordable enough to stick onto our (practically wurfless) Freelanders.
The first few items we are designing are the Bonnet and Roof pods, and the sump guard. The guard will simply be a CNC cut sheet of 8mm ali that can either be bolted or welded to your exhisting guard frame. Nice and simple and durable enough for all but the most extreme rock crawling.
I am currently working on both light pods. They are still in the styling phase but I'm getting a more firm idea of how to develop them as a kit every day. The plan is for them to be made from vacuum formed ABS plastic (1.5 - 2mm) with sockets for LED headlight bulbs and clear lenses. I'm trying to design these with the styling of the FL1 in mind, but also so that they won't add much drag so they should have minimal impact on fuel consumption. LED bulbs are now cheap enough to be viable alterbatives to traditional lamps. This means we can use thermoplastics instead of GRP as the LED's produce negligable heat and won't melt plastic.
Here are some images I've been working on, but these are very early WIP's. I'm going to get a 1/4 scale mock up milled out in blue foam to see what it looks like physically, and if I'm happy then I'll move forward with the engineering of the kit.
Will.
I mentioned this in someone else's fred, but as this is likely to be a fair old challange I though it'd be better to start me own. Lately, myself and DD have been jawing about things we can make for our Freelanders. With my industrial design background, and his mechanical background, we should be able to come up with some neat stuff. The purpose of this thread will be to present our ideas to you guys. Partially for technical input, partically for design feedback and partially for market research.
I am wary of showing early WIP's and such, but in this case I think it's ok and this will be an entusiast driven project.
We've been talking about developing the following gear:
- Bonnet light pod (that actually fits)
- Roof light pod
- Snorkel
- Bolt on ali sump guard
- Eggsauce guard
We already have ideas and designs for some of those. Some are really easy to get into production, some will take some time and alot of coffee.
This isn't something we'll be going to the banksters to get a loan to do, we'll be doing it in our spare time when funds and time allow. But if we do put something out for sale it'll be quality kit, and we want to make it all affordable enough to stick onto our (practically wurfless) Freelanders.
The first few items we are designing are the Bonnet and Roof pods, and the sump guard. The guard will simply be a CNC cut sheet of 8mm ali that can either be bolted or welded to your exhisting guard frame. Nice and simple and durable enough for all but the most extreme rock crawling.
I am currently working on both light pods. They are still in the styling phase but I'm getting a more firm idea of how to develop them as a kit every day. The plan is for them to be made from vacuum formed ABS plastic (1.5 - 2mm) with sockets for LED headlight bulbs and clear lenses. I'm trying to design these with the styling of the FL1 in mind, but also so that they won't add much drag so they should have minimal impact on fuel consumption. LED bulbs are now cheap enough to be viable alterbatives to traditional lamps. This means we can use thermoplastics instead of GRP as the LED's produce negligable heat and won't melt plastic.
Here are some images I've been working on, but these are very early WIP's. I'm going to get a 1/4 scale mock up milled out in blue foam to see what it looks like physically, and if I'm happy then I'll move forward with the engineering of the kit.
Will.
