appatula

This started as a little experimentation and has turned into a project. The AMG emblem on my front bumper was about to fall off so I pried it off so I could apply adhesive to it later and reapply. I then thought about casting my own in aluminum and bronze as I have free access to the facilities to do this type of work. I then started to ponder ways of making a mold off of the original emblem, I did not have access to the expensive two part silicone's I use at work so I tried using silicone caulking. Although its not like vacuum chambered cured silicone it worked very well. I poured a few resin mixes into the mold with very good results. I will be touching up the resin patterns and making a pattern board for some sand casting this weekend. Wondering if anyone has any interest in solid metal emblems, bronze or aluminum. I will also be molding up the AMG emblem on my plastic engine cover. Noticed that it was all cracked to hell and starting to separate from the cover. Possibly thinking of offering a kit to replace the original with a nice metal alternative for those of you who's emblem suffered a similar fate.

BenzMaster19

Very cool, Let us know how the engine emblem looks like after completion!...

MarcusF

Quite nice. Forgive my ignorace, but can the product be CF wrapped rather than painted? Black CF emblems on a black car would be stealth. On a silver car they would less stealth, but still nice. Black and silver are 90% of the MB market. It'll look good on other colors too.

appatula

Marcus,
no worries, very good question! Using a vacuum bagging technique carbon fiber fabric could easily be layed up. The only issue with this would be the small size of the emblem. The fabric would have a hard time making its way into the small crevices, although I may still try this! The side fender mold you see above is only about 2.5 inches long by .25 inch high so its a very small piece. The emblem on the engine would be a much better bet in carbon fiber (vacuum bagging). I will keep you posted on progress, the engine bay emblem has been epoxied back together and I have encompassed it in silicone .

I have some experince with CF doing wet layups with decent results. Did some interior pieces on my 300E and some pieces for a friends Jetta.

appatula

Engine Bay Emblem Progress:

jayrasheed

Hats off to that CF insert in the W124 if u ever go abt making the AMG inserts CF i'm in.

Also i need both the front lip AMG emb and the engine, in Alum so keep me posted plz.

appatula

Jay ,
I should have something in either bronze or aluminum this weekend depending on what is pouring. I'll keep you posed though . Glad to see a little interest in this!

appatula

Finished the mothermold for the engine emblem. The resin model came out supurb! A little bit of finishing and I'll have a pattern board for the engine emblems in no time. Should have castings this weekend .

appatula

Also, I plan on making 2 piece molds of the interior pieces so I can cast pure CF trim, rather than just wrapping the CF around the wood trim. The only issue that I will have to resolve is finding a way to either replicate the plastic locking tabs or just remove then from the original trim and epoxy them into the CF trim.

Fabio D

Wooowww this is a nice reconstruction fot this little emblems! in my car the bumper emblem has many ships by little rocks! Dont forgot to open a thread in the W210 AMG forum, cause our cars has the same emblem in the bumpers!

Maybe we can made a deal!! You can send me one emblem to my car bumper, and i can send you my mother-in-law to ur house!!

Damn! pretty good deal! What do you think === ?

Fabio Daniel

tonysemi

This is DOPE! great job! I have made similiar pieces with less positive results. Good job, keep us posted!

appatula

Fabio, that made me laugh! Unfortunatley I'm taken at the moment . Thank you for the kind words and advice, I will post over in the W210 forums as well. I'm sure we can work out a deal anyhow, I'll let you know when I get some castings and we will go from there.

appatula

Tony, love the sig and sig pic . Thanks a lot for the kind words, if you would like some advice shoot me a PM. Those results are with budget materials other than the carbon fiber cloth. I used that cheap fiberglass resin avaliable at home depot. I hope to make molds so I can produce a few for forum members without spending 8 hours on each piece.

jayrasheed

Im still waiting

appatula

Don't worry I'm making progress! The weather here has been awful, below zero with the wind chill...and I can't cast inside. Weather needs to permit in order for me to be able to pour safely. If one drop of moisture decides to fall into the cruicible of molten metal it will explode and spatter the metal everywhere. As soon as the weather calms a bit I will post pictures of my progress on the pattern board.

PaulRicciardi

Looks good man, can't wait to see where you go with it.
I'll probably grab one from you when you're done.

On the CF front, do you think you could make CF replacements for all of the black plastic engine cover parts? Valve cover, distributor cover etc.




Basically all of the black plastic on the the engine itself.

Fabio D

Let us know in the W210 amg forum when you finished out bro!

Congrats greate job!

Fabio Daniel

tonysemi

Thanks for the help!
Any custom carbon pieces or ideas, please share, I love the look ...and Im into the one off pieces. And if I cant make it, i will buy if you do make more Thanks again

tonysemi

And thanks for the pix comment

appatula

Few pictures of the patternboard mock up and the flask in which it will be being poured. Slowly but steady guys!

appatula

Paul I would love to dress the whole engine in CF. That will be on my list for sure (after winter and snow ) A couple things I will need to look into is laminating with a resin that will withstand engine bay temperatures to insure a quality product. Want to make sure if I do make a few to sell they will retain thier structural and asthetic properties. One other issue is sourcing a alternative to a flexible ABS plastic, one that I can cast. This plastic also plays into the interior CF pieces. I will need to make molds of the locking tabs so I can cast the tabs seperately and epoxy them onto the completed CF pieces. This will allow you to remove and replace the part without the worry of the tabs cracking or deforming, the urethane casting resin I am looking into has properties that I think will be perfect for this. Another method would be to simply just laminate over the plastic pieces, thus no weight reduction.

appatula

You betcha.

appatula

Not a problem, I have tommorow off so maybe I will start putting something together. Laminating an existing part is childs play if you do it step by step, you won't have a problem....Or you might not I'll make sure to include all of the countless mistakes I made in the writeup.

PaulRicciardi

Yeah I was considering getting some of the 3M CF vinyl wrap...but that stuff would most likely just melt in the engine. I'm sure you'll figure something out for the engine bay, when you do let me know

appatula

Pattern board is finished, pour will be tommorow.

Wish me luck!!