CNC MACINE

Does anyone have the use or know of anyone who does cnc cutter if so please talk to me or gazza

I have access to one, although It's not a bit old.. what do you need?

Well we are after this cutting out of a block of . . . . . . . ( wood etc )
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we have been to Ultima and they have given US ( rc circuit cars ) PERMISSION to do a model body and
they need to see it before they / we have the go a head

Is Keith not going to bother then?

he has not even contacted Ultima James

I have spoke to him with my order today he says he has phoned 2 times and e mailed Richard at Ultima

about time

Spoke our machinist, unfortunately our mill's not NC but hopefully will be updated within the next 12 months. Sorry!
Can't wait to get my hands on an ultima shell though!

loads of us winne are intrested in the Ultima body we are still trying to find out if keith at Kamtec has made contact with richard at Ultima at the moment i have or about to take a cold cast of the lotus shell and then re-work it to a total diffrent body from the wheels up.
all we need now is whats best to cast the mould in that can be worked this is a bit of a winter project the car will be radical diffrence to the lotus shell so any boffins out there know what we can cast it in please do tell.
Plaster of paris would be easy to work with your comments welcome

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just some shapes being batted round
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From my experience watching pattern makers make full size bodies, I would say a milled plywood buck, with body filler on top to make smooth wouldn't be a bad place to start.

If you can get an igs file of the body then it wouldn't be too difficult for a machine shop to make the wooden buck.

Need to find a pattern maker who enjoys RC!

Yes agree can you see were we are going with this then wynne the shape is well radical from the lotus shell going to cast it in plaster of paris then use body filler to bulud the sections
if you looked direct from the top of this the cockpit to the rear would be a tear shape tapering off to the rear of the body the lowe red line under the door would be flatted out to make it a bit like the flat of a pan car if you get my drift. Im sure when gazza and james who are working along side me with this will have some great in put as well

To get it CNC'd out of aluminium would be a long process and a costly one if nobody could be persuaded to do it for free.


I've built wooden models in the past, the best one being Nigel Mansel's world championship winning Williams F1 car. That took an age to make. I built that out od pine.

Maybe have a scout round for some woodshops that maybe able to give you some scrap ends of good hardwood. A good hardwood to stand up to vacuum forming well.

Hey guys as some of you may or may not know I have made a few shell moulds for cautious people in the past and the plug is so important as is the material you make it from as the heat properties of the material matter huge amounts with the lexan/ poly Carbonite your working with. Also the plug has to be strong enough to withstand the heat and pressure the vac forming process has on it.
Simplying the sharper you want a bodies detail to come out like window lines etc the higher the pressure you need to "pull" the heated sheet of lexan /poly carbonite down over the plug. So moulds mad of plaster of Paris tend to break up and they give poor edge detail.
The best matterials for plugs are alloy, resin (some body fillers work), carbon fibre and afew other more exotic materials.


The plugs I have made were all from cast alloy made from a sculpted 1/4 scale car model making resin borrowed from uni then just had a cast made of the resin mould and produced an alloy plug. Then I'd sold it onto help fund uni.

Hope this info helps but am sure Keith will know already.

The easiest way is to use a profiling machine then pop the dimensions into a cad/ cam program and have a laser mill, mill it out of whatever material you see fit. Uni's are a good place to gain access to such equipment alot cheaper and easier than commercial avenues.

There's other tricks involved in the actual vac forming process to get a shell that doesn't just crack, with no bubbles and a clean shape. But again keith at kamtec will know these as it's his business to make shells.
Hope this does help you. Ps would love a radical shell too

Well this has been driving me mad since the visit to Ultima so as stated before i am now in the throws of making the first mould this had been done with hard plaster this is to get the shape that im seeking i have spoken to the tec college automotive dept and they say when the plug is ready come see us and we will get our students to work on it, so heres the first casting guys
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now i need your input guys will have the plug with me sunday so do come pass comment and thoughts

Dont forget this is not a going to be a lotus after the sanding and shapeing that was just the donor plug now look below does this get your juices flowing can you see were im going
but i need help
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well 2 hours later and its out the mould and dam good if you ask me judge for yourself this stuff is not plaster of paris its called hard cold plaster so it can be sanded and carved now who has a steady hand!!!!!

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REAR VIEW

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SIDE VIEW

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TOP VIEW

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OK just start sanding to this shape


top view

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Side View

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rear

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And the front

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