The two smaller boxes have to have room for a screwed on washer and nut to connect them to the bolt from the bed. The larger box wouldn’t have to be hollowed out, but would at least need to have some holes tapped for the bolts that would screw down the yakima block.
I may just try to find a welder who would build it for me from steel and then have it cleaned and either spray it myself with a couple coats of black to protect it or have it power coated. I think it will cost too much to have CNC’d out of aluminum.
Conventional mill. It will look just as good as cnc. A bit of hogging out to do. 3 setups. 6065-t651 block is $25. If rough cut is ok, then 1 hour. Spray on paint and clear coat. $150 total probably at a small mom and pop shop.
Aerospace cnc is expensive because aerospace engineers have tight tolerances and need high quality. This project doesn’t need aerospace engineering.
It looks to me like something a HVAC shop could make for you over lunch.
It could be made out of medium gauge sheet metal in the brake (bending tool) out of 2-3 pieces, and spot welded
together. With a careful rattle can primer and spray job you could have a nice clean looking mount for packet change.
Another option for finishing (regardless of how you make it) would be the plastic dip you can buy to coat tool handles, etc.
It dries nice and smooth and would provide protection for both the truck bed and the mount. Dip it and then just
clean up the mounting holes with a sharp knife.
That would be around $15 for material (6061 T6) and I would allow about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs to program and make on a CNC.
Then I would get it anodized for another $20.
BTW I make this sort of thing all the time but am in New Zealand so don’t know what they charge over there for machine time.
The bolt is fixed in place coming out from the bed, its hard to explain but the way this company Core-trax designed it you can’t spin it once its installed, they make you used their washer and nut, believe me if I could figure out a way I would LOVE to not have more nuts and washers that can loosen but I don’t see any other way around this.
Yea I think I am leaning this way as well, I hoping for at least 1/8 thickness on the pieces even 3/16 to beef it up a bit.
I have seen the plasti-dip stuff before and had thought that it might be a good idea, I have even thought about the stuff they say is similar to a spray in bed liner as far as texture goes.
how much would you charge for CNC time? $100 a hour or so?
The materials cost is not bad, the anodizing i may pass on for $20, its the CNC time that I think will be too much to stomach to get it done out of aluminum.
I’d make this from 1/4"-3/8" sheet steel and weld it (a little internal MIG should work fine). You can reduce the cost a bit by just having them notch a bit out of the bottom of that faceplate for the cable passthru instead of milling that oval. a fab shop should be able to make you two of these for $150-200.
Milling out all that pocketspace is going to take time (read $$), and is unnecessary.
The material would be $15 if you are ordering a larger piece and cut this from it. I just ordered a piece 1.5 x 6 x 8 and it was $50 shipped. They have to pull it, saw it, put back the master plate, pack it, ship it, and make a buck… You can get it for $15 if you drive somewhere and rummage through rems and then saw a crooked piece to size, spending way too much time to save a few bucks. Sheet metal plus bending and welding is the same. You can find cheap stuff and labor, but it will look like it. If you want a good looking product and if you are not in a hurry, p.m. me. I have a cnc shop and I have leftover stock to make it from. I am real busy right now, so let me know your time frame. Another finish option is a can of spray on bedliner paint or ruberized undercoating paint from the local auto parts store. It sticks like a mofo. Tim
Don’t have the cutouts in the back if you want to keep the cost down. Make it all solid with tapped holes and straight through holes. You can probably get something done for a reasonable price that way.
Just so you know, if you brought that to a reputable shop and asked for exactly that you are looking at well over 3k, I’d estimate. You would typically allow for rounded corners in the hogged out areas for a conventional mill to be able to get into (I’d recommend 1/2" or so to keep the bit big and the cost down). What you drew is sharp internal corners. Only one way to make that from bar stock - ram EDM work. Not impossible, but certainly not easy work to do. And it will cost you a pretty penny.
Yea I built the model with the thought of it being built from pieces of steel and welded, I would allow for a lot more tolerance if it was infact CNC’d.
I have to have the smaller cutouts there. The bolt have to be used with the washers. The larger middle section could be solid, if it was MUCH cheaper I would do away with the large hole.
Im still not sure why you would not make it out of pressure treated lumber. Total cost would be less than $50; even with an epoxy paint, and could be made with a table saw and drill (you could probably get away with a sabre saw). Underneath the paint, noone would be able to tell what it was made of.
Just me being cheap I would just get a 3x1.5 channel and drill some holes with a drill (drill press for extra points but not needed). It can be cut with a hacksaw and filed smooth then paint if needed. Should be under an hour total time and ± 20$ . If you don’t have a local source there are some spots on the web that do small orders. http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=1065&step=4&showunits=inches&id=298&top_cat=60
CNC time would be around $100/hr. If you went to the effort/expense of getting this made it is worth the bit extra for anodizing. More durable than painting or powder coating.
Send me a quick pic or drawing. I probably can do it for you for very little money. BTW you can get a very good estimate of the metal cost by checking out
About $2.00 / inch - so say $16 for 6061 plus about $10 shipping
I make chaincatchers, so a project like that would be easy.
If you’re interested, PM me and I’ll give you a quote.
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