Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Gardy Guard - Update #2

So after many quotes coming back and forth a few minor details have needed to be adjusted. Due to the immense cost of importing military grade 4140 chromoly from America all guards will be made from 4130 chromoly. Although slightly less resistant to wear than 4140 chromoly, these will still be more than twice the strength of the toughest of aluminium alloys (7075-T6). Due to available chromoly sizes the rear guards will now be made with an outside diameter of 70mm, still large enough to cover even the largest hub flanges of 58mm.

Instead of being pre-heat treated and tempered prior to machining, all guards will also now be heat treated and tempered to custom specifications to allow the precise properties required to be achieved. They will also be case hardened which can be thought of as forming somewhat a 'skin' on the outer surface of super hardened chromoly. The combination of such heat treating allows the ideal properties of the guards to be obtained, as well meaning the outer surface of the guard's Brinell hardness is at least doubled, allowing the guard to be much more slippery as well as them adopting increased wear properties as a result.

Moreover, because the metal doesn't have to be imported they will be finished much faster; and I hope to be sending them out to people within the next month. Also, because the metal doesn't need to be imported, the guards for the first run will now cost $20 each. More importantly, the first run will now be of 20 guards so please get in contact if you want any.

After this first batch has been tested against wear and strain, the consequential production runs may either be made from the same material using the same process or from a different material using different techniques. I am expecting and hoping, however, to make the second production run using the same material.

Thank you to all who have shown interest, especially those who have already started sending through payments. Please keep checking this space for more updates within the next few days.

No comments:

Post a Comment