Closed - Internal Stiffeners

@Willy Lump Lump

 

I think I know the light thing, sensario or something? That’s paso though, I live in the cold ass fog in Los Osos, 40 minutes away, 40 degrees different in temperature.

 

I'd love some cooler weather, hell I miss snow.

I'll be gone this weekend back to the coast so there won't be any bed stiffener development from me after Friday.

What I can say is that the 3D printed insert arrives tomorrow so I'll post up how that looks and how it'll alleviate the sharp metal corners if you opt to loop something through it.

 

Alright, little gift from @MagicToolbox arrived.

Actually, this is for the benefit of anyone buying these stiffeners with tie downs.

I will preface by saying I do not own a 3D printer, and know next to nothing about 3D printing. What I do know is that, just like CNC plasma, there are many other variables outside of a "drawing" that can affect the physical product's dimensions IE the end result.

So with that said, when the pieces arrived I was absolutely impressed with how perfect the fitment was with these inserts.

Unfortunately, I can only provide pictures using the old style bracket I initially mocked up and that's because I sent the physical 3/16" fixed version to @Sand_In_My_Taco although I can cut one out later and provide some more pictures later.

The V1 set is initial mock up, the V2 set is after initial mock up and after I added a radius to the tie down openings.




Here's V1.1 inside the bracket, as you can see it not only completely fills the opening where you would loop something through, but also gives you a softer edge.



This is why I love my tools; clamped down some fixtures to get some real tensions on this tie down.



Ignore the "overlap" here as this was made to fit the 3/16" brackets I'll be producing.



I didn't want to provide pictures of V1.2 because it's an in-between of 1.1 and 1.3; here you can see that V1.3 is a lot "softer" all the way around not just with the tie down opening but also along the outer edge.



Here it is with the loop pulled through.



And the other side.



So far I'm really digging it, and looking forward to cutting another tie down in order to test out the V2 set here for you guys.

Again I do not 3D print, as these were sent to me by @MagicToolbox and I'm just helping to finalize for him what set you guys would want to use/see.

 

Love it.

 

That’s a great idea!!

 

Should actually say, I'll just wait until after the prototype is confirmed before cutting another exterior bracket.

Trying not to use up all my own steel just on more and more mock ups

Lastly, the above pictures were just to demonstrate the usefulness of the 3D insert.

Actual install would be as follows.

If using the half portion, it was mentioned to use some sort of tape or other adhesive.



Otherwise the larger insert is sandwiched between the bed and exterior bracket itself.

The insert does not sit on the outside of the exterior bracket.

 

Awesome, I'm so glad they fit!

Ive had a challenging week so I have not had a chance to get a TRD logo done up. I'm hoping I can do that today. I think @Kwikvette is OOT this weekend but hopefully we will get a fitment report from @Sand_In_My_Taco on what is heading for him. Any revisions that need to be made will probably affect the insert, so there isn't much point in doing a whole lot of CAD work until we get that report.

 

@ERod27

1 of 1 All-aluminum, hand polished, commemorative, special edition Kwik Fab F bombs





It was my shop F bomb since I use a painted one in the house.



Wasn't until I remembered you were about exclusivity so I polished it up

 

Fant-zy!!!

 

YOOOOOOOOO. THIS IS RAD!!!!

 

Ok folks, it's decided.

Was craving some carnitas and carne asada (Mexican food for non-cultured folks) and grabbed some Mexican coke while I was there.

I mounted up the two bottle openers I had cut out and ultimately decided on this method.

It felt a lot easier, and more natural to just flick the bottle towards you to pop open versus away.



This method meant working a little harder to get the bottle cap to "catch" before pushing the bottle to pop it open.

 

I'll need to leave clearance in the plastic for the bottle opener version.

 

This is, if the idea works.

I don't have a 2nd or 3rd Gen so I can't say how much room I'll actually have, or how angled I can go in towards the bottle opener.

Generally speaking, the first picture's bottle opener orientation felt best as if it was on the driver side.

 

I'd like to order these stiffeners. How do I go about doing that?

 

Here's the plan -

1. Prototype arrives, and fitment will be confirmed.

2. If adjustments are needed, I will make them, and send the adjusted piece as well as the passenger side out. By this point it should work.
2B. Before proceeding to the next step, I may want to wait to confirm that the adjusted piece works.

3. Start taking deposits based on the batch numbers on page 1. Many people have shown interest, and I've placed their name in the order received. Only those wanting to pay now or place a deposit have been moved towards batch numbers.

Wife is off for the next two weeks so I plan to see how many I can comfortably knock out each day - worst case I do 2-3 sets per day based on how quickly I got the half set done. Best case I can knock out a whole batch in one day.

If you wish to move forward with buying a set, I'll place you on the 3rd batch.

 

I’m late to respond, but regarding hardware coatings in terms of corrosion I have a few anecdotes. Millions of fasteners go through my business every year, and I’m quite familiar with the most commonly available coatings/processes.

Black oxide is not much of a corrosion inhibitor. In my business, we consider it a color, and that’s it. Alloy steel black oxide hardware will rust unless you keep it oiled or paint it.

It’s very common to use black oxide on stainless hardware, which means the corrosion resistant properties are provided by the base metal, not black oxide. 18-8 stainless is very soft and will also rust, just not as quickly as an alloy steel. 316 stainless is not as soft and also more corrosion resistant.

Black phosphate is much more effective than black oxide. We use it for a lot of fasteners and it does well. It’s somewhat rare to find screws that are black phosphate on McMaster, though. Like zinc plating it can be scratched and then will rust.

Zinc plating is decent until you scratch it. If you look at zinc plated screws that get tightened and loosened multiple times the plating will wear off at the interface with the tool, and then it will start to rust the underlying steel.

Zinc flake is considered the most corrosion resistant. It’s easy to identify because it has a matte gray appearance. It’s a fairly thick coating, but can also be worn off from repeated use.

For the uses in this thread I’d be content with black oxide and simply paint all the exposed threads and heads after tightening. The bolts on the underside aren’t that exposed and the ones in the bed would be easy to keep an eye on. Anti-seize or grease on all the threads will also protect the bits you can’t see in case you get water between the various pieces.

 

And to add, we're really only doing a final confirmation of one single part.

Everything else works.

The exterior bracket *may* receive the slightest modification in terms of overall width (for aesthetic reasons) but everything else is all said and done.

For ease of install, I've only slightly enlarged the 0.406" holes to 0.415" on a few and 0.420" on others.

Albeit minor, it could be that extra bit of room that makes the difference from using a hole you've drilled out vs pulling out the step bit for a bit more clearance.

Lastly, whatever bolts you decide to run through the welded hardware might feel a tad "tight" at first as this is completely normal after being welded on.

 

Anti-seize is something I would hope someone would use "just because" in the event that anything needs to be uninstalled.

Doubt it, but better safe than sorry.

I appreciate you chiming in!

Should help others when they're sourcing hardware to use as I've concluded that I will not provide any bolts whatsoever.

It's better than having some prefer one type of bolt, and others wanting another, and trying to conform to 3-4 different price points and purchasing lots of different hardware.