Brass Grand, well sort of...
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So my resurrected V Mav/Nimby Hybrid into a Magma Hybrid turned out pretty good...the performance far exceeded my hopes...so having gotten lucky with the function I thought I'd see about the form and do something about the holes.
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I've been toying with milling out reliefs in the body and laying in Ebony veneer (I love Ebony). Problem is I'd never be able to get a matching door as it would have to be too thin. so while looking through my mess of a shop I found some sheet brass when I thought of making my own Brass doors...
Not the easiest project and the solid brass switch button required some insulation but I think it turned out ok...thought I'd polish the Magma while I was at it (I went with a round squonk hole to avoid and patent infringement)...the brass has added a 1/4 lb. and will be a maintenance nightmare but oh well...and here I was saying Alumi Reo's aren't meant to be bling
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Fingerprint magnets are not my thing, but it looks really, really nice and very well executed.
Looks fantastic! How did you do it? Did you use have a milling machine to machine the space for the brass plates? And how did you get the round edges on the vertical sides of the brass inlays? I think that's the closest any of us are ever going to get to a brass Reo
I just set my depth on the mill (a hair deeper than the brass was thick) and ran the mill end till it cleared the ends of the Grand. I then mic'd the relief width, scored the brass (just slightly over width, and quite over length), cut out the pieces with a dremel cut-off wheel then proceeded to hand sand each edge (220 wet/dry) on the edge of a level (in my den, while binge watching Downton Abbey, oh ya, I'm cool
). when each fit perfect I roughed up the joining faces and set them with J-B Weld 2 part clear epoxy. Once cured, I put a sheet of 220 wet/dry on the bench disc, got a pan of dipping water and went to town on the edges, the curves and contours all just blended in...hand finished with 600 then buffed.
I just set my depth on the mill (a hair deeper than the brass was thick) and ran the mill end till it cleared the ends of the Grand. I then mic'd the relief width, scored the brass (just slightly over width, and quite over length), cut out the pieces with a dremel cut-off wheel then proceeded to hand sand each edge (220 wet/dry) on the edge of a level (in my den, while binge watching Downton Abbey, oh ya, I'm cool
Oh, is that all
That is off the chain bro. I have to agree with Rob. That is prolly the coolest lookin REO I've ever seen except maybe this one
That is off the chain bro. I have to agree with Rob. That is prolly the coolest lookin REO I've ever seen except maybe this one
I tend to agree with you but I must resist...every time I see one of those TRA SL's I just want to chuck it up in the mill and finish the job and cut the back, sides and door right out...so that it's just a frame of a Grand...then fill the voids with plexyglass panels...maybe trim where the plexy meets the alum. frame with fine strip copper...maybe drill and press in hundreds of tiny brass pins in the copper strips to look like rivets...like something Q would've made James Bond to vape on? Connery of course, he was the only cool one.
...hi everyone, my name is quigsworth, and I'm a compulsive modder...
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I think similar thoughts every time I see one of those. Sadly I lack both the tools and the skills.
Great job Quigs and above all very original idea. I can certainly say it's the best modded Grand I've ever seen.
I very much like the brass button. In fact I've been thinking of making a button out of aluminum round stock at the same diameter as the button hole which will have it's lower part that makes contact in delrin.
Very impressive work
I very much like the brass button. In fact I've been thinking of making a button out of aluminum round stock at the same diameter as the button hole which will have it's lower part that makes contact in delrin.
Very impressive work
Great job Quigs and above all very original idea. I can certainly say it's the best modded Grand I've ever seen.
I very much like the brass button. In fact I've been thinking of making a button out of aluminum round stock at the same diameter as the button hole which will have it's lower part that makes contact in delrin.
Very impressive work
I bored the button hole out to get rid of the locking arch for a cleaner look, I don't know about you guys but I rarely "twist lock" my buttons being top mounted...but to be clear, I'm not for a second advocating the "blowing out" of a well designed safety feature for vanity, that was my choice...one word of caution on your choice of button material...aluminum tends to "stick" to aluminum no matter how polished the button/bore is, it's really hard to keep a good "slide" after a time...I went with brass as that was the theme but you could also go SS or even try copper (but then you'd have the whole "dissimilar non ferrous metal thing"...just buy a big enough bolt so that when you chuck it in the poor mans lathe (power drill) and file the threads off the smooth surface diameter matches your bore. As far as an insulator, PC fiber board material works really good, it's slick (so the firing strip will slide laterally across it) it takes a ton of heat and won't wear out for a long time...just roughen up the joint surfaces and use a good 2 part epoxy, clean it up after and bob's your uncle.
The thing that's nice is you can go as big (and as low profile) as you please.
Thanks Quigs, I'll try an SS bolt conversion, you're right about the aluminum to aluminum issue, I didn't even think about that.
As for the poor man's lathe I got it down brother, I use the drill press and a metal file for the thick stuff then switch to fine files and sandpaper.
I noticed on you pics that your button's almost flush with the top, does that give you enough throw?
Thanks
SS will look nice, go with something from HD or Lowes, their SS hardware is pretty low grade (302 or 304) so it'll be quick to work with as opposed to some 316 grade...if you are planing on using the stock delrin block you may have to mod it a bit for the extra button width but you'll figure that out. The throw on my switch is 1mm to 1.5 mm (depending on what batt I use.
btw, here's a tip if you are having "spring back" issues because of the increased resistance/weight of a bigger button...hopefully you still have your old (or an old) pre SO firing strip...if so, snip about 4mm - 5 mm off the end that made contact with the batt,, finger bend a good curve into it, remove your post nipple and stack it against your SO strip (so that the curve of the old strip is forcing it up, like a helper spring in a tow package) and put it all back together...you may not need it but that's a pretty good solution if you have droppy button syndrome.
ha, I will admit to having thoughts before of doing something similar to the brass one you built, but plexi panels, I never would have thought of that, that sounds like it would be sweet looking and really light weight, that's what I love about the woods is how light they are. that plexi paneled one sounds like it would be really nice
...you see, I knew that...I knew had to do something dramatic and I had to do it first...it's always like Turbo this and Turbo that, Turbo Turbo, turbo!... ...do I sound like Jan off the Brady Bunch yet?
All kidding aside, I actually like the heft, sure it's not a shirt pocket mod by any stretch (more like a loose a toenail if I dropped it mod)...not sure if you've ever held a VMod, sure it worked (kinda') but the tactile experience was awful...they should've include a complimentary roll of duct tape.
yeah, I had a vmod before I had a reo, at the time I was so against the whole box look so I liked the ergonomics of the vmod, I even put a dna20 into one but it was a real pos and when I flooded out that chip I finally ordered my first reo that day
I was also pretty resistant to wood mods even after I got my reo grand but it eventually peaked my interest enough to get a few woods and man once I got my hands on some woods I never looked back at the metal ones, was game over for me with metal which is very strange for me as I've always been a metal worker and never even touched woodwork till then.
what I've been doing with some of my mods is making inserts similar to what you've done but not necessarily the whole panel like you did. I cut the inserts as a beveled edge, just like the reo wood doors, same angle, then cut a corresponding bevel tapered opening for the insert and then slide the insert into the mod for a flush panel. also because it's not the whole panel I bevel 3 edges and round off the corners... that would be sick if done like your brass but with plexi. at that point you wouldn't even have to epoxy them in, just need a tiny pin to hold it from sliding out which would probably be good for plexi cause eventually it'll get cloudy and scratched up, removing them would make it easy to service it and even replace the panels at some point. I was considering doing this with wood panels on a metal grand but never did it, I think that would look sick too, I love a wood and metal combo
I was also pretty resistant to wood mods even after I got my reo grand but it eventually peaked my interest enough to get a few woods and man once I got my hands on some woods I never looked back at the metal ones, was game over for me with metal which is very strange for me as I've always been a metal worker and never even touched woodwork till then.
what I've been doing with some of my mods is making inserts similar to what you've done but not necessarily the whole panel like you did. I cut the inserts as a beveled edge, just like the reo wood doors, same angle, then cut a corresponding bevel tapered opening for the insert and then slide the insert into the mod for a flush panel. also because it's not the whole panel I bevel 3 edges and round off the corners... that would be sick if done like your brass but with plexi. at that point you wouldn't even have to epoxy them in, just need a tiny pin to hold it from sliding out which would probably be good for plexi cause eventually it'll get cloudy and scratched up, removing them would make it easy to service it and even replace the panels at some point. I was considering doing this with wood panels on a metal grand but never did it, I think that would look sick too, I love a wood and metal combo
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