maybe i should go into fuel tank building business

[roonie]

Cant be that difficult to buld a big red 250es fuel tank......a die....a machine to crimp the edge ect. Someone has to take the initiative. The plastic ones blow.

[Dave Little]

That is an expensive proposition...you'll need 4 dies to make the two halves. Each die would require about 100 hours of machine time and have to be made to run on a very specific type of ginormous drawing press. Easier just to find the best one you can and digitize the shape and have a 3D printer spit out as many as you want. Weather or not the plastic that those machines use will stand up to the gasoline is something I would not know.

I think plastic tanks are better, but the ones available whoever made them took too many liberties with the design to the point were they look silly and fit like crap.

[roonie]

one just has to look at all the repro fenders available to the auto restoration industry......they have done all the cars almost........i think you can even get a fender now for an old rambler. Could the dies not be made from a hardwood.....i can carve anything....ex taxidermist here.

[lokisbuddy]

I have worked on heavy presses quite a bit and not only will the die cost a lot of money but it will only last for so long before it has to be re tooled. if you are that hell bent on making a tank just get an English wheel and go to town.

[DohcBikes]

Production cost vs. demand has undoubtedly been determined to be unreasonable.

Think how many tanks you would have to sell to profit. Dies aren't the only cost.

[MattDragontamer]

The cheapest way to make the dies would be to get the original tank opened at the weld points to expose the insides...
The bring it to a 3D scan and prototyping place. They can scan the whole thing and produce a 3D design that can then be sent to a CNC machine to then make the. Aluminum or steel dies. Then you just need a skilled welder willing to weld the same pattern day in and day out for a while...

[bkm]

If there was money to be made reproducing parts for these machines someone would already be doing it. You might have 3 out of 20 trike owners who are really willing to put their money where their mouth is and spend real $$ on these things, the rest just daydream and tire kick.

[ironchop]

WE BUILD DIES AT WORK...... for Ford, etc.

its NOT as easy as 3D drawing and generating programs (which I also do....everyday) and then plugging it into a cnc machine to 3D Profile (which I also do...everyday) a die and then whip it out and drop it into a suitable press and pound a tank out

we spend MONTHS developing and then reworking these kinds of Die assmblys to get them correct. Even with using Faro Arm or Reneshaw or even a Tracecut or any suitable CMM to transfer the model into a digital file, there is still a lot of "cleanup" work done to the drawing before it ever sees a CNC mill. After the CNC machines the die, you also have to rework the mating surfaces and polish the whole thing to get it right.....THEN you stamp a couple samples....THEN you rework the Die again....stamp again, rework again, stamp again, then maybe it`s right. Maybe not. Even the most badass diemaker can never pull off a 'plug and play' with a die....that's not even close to reality.

edit to say: you never make dies from aluminum either. they wouldn`t last fifteen minutes in a large press. The material cost for tool steel to make dies is also very prohibitive

[Dirtcrasher]

^ All sad but true facts........

[OKSTATE#1]

I'm actually thinking of buying some old big red fenders that are nasty on eBay and restoring them and selling them. I'm not going to knock anyone's head off, just get paid to restore the fenders at least. I enjoyed doing it on my 86 and the results were pretty good.

[DohcBikes]

^^^^ If you are looking for profit, be sure to be honest with yourself on how long it takes to polish them, how much they cost, how long it takes to package, advertise, ship, etc.^^^^

If it was easy.......

[roonie]

OOOH!....so this is why they came up with tank liners and $200 used tanks on ebay......and after exposing this thread.....soon to be $300 on ebay.....lol. I just refuse to place one of those plastic tanks on my rebuild. So then......the next question would be........can a tank be built with an english wheel.......i think the bottom of the tank could NOT be done on an english wheel. After learning how difficult it is to build dies etc.....the english wheel may be the only way. how the heck would the fuel lid lip be made though........i guess i guy could donate a lip from another dud tank and mig it onto the new metal. Am i realistic with this theory here folks

[DohcBikes]

Not really. If you have never used an english wheel before, a whole gas tank is not the thing to learn on. The originals are stamped, and a wheel will not replicate many of the shapes and lines you need.

Again with this method, youll need a lot more tools than just an english wheel, (presses, bead rollers, planishing , torches, sandbags, deadblows, HOURS AND HOURS).....and the demand is NOT there.

[lokisbuddy]

I have found the bestway to make three wheeler parts is to go into the classifieds section on this forum and wave your cash about in a manner consistent with the rappers you see on mtv.

[roonie]

ok...we need to find those old tooling dies in china for these tanks then.....