So friday I came home from work with a little package at my doorstep. It was the prototype casting! Pretty cool to hold it after drawing it on a piece of paper. Monday morning I'll bring it over to the polisher. They will machine the mounting hole and polish it. Can't wait to see what it looks like from this raw casting.
On the same day, I also stopped by the machine shop and they finished the prototype hardware. Funny how things happen. After several weeks of waiting, I receive the casting and hardware on the same day.
I wanted to share some pictures of the path the hardware took. Everything starts as a sketch on paper. I'm far from a great sketcher, but I get by. The mounting hardware is a two piece design. Instead of using a plain flat washer, I designed this contoured washer. It had to be two pieces because if it were one, it couldn't pass through the hole in the mirror housing.
After the sketch, I drew a mechanical drawing to hand to the machine shop.
Here is a little Bridgeport Mill action. One day (soon I hope) I will have one of these bad boys in my garage. Jeff was milling a piece that will be hidden behind the mirror glass.
Here are the finished pieces. Real happy with how they came out. They are polished Stainless. The washer has a little lip that sits in the other piece so that they align perfectly with each other. I have to work a little more on removing the machining marks on the washer.
Here they are mounted on an arm. I designed in flats to get a wrench on it so you can get it nice and tight.
That's all folks!