Brake and Clutch Fluid Tank, Polished Stainless

I started this small project with a letter and some fittings from my customer. He had seen my previous work on our website www.flashcustoms.co.uk and wanted an integrated fluid tank for brake system and hydraulic clutch system. It was to be bulkhead mounted with 3 off 4an fittings, lower to be brake system, upper to be clutch system.

It had to be mirror stainless steel as it was being fitted to a top end Dax Cobra Replica.

I pride myself on completing 1 off custom made parts such as this and to ensure that everything is millimeter perfect I used solid works 3 d  modeling package to draw up the item and produce a dxf (drawing exchange file) to send to our laser cutting system.

The material itself is 304 BA (bright annealed) stainless steel in 1.5mm thick. Bright annealed is a chemical etch finish on the surface of the stainless which is almost like a dull polish. This eliminates some of the time involved in bringing the parts up to a “mirror” finish prior to assembly and welding.

Please see below photos of parts and assembly process

Tomorrow I will Post up pictures and details of the finishing processes I use to ensure the whole tank is mirror polished and pressure tested for leaks.

We look forward to keeping you up to date.

For all your Custom Car & Motorcycle Parts, Manufacture and Welding / Repairs

SEE –

www.flashcustoms.co.uk

Don`t forget to email or call us for all your custom made 1 off bespoke items.

Alloy welding / repairs, custom parts, Welding Instruction.

Thanks for reading our blog – we hope this has been of use to you.

Recommended sites

FLASH CUSTOMS – Specialist Custom Car & Motorcycle Parts

Automotive LED Lights – Car & Motorcycle LED Lighting Solutions

Loaded Wallet – Discount and cash back offers

 

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Polished Stainless Steel Brake fluid reservoir tank

As we offer many 1 off tanks, headers and reservoirs this was another brought about by customer interaction and recommendation – always the best way.

This tank along the lines of a similar one we completed some time ago was for another Cobra replica. The customer wanted a top quality job to set off his engine bay.

I started with a sketch and turned this is a CAD file for laser cutting. The material is 316 grade stainless steel, laser cut from 1.5mm thick BA (bright annealed) , pc1 (plastic coated 1 side). The plastic coating helps to protect the surface of the material during processing as when mirror finishing you want the least amount of marks in it as possible.

Bright annealed is one type of finish that stainless steel is supplied in, to the unaware this is a “nearly” mirror finish, which still required buffing with mops and soaps to bring up to a full “mirror” polish. Other finished produced are “mill” finish – a dull matt finish,  and also what is known as a DP or “dull polish”, almost a grained effect. Commonly these finishes are completed during the unrolling process at the mill when large coils are un wound and rolled flat, and cut to standard sheet sizes.

Main tank and machined items ready for assembly & tack welding

Tank Fittings

As you can see I have machined a small top hat threaded boss which will weld in the end of the tank to give a sight glass for a fluid level.  The filler neck and cap are machined with a thread to screw together, the cap having a nice medium knurl around the flange for grip. Once the neck is welded to the tank and cleaned up I use copper slip on the threads to prevent any “lockup” on new threads when screwing the cap on, this is because the stainless threads may have rough or sharp bits on them and until they are used a few times; Stainless sometimes “picks up” or  catches and locks up so that you simply cannot undo the cap.

Above you can see the item welded up and cleaned with the cap on and the sight glass in place.

Above image shows finished tank after final polishing, which we achieve by hand polishing with mops and soaps. Final finish with metal polish and cloth; final clean with stainless polish and soft cloth.

See that mirror stainless is very difficult to get a good picture as everything reflects off it.

Thanks for reading 

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For all your Custom Car & Motorcycle Parts, Manufacture and Welding / Repairs

SEE –

www.flashcustoms.co.uk

Don`t forget to email or call us for all your custom made 1 off bespoke items.

Alloy welding / repairs, custom parts, Welding Instruction.

Thanks for reading our blog – we hope this has been of use to you.

Dax Cobra Polished Stainless Brake and Clutch Reservoir Tank

Mirror finished stainless steel fluid tank manufactured from customers drawing in 1.5mm thick material. Initially we was sent a drawing to price the job, following on from agreeing a price, we was supplied with a plastic fluid level screw cap which we had to machine a stainless threaded neck to match. Brake Header Tank Once the thread was established a nicely machined stainless threaded neck was spun up on the lathe. This needed a little fettling to ensure that there was no “rags” (sharp edges) which would cut into the plastic sensor cap. Next job was to draw up on 2d cad the individual panels required to make up this small tank and send the dxf (drawing exchange files) to our laser cutter for nesting and cutting. You notice that the panels are cut with plastic film on them, this helps keep a nice clean panel finish and reduces the risk of damage to the outer face of the material during processing. Above you can see the panels all tacked up ready for welding, this end panel was slotted and then drilled and tapped in 4 places to accept an m4 counter sunk socket head to hold down a clear plastic end panel with a cnc machined o ring groove to seal. The image above shows the tank tig welded and ready for the fittings to be tacked in position. Sorry dodgy picture above that shows the main tank ready for polishing after welding and prior to adding fittings.

 

Cap threaded neck positioned

Considering a bit more polishing before welding neck in position

Take off stubs for clutch and brakes welded in

I machined the stubs up for this tank, welded them on and sent the customer a picture as I thought they looked too long, customers opinion was the same and so out they come. Cut them down and re-welded them in position and they looked so much better.

Cut down take off stubs ready for a fiddly polish again with the die grinder and felt mops

Stubs now look far more in proportion to size of tank. You can also see I have changed the end plate and added stubs for a level view tube as a better option to slotted end panel and perspex viewing window.

Sometimes until you actually make things you cant always see what looks good / bad / oversized etc, some things are down to skill, knowledge and experience others simply down to aesthetics and proportions.

Once fully welded, blended, polished, tested and checked this little “shiny” bit as on its way to a new home on a Dax Cobra replica – quality kit usually.

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For all your Custom Car & Motorcycle Parts Manufacture and Welding / Repairs

SEE –

www.flashcustoms.co.uk

Don`t forget to email or call us for all your custom made 1 off bespoke items.

Alloy welding / repairs, custom parts, Welding Instruction.

Thanks for reading our blog – we hope this has been of use to you.

Recommended sites

FLASH CUSTOMS – Specialist Custom Car & Motorcycle Parts

Automotive LED Lights – Car & Motorcycle LED Lighting Solutions

Loaded Wallet – Discount and cash back offers

Cash Back – Cash Back & Money Saving offers