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.....Here is what I don't get... We're days away from 2008 not 1968.. With CAD/CAM, and todays's technology..

Why is it a company today can't satisfactorily produce a 40 year old part at LEAST as good as its 1968 counterpart?

What manufacturing processes existed in 1968 that allowed a company to produce a top plate for a console that today's technology just can't do?

Our IPods and Cell phones have more technology that all of NASA had when we went to the moon
in 1969

But we still can't make a simple plastic/metal part? We were able to do this 40 years ago?
But we can't today?

C'mon... don't give me this union crap
We had unions in the late 60's even more then
than now!!!

What gives... why is this so hard to do?



I look at a firm like Orange County Choppers or even Boyd Coddington that has the ability to make a 3-D part in software and then transition it directly to a finished piece with a CNC machine tool. Yes, I don't expect every piece to be machined but why couldn't more accurate molds or dies be done this way? Especially with parts you can hold in your hand.



There's a lot more to it.

First, you have to "reverse engineer" the part. That means taking an existing piece and building the tooling using that part. You'll have to take into consideration things like shrinkage of the plastic, type of plastic, where it will be injected, vented, cooled and what type of injection moulding machine is to be used on.

Now you have to build the tooling and its not cheap to do it right. Lots of hand work by skilled moldmakers went into building the original tooling, something that would be cost prohibitive today in a piece as large as a console. Modern machinery can't duplicate some of that work no matter what anybody says. Ask someone in the business if you don't believe it.

I just touched on a couple of the challenges involved. It comes down to cost. Tooling up to make a hundred thousand parts makes it resonable to make the tooling. Making a couple hundred parts makes you cut some corners to make money. Honestly, from what I've seen, very few plastic parts that size are injection molded anymore. The plastic companys I've been in are using thermal formed plastic for their larger parts.

You mention that Coddington and the clowns from OCC could make tooling. Keep in mind those are one off custom made parts. Doesn't fit? File it down until it does. Screw one up? No problem, make another... They're making parts, not hard tooling.

Building the right injection molding die might cost $100,000 or more to do it right. Given the limited market, it would be hard to justify that kind of cash outlay. If the repop costs $1000, how many people are going to buy one? I'm not going to, I'll look for a used original first.

You can do it cheaper, and that's exactly what is done with a lot of repops. You get something that looks like it and may be a good replacement, but it might not exactly look like it or fit like the old one.