So I heard a lot of good things about after market shifter weights and decided that I should get one. When I realized what they were and where they went I thought "well crap, that's easy!"
So I dug through some metal scrap at my job and found a nice chunk of 1/2" 6Al-4V titanium plate
Using SolidWorks I figured out the right dimensions to yield the same weight as the Cobb shifter weight that many people seemed to like, ~7.5oz, which was a 2"x3"x0.5" block of titanium. So I cut and machined my bit of scrap down to the right size, milled my initials into it for a personal touch, drilled and tapped two holes (M8x1.25 with 20mm C2C, 0.55" deep blind tap with index size P body drill 0.8" deep) and I now have a shifter weight made out of aerospace grade titanium. I should note that I didn't tap the full length of the bolt fully, the partially cut threads at the very end of the hole do a great job of preventing the bolt from backing out.
Don't try this with titanium if you haven't had a reasonable amount of time in a machine shop! And even if you have, be warned: TITANIUM IS A b**** TO MACHINE AND ESPECIALLY TO TAP! I had some solid carbide TiN coated end mills and good cutting/tapping fluid that I used liberally. Even then it wasn't trivial machining.
SEE POST #30 FOR 1ST PROGRESS UPDATE ON STS PLATE!
So I dug through some metal scrap at my job and found a nice chunk of 1/2" 6Al-4V titanium plate
Using SolidWorks I figured out the right dimensions to yield the same weight as the Cobb shifter weight that many people seemed to like, ~7.5oz, which was a 2"x3"x0.5" block of titanium. So I cut and machined my bit of scrap down to the right size, milled my initials into it for a personal touch, drilled and tapped two holes (M8x1.25 with 20mm C2C, 0.55" deep blind tap with index size P body drill 0.8" deep) and I now have a shifter weight made out of aerospace grade titanium. I should note that I didn't tap the full length of the bolt fully, the partially cut threads at the very end of the hole do a great job of preventing the bolt from backing out.
Don't try this with titanium if you haven't had a reasonable amount of time in a machine shop! And even if you have, be warned: TITANIUM IS A b**** TO MACHINE AND ESPECIALLY TO TAP! I had some solid carbide TiN coated end mills and good cutting/tapping fluid that I used liberally. Even then it wasn't trivial machining.
SEE POST #30 FOR 1ST PROGRESS UPDATE ON STS PLATE!
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