who wants one?the badass custom rotors
- Thread starter biggins
- Start date
yup, stainless.chicodude01 said:
Hayes says they've got some proprietary mix but I've got a bike with some generic rotor and a hayes caliper and I'll be damned if I can tell a difference.
cool thats what i thought i have not been able to find anything about the metal. that is laser cut 8 incher right there we have not worked out any pricing or anything yet though. if you have something that you may want on one lemme know. if it is letters it will probably be a charge for the blank and then a per letter charge.
Keep in mind the surface area of these things. You're going to want to remove more material than what's in that pic or else you're going to run into some warping problems from not being able to cool off sufficiently. You've got quite a bit of material between the flame cutouts that may need some holes.
Stainless is a pretty general category of metal. Is it 302, 303, 304, 17-4, 13-6. Has it been hardened, was it blanchard ground or just rolled flat? Unless you frequently win the lottery, if you walk into your local metal supply place and say you want a sheet of 1/16 " stainless steel you'll end up with a bunch of rotors that eat pads, wear out faster than pads, warp despite sufficient cooling, turn wierd colors, crack, or otherwise don't perform.
Not to be critical but I can see a few things on your example piece that would scare me a bit. The surface area that someone else brought up is a concern but so are sharp points at the leading edge of the legs, thickness and count of the legs, and any small tabs within the flames that could very possibly bend. One other thing would be the amount of material between the flame and the inner brake track periphery. You'll also find that different brake track designs will have a large impact on pad wear. Also, as an FYI, the largest brake track currently belongs to Hayes at 15mm and the narrowest I know of is the Magura Marta at 12mm. Therefore if you want "universal" blanks, 15mm brake tracks would be the way to go.
I've done 20 some designs for (laser cut) rotors out of aluminum and I've learned a few things along the way. Not all of the same issues are present when using stainless (which is typically 304 by the way) but there are common concerns. With the laser cutting you'll also have to deburr the edges and the start and stop points though it will be minimal. Flat sheet will work rather than having a secondary operation to grind the surfaces but you will likely have to true the rotors.
Be prepared for a small learning curve, test test test, and have fun. Good luck.
I've done 20 some designs for (laser cut) rotors out of aluminum and I've learned a few things along the way. Not all of the same issues are present when using stainless (which is typically 304 by the way) but there are common concerns. With the laser cutting you'll also have to deburr the edges and the start and stop points though it will be minimal. Flat sheet will work rather than having a secondary operation to grind the surfaces but you will likely have to true the rotors.
Be prepared for a small learning curve, test test test, and have fun. Good luck.
Along the same lines, does Hope still offer their customer rotor program? I don't know what they cost but they still show the order form on their website.