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Drew up a bumper, what do you think?

Ukraine Train

Ukraine Train

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Cleveland
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I got a quote back from a laser cutting place for $250 to cut all the parts and then I can use the press and welder at work to fold and weld the parts. It's pretty expensive but if I like it then I might start selling these and the price will drop a lot. The mounting plates are 1/4", ring tabs are 3/4" and the main body is 3/16".
 
Looks pretty nice. Similar to one AJ made for me. You might consider a recessed 2x2 sleeve to accept a license plate bracket/insert or portable hitch. That's what I did. Also, maybe tabs for those light brackets to attach to. Some people are not gonna like those "hot lights", but I do.
 
*wonders where the winch goes* But looks pretty good.
 
My brother actually made an incredible bumper awhile back, it bolts right on. I don't have acess to 3d imaging, but it has a recess for the winch, which has a metal plate in front of the winch for protection, two vertical bars and a tube in between them, tabs for lights in the middle of the vertical bars, and four pegs to wrap winch cable/tree savers/whatever around. It's a really great design, I'll try and get pictures of it sometime.
 
Looks really nice. The only issue I forsee is this: How the hell are you gonna clean those lights? Don't get me wrong, I absolutely think it's crucial to protect lights so close to the ground (ish. close-ish to the ground), especially when they cost so damn much in the first place.

Oh, BTW, what program are you using? My fantasy creations are getting a little bit much for Google Sketchup :)
 
The light guards are removable so you can get to the lights or replace the guards if they get damaged. Or you can just shoot water through there to hose them off. I use Unigraphics NX3.

Diabetic, that looks like good work! Hopefully mine ends up straight after it's folded and welded lol. I designed mine so it sticks out about 1.25" on each side for better fender protection and it also gives room to weld tubing if I decide to add a brush guard.
 
what K-factor did you use for the 3/16 in your flat pattern?

Are you going to form the whole front piece? or is everywhere there is a nice radius, you're actually going to cut and weld? What radius did you use? Does your press brake have dies for that?
 
It is a beautiful bumper. The only thing I will add is a winch. I love the placement of the lights. I will try to get AJ to build me one similar with hidden winch and lights in-cooparated. I think his place is here in Iowa maybe 1.5 hours away. I will pay him a visit before I return to Florida.

Great job.
 
XJ_ranger said:
what K-factor did you use for the 3/16 in your flat pattern?

Are you going to form the whole front piece? or is everywhere there is a nice radius, you're actually going to cut and weld? What radius did you use? Does your press brake have dies for that?
Click to expand...
We have a flat pattern module in UG that creates flat patterns automatically so I don't have to enter a K factor but I believe it is .33. The front piece is all one piece except for the end caps. It's six separate bends. Bend radius is .500. We have pretty much every common die in stock, my only area of concern is at the outside ends where the two flanges get close to each other. I might have to get creative with the dies. I'm going to get one of the guys in the shop to help me learn how to use the press better. I'm just a lowly engineer so usually I just give them a print and a formed part magically appears lol. What's nice is the press is CNC ($88,000) and I can save setup files for every part and then with a touch of a button it'll bend the parts the same way every time.
 
Not the best pic but heres my attempt at my first bumper. May be a little heavy at 3/8" 6X6" angle, but I'm happy with the result. Only thing I noticed about your drawing was that it looked like the frame tie-ins do not go through the bumper, know what I mean? It looks like the 3/4" shackles get welded to the tie ins instead of attaching directly to the uniframe. Just a thought. Looks great though. By the way I have trimmed the front fender behind the bumper since this pic.

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I am going to build a front bumper soon and would like to know were you got the program to design your's.
 
PM me if you want a hookup with any software guys
 
Well, here she is. Had a friend from the fab shop weld it up today. It came out great. I test fit it and will try to get it powder coated tomorrow. The steering box bolts didn't even break. There are a few changes I might make, primarily sweeping the outside edges back more towards the grill. I can tuck it up another inch or so to improve approach angle. If anyone's interested I'll probably be selling this eventually so I can afford to make an updated design.

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