» Site Navigation | | » Recent Threads | | | | | | | 04-17-2015, 04:00 PM | #31 | Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bethlehem, PA Posts: 1,106 | Temperature should not change anything, the material is okay to use up to 350°F / 177° C. I dont have information on the rubber, but most rubbers are heat resistive. Thanks again for testing, I am excited to see the results. __________________ Check out our new website! https://soltechsolutionsllc.com/ Green Your Decor with the Aspect! Shop for the Grow Light Used by Interior Designers, Growers & People Like You! | | | 05-08-2015, 04:34 AM | #32 | Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Everett, Washington Posts: 7 | How is the gear testing going?? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk | | | 05-12-2015, 03:03 AM | #33 | Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bethlehem, PA Posts: 1,106 | Hey, As of now, it is on hold. The last gear failed after some heavy use. I am talking to some people about stronger plastics I can buy. I also have a contact that does injection molding but I haven't talked to him yet. Sorry guys, I will update you all once I figure it out. If anyone has anything else they want, let me know. Doesn't have to be car related. __________________ Check out our new website! https://soltechsolutionsllc.com/ Green Your Decor with the Aspect! Shop for the Grow Light Used by Interior Designers, Growers & People Like You! | | | 05-21-2015, 06:12 AM | #34 | Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: CT Posts: 14 | im in need I have two cali top cars one with skipping gear other works great but im in for two sets if you get these done mine are not heavly used they are my Daughter's cars one 96 one 97 im ready when you are | | | 08-05-2015, 10:15 PM | #35 | Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Northern VA Posts: 37 | Quote: Originally Posted by hotmilk400 Hey, As of now, it is on hold. The last gear failed after some heavy use. I am talking to some people about stronger plastics I can buy. I also have a contact that does injection molding but I haven't talked to him yet. Sorry guys, I will update you all once I figure it out. If anyone has anything else they want, let me know. Doesn't have to be car related. | Hey hotmilk400, did you ever get the ti roof gear made in better plastic? I checked your ebay page but didn't find anything. Also how much is "heavy use"? | | | 05-18-2016, 04:41 PM | #36 | Junior Member Join Date: May 2016 Location: michigan Posts: 17 | Is this dead in the water? I just bought a 318ti w/ california top yesterday. Gears are dead though, of course. Would love to spend less than $400 to fix it. | | | 05-19-2016, 01:37 AM | #37 | Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bethlehem, PA Posts: 1,106 | I could do it with "real nylon" and make a 1 to 1 copy of the original gear with the material, but it would cost me about $2k to start up, maybe $3k. I would need to do a pre-order to raise the money. The cost would roughly be: 50 People: $40 for a set of two 100 People: $20 for a set 500 People: $4 for a set. 1000 people: $2 a set. You get the idea. I would do it for "free" for the pre-orders since I would make money later selling them on eBay / Amazon, but I would need people to back it up front first before I went forward. If people show enough interest, I would try it. I know I could sell a few but maybe not 50 at $40 so I do not want to take the risk. I am also financially drained at the moment. Let me know if you guys are serious and want to do it. At this moment, it is really up to everyone to show me a demand that exceeds 50 people willing to spend $40. haha I would consider getting my friends company (he is the owner) to injection mold these (in the USA of course!) I could also set up a kickstarter so that if it fails, no one pays for anything. If it hits the goal, everyone gets charged and gets a gear. I would need everyone to promote it since otherwise no one will see it. haha We are switching our company's plastic products to his company to be made. I have a close enough business relationship with him to get him to do a small production run on a weekend. We also got him a few a new client, so he owes me. Anyway, yeah, about 2k is a road block. Might even be $3K, i would need to send the engineer the designs for a quote and talk to them about it. __________________ Check out our new website! https://soltechsolutionsllc.com/ Green Your Decor with the Aspect! Shop for the Grow Light Used by Interior Designers, Growers & People Like You! | | | 05-19-2016, 04:01 PM | #38 | Junior Member Join Date: May 2016 Location: michigan Posts: 17 | I'm in, if we can make it happen. The market for this does seem to be pretty small though unfortunately. Kickstarter might not be a bad idea. | | | 06-23-2016, 12:34 AM | #39 | Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Dallas Posts: 7 | Hey hey! I just bought my first ti today and it has the California top with stripped gears. Has this gone anywhere else? I'm with everyone else here; I don't want to buy a new motor that will only last a few years. | | | 06-23-2016, 12:55 AM | #40 | Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Dallas Posts: 7 | I would even happily buy a set of the lesser quality gears just to get my top going for the time being if it would help along the process to better ones | | | 06-23-2016, 03:30 AM | #41 | Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,451 | Hi Andy! Welcome, the motors will last awhile, most of us have motors that eventually failed after 10 or 15 years depending on how smoothly operating the top is. There was a member here who was an Ops manager for an Aerospace engineering company who arranged to have a replacement set made for him in Aluminum. The company is still in Utah, but I've not have the time nor need to pursue having a bunch made up for us. Not sure if anyone is willing to chase this down, but if we can place a bulk order, it would drive the unit cost down for participating members with the difference sold on eBay for a higher premium. Just needs someone to research and coordinate. Once we understand the details, advance orders could be placed to help offset the initial order. Depending on pricing, I'd be interested in 4-5 sets. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk __________________ 1998 318ti Sport - "Cali" Schwartz II/Schwartz sport interior, Cali top 1998 318ti Sport - "Max" Schwartz II/Schwartz sport interior, S52 1997 318ti Sport - "Tiny" Schwartz II/Schwartz sport interior 1995 318ti Active - "Blanca" Alpineweib III/Schwartz leather interior Other Current Bimmers: 2006 530i / 2000 2.3L Z3 / 1997 1.9L Z3 / 1999 540it 1997 318ti Sport - "Huera" - RIP 1995 318ti Active - RIP 1995 318ti Sport - "Tiny" Sold 1994 325i Sedan - "Jade" - Sold 1991 318ic - "Bert" - Sold 1985 635csi sold 1984 533i "Max" Sold 1984 318i sold BMWCCA #160411 SUPPORT 318ti.org! CLICK THE LINK ABOVE! Hosting a forum like this is not free. 318ti.org is one of the best BMW forums on the web because it is member supported, not vendor supported. The cost to become a Supporter is a nominal $10.00... A YEAR! DO IT! NOW! | | | 06-23-2016, 04:55 PM | #42 | Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Dallas Posts: 7 | Hmm ok, well what's the contact information? I wouldn't mind buying a bulk order and selling them myself on eBay. I'd sell to you guys for cost plus shipping. I was searching eBay and all I found was gears for the seat or something. | | | 06-23-2016, 10:23 PM | #43 | Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Dallas Posts: 7 | I guess my last post didn't go through. Does anyone have the contact info for that company? How much is a bulk order? I would be willing to place a pretty big personal order and just sell the excess on ebay and to you guys... | | | 06-24-2016, 04:20 PM | #44 | Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,451 | Hi Andy, I see your message this morning. Let me look through the historic threads in this forum as that is where I found the information. I'll check when I get home this evening. Thanks for stepping up. Cheers! __________________ 1998 318ti Sport - "Cali" Schwartz II/Schwartz sport interior, Cali top 1998 318ti Sport - "Max" Schwartz II/Schwartz sport interior, S52 1997 318ti Sport - "Tiny" Schwartz II/Schwartz sport interior 1995 318ti Active - "Blanca" Alpineweib III/Schwartz leather interior Other Current Bimmers: 2006 530i / 2000 2.3L Z3 / 1997 1.9L Z3 / 1999 540it 1997 318ti Sport - "Huera" - RIP 1995 318ti Active - RIP 1995 318ti Sport - "Tiny" Sold 1994 325i Sedan - "Jade" - Sold 1991 318ic - "Bert" - Sold 1985 635csi sold 1984 533i "Max" Sold 1984 318i sold BMWCCA #160411 SUPPORT 318ti.org! CLICK THE LINK ABOVE! Hosting a forum like this is not free. 318ti.org is one of the best BMW forums on the web because it is member supported, not vendor supported. The cost to become a Supporter is a nominal $10.00... A YEAR! DO IT! NOW! | | | 07-13-2016, 08:08 PM | #45 | Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bethlehem, PA Posts: 1,106 | I have a buddy who owns a CNC shop that is interested in making these. Is metal a way you guys wanna go with these? I think metal will work but we run a risk of wrecking the motor instead of gears. If someone else is working on this, I won't worry about it, but If people still need these, I can def help everyone out. I am getting the details now and having a protoype made when he has downtime at his shop. I owe BlackBMW a few sets of gears anyway from the last attempt we made so it looks like he may have gears headed his way. Any feedback is great. Once the protoype is made, i will let everyone know about cost. __________________ Check out our new website! https://soltechsolutionsllc.com/ Green Your Decor with the Aspect! 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