Imaknockov Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 I've decided to start a thread specifically for the forged carbon APs. As some of you may or may not already know, I've been experimenting with producing my own forged carbon parts but was reluctant to start a thread on it until I could satisfy myself that my efforts would not be futile. Also, I didn't feel that it would be right to capture peoples' interest and then disappoint them, so I kept a relatively low profile as I worked behind the scenes. While my initial tests with the material proved fruitful, I can say with all honesty that once the tooling for the real parts had been done and I was making the first actual watch parts, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that the test was going to be a failure. The three hour curing process was painfully long, as I had no way of knowing how bad the damage was before the moulds could be opened. Much to my surprise though, the parts actually turned out rather well. To be honest, my initial expectations were rather low to begin with. So far I can tell you this much about making these parts: it's exceedingly delicate and frustrating. The mould cavities are very small and challenging to fill, the forging process takes about 3 hours and then probably another 3 to manually clean the parts. Sufficed to say, I don't think that this process lends itself well to any kind of mass-production and is probably why we haven't seen the factories do anything like this yet. While I thought of taking pictures of just the parts, I was actually more keen to determine whether the pieces would actually fit back onto the watch properly, so as soon as the parts were cleaned, I bolted them back into place and the whole process was surprisingly trouble-free. There are a few defects that I noticed during the fitting process, but it has been extremely educational and have found ways to remedy these for future parts: my watch's role in all this was to be the proverbial guinea pig, and it's doing its job very well. And now that I've ranted, here are some crude but adequate photos of the new forged carbon parts for your evaluation. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigztigz Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Looks great! Great work! Would you be willing to make any more and sell them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mm..mm Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Amazing I just PMed you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialvat Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Super cool Make a case next Bumblebee's all round. Seriously tho, well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imaknockov Posted February 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Super cool Make a case next Bumblebee's all round. Seriously tho, well done. There are issues with the Bumblebee case that make it impractical to reproduce at this time. Since I work from the rep parts, the case for the Bumblebee offered by the cartel is inaccurate, and I feel that it would be a waste to invest all the time and effort to make a carbon unit from it. If you're not sure what I mean with regards to inaccuracy, look at the shape of the pusher guards and positioning of the chrono pushers on both the gen and the rep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mt666tm Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Amazing work! From the pictures this looks great. I can not see any defects... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subbiesrock Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Great work! These parts are a real pain to produce, which is why they go for so much in production form. I'd like to get some details on how AP makes theirs. The YouTube video is not very descriptive. Great job again mate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eunomians Posted February 27, 2012 Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Very nice work, I am impressed. Perhaps the future for us 'collectors' desiring forged cases could be on the up & up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikellem Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Looks like you have done a wonderful job, I I call tell you have done a lot of work to get to this point.. I don't think most of us realize how hard this material to work on.. Great job! MM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imaknockov Posted February 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 I took a few extra pictures under artificial light. It's quite tricky to photograph the carbon as it'll just look black if the light isn't coming from the right direction. In these you can see that the "etching" pattern that was on the rep parts was reproduced on the carbon parts, but can be done away with rather easily if needed. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 WOW!!! That is truly amazing!!! Well done!!! I am sure it is a huge pain in the ass, but in the end you set out to do something really unique and complicated and it looks like all that hard work has paid off!! Congrats! Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Nice work! I'm very interested to see how this works out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FDG Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 This is so awesome! Kudos. Would you mind sharing how you achieved this? I am not planning to even try this myself, but the process sounds just as amazing as the product! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imaknockov Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 This is so awesome! Kudos. Would you mind sharing how you achieved this? I am not planning to even try this myself, but the process sounds just as amazing as the product! I consider the process of making this material to be a trade secret but I can tell you this: it's probably not as high-tech as most people think, and relies more on skill, technique and concentration than anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FDG Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Same technique as carbon brakes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imaknockov Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Same technique as carbon brakes? Not from the fabrication videos I've seen. I also have a Formula 1 carbon brake disk sitting on my shelf, and the texture of these is nothing like what we see on the AP watch parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Carbon brakes go thru a second and third very high temperature process. It sounds like these parts are just using the first stage, high pressure + heat. The texture probably has a lot to do with the size and type of carbon strands used as well as the baking stages mentioned above. Obviously the brake makers are not concerned with cosmetic appearance. I hope Imaknockov share a bit more about his process with us. It doesn't sounds like anyone will be copying him in a hurry and carbon forging is getting more and more common for all manor of components now so the techniques are not super secret any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torobravo Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MADRED7 Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 as stated before and on the other board....this is amazing and you did a great job. Theo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buddalondon Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 (edited) Very nice. Love this. Edited March 5, 2012 by Buddalondon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonLee Posted April 6, 2012 Report Share Posted April 6, 2012 Hi , great work . I have the exact same watch.Wonder if you are interested in selling the Forged Carbon bezel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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