08 Jan 2008

A long long time ago, a very astute non-designer type guy once said to me that in a perfect world, all that would matter is how something is constructed and how something looked wouldn’t be important. Naturally that’s exactly what you want to hear when someone has just ‘employed’ you to make their stuff not look like something someones’ 12 year old niece whipped up using CorelDraw and a stick of Uhu. Nah, the irony was not lost on me.

We’ve always stuck by the mantra here at Tigerboy HQ that good design isn’t the endless boring rhetoric of “Which is more important, Form or Function?”, but of course is the interplay between the two. Good design is a balance of the two, the way they both inform eachother. So, in that quest, for 2008 we’ve opened the floodgates, spent way too much time doing our homework, and as a result can honestly say we have the best finished custom frames in the Universe.

That there is some big words, how dare we be so insolent! Here is what is on the platter for 2008.

This year we are offering all frames in three different finishes - PPG and HoK wet paint, Powdercoat, and Ceraphim ceramic. All are done though new suppliers that are higher quality than anything we’ve done before. We’re offering three finishes on all our non-Titanium frames because each has their advantages/disadvantages and will appeal to different customers.

Wet Paint

Advantages:

1. Still has the greatest array of colour choices
2. Ability to do multi-colour, stencilling, fades etc
3. Thin film so you can still show off your pretty welds
4. Relatively easily stripped off for resprays

Disadvantages:

1. Not as tough as Ceramic or Powder
2. Array of options can be mind boggling
3. Not as light as Ceramic

Powdercoat

Advantages:

1. Very tough
2. Managable array of colours
3. Thicker film fills in the welds for a smooth fillet look

Disadvantages

1. Heaviest finish of the three
2. Thicker film means you can’t show off your welds
3. Fades and Stenciling more difficult

Ceraphim Ceramic

Advantages:

1. Very light, super thin film thickness
2. Very tough
   
3. Full exterior protection and corrosion resistance in the one app
4. Pretty welds are easily to see

Disadvantages:

1. Expensive
2. Only available in Military/Industrial colours
3. Decals need some encouragement to stick
   

Recently we got some sample sections back from our refinishers. Here’s an example of two-coat powdercoat, and the new Ceraphim Ceramic in the colour ‘Titanium”

Looks like Titanium, smells like Titanium, but is actually ceramic coated steel. Pretty sweet!

Another thing that we don’t readily advertise but we should, is the fact that we have moved away from using TIG filler wire that is a dissimilar metal to the tubing. Many companies use a filler wire called Weldmold 880T which is a stainless. It’s used because it pools and beads up easily and produces a nice flowing bead. However, it’s also a dissimilar metal with completely different composition, different mechanical properties, and different corrosion characteristics. Can you imagine what happens when you melt the two together? (Actually we were silly enough to ask our consulting metalurgist but he lost me at ‘precipitation’ because I was too busy looking out the window) Here, we come back to the ‘Form vs Function’ arguement, and for us at this juncture the balance is too far towards ‘Form’.

Although if you look at the welds on the Ceraphim coated sample above, you’d have a hard time arguing.

So there we go! Constant improvement, more options, higher quality, lifting the bar so we don’t have to bend over so far when we Limbo.

More reasons why Thylacine Cycles is your framehaus of choice for your next custom steed.

Posted by warwick @ 4:09 am

One Response to “If it ain’t pretty, it’s worthless”

1. Falanx Says:
   March 1st, 2008 at 4:54 pm

   Nah, trust me, steel has a smell all of it’s own that you can’t disguise…

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