I was thinking about clear hard anodizing, then powder coating the flat part black. If you know anything about these processes and can offer some advise, or just feel like doing a little research I would greatly appreciate it.

I used to be the lab manager for a metal finishing company, specializing in anodize, chrome, and nickel plating. I could probably answer a few questions.

This forum is a god send.

Frost please stick around.

Did you see my post count? I'm always around :roflpuke2:

Shiny. Purty.

if you make this inside-out, you could use it as a tool to layup carbon fiber in,and start pumping those out pretty fast. you could also use the inverse to pour some type of molten metal and pop those out pretty quick also.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) search - cpb.gov

Be careful. The Z logo is a protected trademark. Once you mass produce those for resale w/o permission from the license holder, you're going to open yourself up to at least a Cease and Desist letter. Then you'll find out that someone will take your idea and have the Chinese mass produce it, smuggle it in, sell it, which means they're trafficking in counterfeit goods (among other violations).

While the fact that you have a good idea and can do it with garage tools is great if applying it to your car to make it unique, mass producing it is a whole new ball game.

so if we're patient enough to wait past 2019 (the expiration date), we're good right? :tup:

Wow, useful link. Thanks

Gray Market Importations Restricted = NO

any idea what that means?

"Gray market" is the phrase used to describe the sale of new, used, surplus and refurbished products through unauthorized resellers or channels. Gray market goods, also commonly referred to as "parallel imports," may be considered unlawful when imported to the United States and sold in competition with authorized U.S. distributors.

Gray market also means that the stuff is authentic but is manufactured and sold for different regions in the world but not for the US. It's like having overstock and bringing it here to compete with similar products. That stuff is usually smuggled in.

What frost posted. :D

F Nissan, I want two!

regarding powdercoating, if you only want the recessed areas powdercoated then you are looking at quite a bit of masking per piece, which could get expensive for that type of part. The high-temp masking tape is a little more expensive than general masking tape, and the layout could mean 5-10 mins ish per piece just masking. at $60 an hour for labor that is $5-$10 a piece before you even get to powdercoating them.

I would offer them as-is, and let the buyer decide how to handle the recessed area. Some may want to color match to the car, some may want to polish everything but the recessed areas, some may want it black or with CF inserts. Let them do it :tup:

yes, I think selling the badge unfinished is a good idea, just because I want everyone to be able to make it look how THEY want it to look.

But for my personal badges I'm defiantly going to have them professionally finished.

Do you know if the heat from the powder coating will affect the anodize?

Hey dude -- have you seen this?

The Z Store! Nissan-Datsun 240Z-260Z-280Z-280ZX-300ZX(Z31/Z32)-350Z-370Z Parts: 370Z Exterior

If you can beat their price and offer similar quality - win!

The Z store's emblems are injected molded plastic, so I'm pretty sure these will be a bit more expensive than those...

Having said that, the Z STore plastic badges are over priced as well....

I would see these emblemz going for about $200 - $250 a set taking into consideration a volume production run of around 1000 sets. More than that will reduce sales, less would not be cost effective. Leave them as "unfinished" but properly cut, drilled and tapped for installation. Everyone will customize them further. I know I will... ;)

Who's fronting the near $200,000 for that first production run? :stirthepot: I can PayPal my money whenever you're ready! :)

Wow...1000 sets? I think that is wildly optimistic...

Yep. A more accurate initial sale is probably between 15-25 sets.

woah, price just went up to $16K for the set. :D

I agree....BTDT....

I have a friend who came up with a really slick Audi TT interior piece, priced around $50. He was so confident, he made up 100... 4 years later he still has 85 taking up space in a closet..

Well, let's take a poll! Complete set versus front or rear only. I am sure that we could generate enough interest in at least 100 sets. I will buy one set for sure.

I'm not a copyright lawyer by any stretch, but I think they're fine on this since the actual trademark is written to be only the number 370 + Z. Through that search, I don't see any trademark on just the "Z" name. However, since this is so similar to other renditions of the "Z" logo (which are inherently copyrighted), that could pose some issues if Nissan really decided to pursue it.

There would really be no reason I can think of to do both anodizing and powder coating. The benefits of anodizing a part (color, scratch resistance, strengthening, and protection from elements, including sunlight, rain, chemicals, etc) are pretty much rendered useless if a powder coating is applied on top of it.

Powder coating will provide all these benefits, with the exception of actually strengthening the aluminum alloy, and you will have more options of colors, and the colors will be more consistent.

Since the aluminum will not be in some sort of high abuse area, I actually think PC will be a better option for your particular application.

But to answer your question, anodize coatings, no matter how thick are still subject to cracking (known as crazing in the biz) under extreme temperatures because of the coefficient of expansion in aluminum (aluminum oxide is hard and brittle, the base metal is soft and malleable). So I would probably pick one or the other.

Don't know if it was already mentioned but... The auto tranny can use some cool aftermarket shift knobs... n if u can get your hand on some leather. You can give the auto that manual look as well along with the ebrake. I think that would sell like hot cakes if done right?

I tried to ninja edit my post, but the forum locked up last night...

Those emblems haven't gotten great reviews...:ughdance:

Still, that's the competition, so I think he's gotta try and and at least match the price if at all possible to move these.

$250 a set may be well worth the quality, but that's a bit steep IMO for emblems...

I hate to say it, but if they go for that much, I'm probably out :(

Great idea, i've actually been spending some time for the last 2 weeks working on that. Still trying to come up with a design that will make it look nice. However, I only have a MT so I would probably need to take a look at someone's AT shifter. While doing so, originally i was thinking of putting some Z features on it but with the whole trademark copy right, I have to think about it.

if ur thinking about a shift knob, how about a knob with a cap (like the mercedes one) with a button underneath (their ignition button). Then the owner can rout whatever they want to that button (ignition, nitrous, horn, even audio)

I wouldn't add any Z features to an MT shifter. We run the same thread pattern that a lot of Mazdas run, so if you just produce a generic design you have a broader market for sales.

I'm not trying to compete with those plastic emblems, The purpose of this thread was to create the highest quality custom badges for my personal car, and the cars of any one who contributed significantly to the production. I do not intend to sacrifice quality what so ever. That means lots of cutting time on the machine, I'm trying to reduce that as much as possible but I can only go so far before it affects the look of the badge.

Bottom Line. If you really want a set of these badges you'd better start saving your lunch money.

:icon18: :tup:

Well just got finished beating up some high schoolers. Lunch money in hand and ready to go. HaHaHaHaHa

Damn, and here I've been beating up high schoolers for free all these years.

The farther out I go from the city the fatter they get, so that's where all the lunch money is...

Good insight :iagree:

Lol reading the lunch money comment kinda scarred me lol

how much are we talking??? Like $200's or like $500's give us an idea. If it's going to cost me less to fill my tank up with unicorn blood than I will need to pass and I am sure a lot of the people that have said they wanted one would do the same lol

First why worry about Nissan when using "their" embellum? They haven't went after AK and he is selling memberships and he is using the embellum.

Second, why would Nissan worry if its gonna cost a lot from a small dealer. Nissan would have no problem making a lot of those and undercutting AGStacker all they want.

Nissan wont precieve these as a threat at all unless they are all ready working on one and AGStacker was undercutting them. Nissan never went after the website that made up the 350's "Z"

Payment will be required in gold bullion.:stirthepot:

The reason I wanted to both anodize and powder coat is to achieve two tone coloring, black and silver, So I was planing on anodizing the whole part hard clear and having the recessed area powder coated black.

I have seen some parts anodized two different colors, but they didn't turn out so well. As far as powder coating in two colors, I'm not sure if that's possible, please advise.