OP Link Cams...

Post by **thenutz** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:34 am

Wow, that was one scary pic to view what failure. I dont know for sure but by what i saw in the picture, the cam looked as if it was made with a cast aluminum and further looking at the picture you can see the cast lines on the lobes. To my knowledge and what i have seen in my field of occupation that cast is strong but any irregularies or defect be it hairline fractures etc. cast becomes very brittle and will explode upon weighting or pressure. I would like to know the type of material this cam is made of and if it is milled or cast. As for the trango cam they seem to look the sam as this op cam look like they are made from cast material and not extruded milled material and this may very well be the reason for these failures. Just my opinion, my preference is to stick with good ol milled cams that have been around for awhile, tried and true brands. no disrespect to op with trying there new design but i think the materials need to be of a better grade before sending to the consumer market a little more R&D to say. Casting is a cheaper process than milling all your need to cast is mold and molten material, Milled cams you need top grade T-Graded material and a good CNC machine to cut your cost in labor of machinist and a good machine will run from 250,000 to 1 Million so you get the picture with why one would choose the casting process over machined. Just my two cents and my opinion.

Don

Post by **Buster** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:02 pm

cams?

Post by **Winterstorm** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:04 am

http://www.rockandice.com/inthemag.php? ... onlinenews

Post by **Saxman** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:29 am

How reassuring, important inspection step not implemented when production first began. Makes one wonder what other steps were not inspected on any of their other products.

Post by **ScrmnPeeler** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:01 am

It is common practice, and I mean very common, to machine (mill) components from cast stock. OP may not start with aluminum plate, they may start with a cast billet or loaf and saw the cam lobes off like slicing a loaf of bread, then mill the logarithmic spiral profile, then drill the axel holes.

Casting is actually more expensive initially due to higher cost of tooling versus straight machining.

Oh and a 'good' machine cell can make over a million parts annually. Trust me.