It's Friday, and I'm playing hookie from my day job this afternoon; messing around with a new idea.

What do you guys think? Would there be a market for stone inlays in stainless steel shift *****?

I bought a variety of small cabochons to fit into the *****; here are a few sample pictures.

 

you made the ***** and fitted the stones yourself?
either way i think they look cool. im sure some ppl in new mexico will jump on them...j/k.
for real, i like them. i would like to replace the basketball i have for a shift **** for something a lil smaller. are those the same size as the stock *****?

 

Yep, been making the ***** for over four years now. Solid stainless steel, with my own attachment mechanism.
Smaller in diameter than the stock ****.

See my site at www.whalenshiftmachine.com for info.

I just received the cabochons in the mail today, and decided to have some fun.

 

What's the potential to put a design in the stone?

 

Good question! I think those are really neat. . . not sure exactly how I would want to incorporate a stone in my ****, but a neat piece of jade to match my BRG might be really fun!

 

looks very cool, i'm sure they would go over!

 

yeah, i read and replied to the post without realizing who wrote it. ive been to your site numerous times...in fact you are amongst my favorite list.

yeah, a design in the stone would be cool as well or one better for us mod heads, a small led light in the **** so, it lights up. that would be great at shows!!! hmmmm...i like that one.

 

I like it! Never had much interest in an aftermarket **** before but I like that.

 

Very Niceeeee. Looks kinda Dragonish. What kind of dollar amount you looking at for those babies?

 

Those are really nice..man I need a new shifter..arg!

~R

 

That's great work! I'm not much for the starburst engraving though. The cabochons are stylin'!

Have you thought about enamel work on the top? Grind a flat spot and use the CNC to machine a pocket deep enough for various colors of enamel to be applied? We had a set of old-school badges made for our local club. I'm sure that a custom, multi-color enamel option would be well received...

 

I have one of your *****..... can you engrave a spider over an X

 

I'm sure I could.
The only thing is, for custom stuff like spiders, I would need a DXF file of the design. I can't draw a decent spider, with the software that I have.

Letters, numbers, geometric shapes, are no problem for me; but not spiders.

Can you provide a DXF file?

 

I probably won't go down that road, for a couple reasons.

The radius on the top of the cabochon will undoubtedly vary from piece to piece, and that would make programming the CNC a bit of a pain.

The other reason is that, depending on the hardness of the stone, I could end up going through expensive carbide cutters pretty quick.

Sorry!

 

Haven't thought about it yet. It would depend on the price for the stone, of course.

The base *****, without engraving, are $130.00. Engraving (assuming that I don't need outside graphics help) is $20.00.

Machining the pocket in the ball to accept the stone is no big deal.

I'll post something in the vendor announcements, once I determine the pricing.

 

Will your ***** work on a 2007 BMW 335i coupe? Any more thought on the MINI E-brake handle? Thanks

 

Originally, I only made these ***** to fit BMW's. Later, I adapted the attachment mechanism to fit MINIs. The shift levers are just a tiny bit different between the two makes.

But to answer your question; yes, they'll fit any manual transmission BMW, from the mid-70's to now.

No progress lately on the e-brake handle. I'm thinking of collaborating with another vendor on it, though.

 

those are excellent "upscale" shift *****. never thought i'd change mine out but this one would match my PS/B perfectly! (FWIW- not not too hip on the cross-hatch/zig-zags on this one...) makes for an excellent gift (hint.. hint... anyone?)

 

(FWIW- not not too hip on the cross-hatch/zig-zags on this one...) makes for an excellent gift (hint.. hint... anyone?)

Yeah, I know what you mean.
I just wanted to dress up that **** a bit; thought it looked a bit plain with no engraving.

That zig-zag design was just the first thing I came up with.

That **** is on my own car now.

[/quote]

 

Wow those are really classy. I think one of those could easily find it's way onto my car.

good work

 

That blue **** is incredible; I would absolutely buy one of those.

 

Sorry; it's actually black Onyx. Must be a lighting thing, or a monitor color adjustment issue.

I'll be getting my hands on lots of other cabochons, though; including some blue ones.
And once I'm ready to consider the stone-inlayed ***** an "official product", I'll post something. Just "testing the waters" at this point.

 

Something like this?

 

I want one!

 

Very Cool! I like. Perhaps there is a stone that is Hyper Blue.