MEET THE MAKERS

By designing and building your own 3D printers, including machining custom print head nozzles, you've tailored your equipment to meet specific production needs. How has this hands-on approach influenced the quality, efficiency, and capabilities of your manufacturing process?

Yes - we built our own manufacturing process called Fused Granular Fabrication (FGF). This is fundamentally different than typical 3D printing with filament. Typical 3D printers print from a spool of material, called filament. The challenge with that, is 3D printing filament typically does not come with material certs, does not have very tight quality control, and is generally used for hobbyists - so material strength is typically low, and the material is often cut with additives. Finally, in order to make filament, you inherently need to melt the polymer at least one, often two more times than with traditional molding. Each time you melt a polymer, you lose material properties.

We decided to fix all of those problems in one move. We machine a micro injection molding screw, and barrel, and mount it directly on our print head - this allows us to directly process industrial grade materials, with only one melt cycle, ensuring we maximize material properties and strength. We do all this machining right here, in house.

Ensuring product reliability is crucial for off-road enthusiasts. Could you walk us through the testing procedures your bump stops undergo to guarantee they withstand extreme conditions?

Yes! Because there are so many features of our bump stops that can be tuned, (damping, stiffness, progressiveness, and size/shape) we needed the ability to measure and tune these parameters. We have some formulas that get us very close, based on vehicle weight, as well as suspension kinematic ratios. Then we use our dyno to run a longevity test, then we baseline our product, and we study the damping characteristics. We've run our product out to 100,000 cycles at more than 2000 lbs of force, and we've done shock loading up to 5,000lbs! that is essentially the weight of a full vehicle, on one bump stop - which would never happen in real life, but is a great way to check the durability of our product.

A lot of people modify their rigs, break parts, and come up with their own solutions—but not everyone turns that into a company. What was the moment or realization that made you decide to take what you were learning on the trail and turn it into Perry Parts?

It was two-fold. Working at Apple was an incredible gig, but my wife and I had always wanted to move back home to New Hampshire. That, coupled with the fact that Perry Parts was picking up steam, and requiring more and more of my time, meant that I needed to jump into it now or never. We made the jump - moved across the country, and bought a place that gave us space to run our machines and grow our operation. Looking back, no regrets. I love what I do, and where we do it.

Absolutely, and I remember it so clearly! I have hauled all kinds of things in my trucks over the years, and tying stuff down in the bed was always a chore. The worst part was when I hooked a ratchet strap into the tie down anchor on one side, and as I walked to the other side of the truck it would fall out! As a product designer this got my gears turning, and I had an idea for a wider, beefier tie down with a small oval slot in the face that would retain the ratchet strap hook. I drew up the design in Solidworks and 3D printed a prototype to test the functionality of my idea. Sure enough, the concept worked perfectly! From there it was a matter of figuring out the manufacturing, and this seemed perfect for CNC machining a beautiful, anodized, precision part that would add a splash of color to my boring Tundra truck bed.

I’m glad you brought up the idea of local manufacturing. When we say “local,” we really mean it. While we use a handful of machine shops across the US, our main supplier is literally ten minutes up the road. This is vital to our business, because we’re able to meet in person and hash out new concepts, quickly prototype them, and make changes to start production very quickly. This also helps us strike a balance between keeping the right amounts of parts in stock, while leveraging Just In Time manufacturing since we don’t have the long lead times associated with making products overseas. I’ve deal with overseas manufacturing at past jobs and it’s a flat our nightmare. There’s no worse feeling than receiving an entire container full of bad parts! This can lead to costly rework and scrap, and in the end it isn’t nearly as profitable as it might appear. By manufacturing locally, we can keep the quality up, and I mean WAY up! If you ever hold a Billet Tie Down in your hand and compare it to an overseas competitor, the difference in precision machining, finishes, assembly and function will really be apparent.

It all start with a beefy, overbuilt design. Next, selecting 6061-T6 aluminum was a no brainer for it’s strength and machinability. We also worked very hard on our range of finishes – our anodize is best in class for UV resistance, we only use architectural grade powdercoat, and we now offer Cerakote which is widely regarded as a premium firearms finish that will hold up to tons of abuse.

It starts with a napkin sketch to work out the basic idea. Then I jump into CAD, Solidworks in this case, and start designing using parametric design for a robust CAD file that is optimized for CNC machining. The CAD model is used to run a Finite Element Analysis to look for any weaknesses or areas that need to be larger in order to be strong enough. Prototypes are 3D printed for test fitting, then a machined aluminum First Article sample is produced, which is then put through extensive testing – vehicle test fits, long-term durability testing, bolt torque testing, salt water and UV testing, and static pull testing on a hydraulic rig.

The main feature that makes them so functional is the patented slot design. This not only retains a ratchet strap hook so it won’t fall out, but also gives you multiple options and angles to attach to. Aesthetically, we’re going from a nasty looking chunk of hardware to a meticulously machined and anodized part that allows the truck owner to accessorize their bed in a way that wasn’t possible before. Think about a truck bed and the parts that go in it. What color are they? Everything is black…until now!

I think this is two-fold. First, the design just has to look “right,” meaning the proportions and details are all there to create a great looking product that someone clearly put a lot of time and effort into. I take a lot of pride in this aspect. The second part comes from building a LOT of stuff over the years and understanding the manufacturing processes that are required. Nothing makes a machinist happier than when the designer hands them a CAD file that is truly machinable. It’s easy to hop in CAD and start drawing shapes, but a good designer will always have DFM, or Design For Manufactring, in mind. They need to take into account things like endmill access, draft angle, standard versus custom tooling sizes, and workholding.

I’d say learning the whole e-commerce and marketing side of things was a lot more than I bargained for! The design and manufacturing are the fun parts that come naturally to me, but to have a successful business you have to learn how to find your customer and give them a compelling offer.

No doubt! To me Billet Tie Downs is simply taking a custom part that I designed for myself and making it available to any and all enthusiasts.

If you could build or restore any vehicle, no limits, what would it be and why?

That’s such a tough question because there are so many cool builds I’d love to get to someday. Let’s see… an FJ45 on an 80 chassis with LS power, an outlaw air-cooled Porsche, a Cali style, two toned and slammed VW bug are all at the top of my list of builds I dream about!

We’re hyper focused on expanding the line to as many makes and models as possible, because we’re so strong in the Toyota market but we also know that all truck owners can benefit from the safety and dependability of an upgraded tie down system. We’re also working hard on compatible and complementary products like Bed Stiffeners, Speed Knobs, Rail End Caps, and Ratchet Straps.

While we fully intend to continue making badass products for enthusiasts like us, we’re also working on some bigger deals that will make Billet Tie Downs more mainstream. Keep an eye out!

Build, build, build! Keep working with your hands, learn CAD and 3D printing, and don’t be afraid to make some garbage on your way to making the really nice stuff. You will learn by doing, so start doing! From there, don’t be afraid to seek out opportunities or ask for that wild thing that you think might get a “no.” If you don’t ask then the answer is already no. Gene Winfield painted my Kaiser because I calleded and ask him. Jay Leno had the Kaiser and FR-S on Jay Leno’s Garage because I walked right up to him with a copy of the magazine and showed it to him. Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity. I very intentionally brought a copy of my magazine when I was fortunate enough to get a tour of Jay’s Garage, and wouldn’t you know it, I saw him there and handed him the magazine. Car guys recognize the same enthusiasm and passion in each other, and we all feed off of it.