Rapid Prototyping Process Races New Engine to Finish Line.Buckley Systems, Ltd., a New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. Grand Prix Grand Prix n. pl. Grand Prix Any of several competitive international road races for sports cars of specific engine size over an exacting, usually risky course. motorcycle team, had an idea for increasing the horsepower horsepower, unit of power in the English system of units. It is equal to 33,000 foot-pounds per minute or 550 foot-pounds per second or approximately 746 watts. and performance of their racing engine. The only problem was getting its newly designed engine block cast, machined and tested before the start of the next race. Traditionally, Buckley would go the route of conventional sand casting Casting is the process of production of objects by pouring molten material into a cavity called a mold which is the negative, or mirror image of the object, and allowing it to cool and solidify. for its engine components. However, with time running out and the expense involved in making tooling for just a few components, the firm was open to new methods of rapid prototyping Building a part one layer at a time using a method of additive fabrication such as 3D printing. Such parts are used for concept modeling to determine if the product design meets the customer's expectations. and manufacturing. Making conventional patterns and coreboxes to cast this complex engine barrel would take 5-6 weeks at best. The engine block casting it had designed required a complex core to form the water jacket water jacket n. A casing containing water circulated by a pump, used around a part to be cooled, especially in water-cooled internal-combustion engines. Noun 1. and cylinder features. This manufacturing necessity narrowed the playing field of rapid prototyping processes. After researching a number of different processes that could convert the 3D CAD data to a cast part, it chose Soligen, Inc., Northridge, California, that works with a rapid, patternless casting method called Direct Shell Production Casting. This process uses 3D printing to make a ceramic mold complete with integral cores and gating directly from CAD data. Buckley emailed Soligen the 3D CAD data and received A356-T6 aluminum engine castings ready to assemble and functionally test in 18 business days. "The complexity of our design along with the need to meet a short lead time led us to this patternless casting method," said Buckley Project Engineer Paul Tracey. "We were in crisis mode and only this process could get us a race-ready part when we needed it." The result for Buckley has been a 25% increase in horsepower, considerable savings in time and money, and the ability to avoid pattern modification after each revision. |
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