Technology that Will Change the Aftermarket
January 20th, 2012
By: Brad S. – Project Manager
As we can see from companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Google the aftermarket is constantly changing due to improvements in technology. 3D design and Additive Manufacturing are technologies that are predicted (and have already begun) to significantly impact aftermarket industries for a number of reasons. For one, it can eliminate the costly and time-consuming process of production assembly lines by producing fully assembled parts directly from 3D CAD models. Creating 3D printed tooling can also speed up the production process, duplicating production outcomes for limited runs. Additive technologies give designers the freedom to create with fewer limitations than they had when using traditional manufacturing processes. 3D design changes can be employed with complete flexibility, resulting in no wasted inventory, nor the typical wait times associated with costly tool changes.
For groups like SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association, who has an enormous impact on the automotive aftermarket industry, this technology is groundbreaking! If you haven’t heard of their Technology Transfer program, you should make a point to check it out. The program aims to eliminate the necessity of acquiring O.E.M parts and capturing the data for reverse engineering. It gives members access to an entire library of O.E.M CAD files of car parts that they can use for the product development process. This is a HUGE tool for anyone in the car manufacturing business because it will cut lead times and costly processes tremendously, a big advantage in this economy! To think that anyone could have all 3D data would be a tremendous feat, thus GROWit’s reverse engineering services help fill the gap to jumpstart product development cycles.
Redesigning a Go-Cart Front End (Part 1)
By showcasing a recent project of redesigning the front end of an electric go-kart (MiniMoto) we will demonstrate how Additive Manufacturing technologies, along with engineering, scanning, and RTV casting and molding, allows us to provide customers with exactly what their projects require.
The Problem: Our customer reported that the front ends of these go-karts have a small bracket that commonly breaks and requires owners to purchase an entire new front end (not exactly an efficient design).
The Solution: The original front end was removed and prepped for 3D scanning. Using the Konica Minolta Vivid 9i, we digitized the original part and then formed useable CAD data in Rapidform XOR3. We typically scan parts a few times from different angles to collect all of the required geometries. After attaining the multiple scans we are able to connect all of those scans three dimensionally to view the scanned objet as one solid CAD model. From that point we can make modifications or add geometry as needed to accurately replicate the original part.
Problem solved, our work is done, right?
The Enhancement: While in the process of fixing it, our CAD design team came up with the idea to not only fix the go-cart, but also create a modular design that would allow easy customization with little work from the consumer. With the permission of our client we decided on two new design variants that we thought would be very marketable to the consumer, a F1 styled front end and fenders with incorporated headlights. The F1 Styled front end was fully designed by our team using SolidWorks and the fenders with incorporated headlights data was gathered by scanning the front end of a mini bike (see below left).
Using the new CAD data, we created modular interfacing features for both the F1 style wings and the headlight equipped fenders. By designing and modeling alternate parts to fit the scanned part in CAD you can be assured that the parts will fit together properly after they are 3D printed. After the parts were perfectly aligned and fitted, we were ready to 3D print them in an ABS plastic on one of our FDM machines.
The Result: We have to build some anticipation so check back next week to see what the customer received!