New product development and innovation is much more difficult and time consuming than most other business activities. Automotive rapid prototyping greatly enhances learning speed and reduces the risk of new automotive parts development.
Historically, the automotive industry has been using rapid prototyping as an important tool in the automotive parts design process. The extremely fast-paced automotive design cycles require an extremely fast prototyping system which can produce car parts fast and inexpensively.
The main objective of automotive prototyping is to learn quickly: how a new automotive product behaves in its natural working environment, before transferring the prototype to the production line. Many times, mistakes are learned only after a new automotive part is launched. This is the main explanation for poor automotive parts design, from product mismatch, poor engineering and function or finish, and overpriced production. In order to accelerate the learning curve, before these costly automotive prototyping mistakes are made, one must accelerate and facilitate feedback loops from tests in the lab and market trials.
Automotive Manufacturing Technologies
Working with an assortment of rapid prototyping equipment, automotive prototyping engineers utilize the most advanced 3D printers, in their quest for perfect form, function and utility. Working in advanced manufacturing centers, the automotive engineers use the technology to verify what they are doing, and, equally important, to save tremendous amounts of time, and money.
Automotive Rapid Prototyping Compresses Development Time
The advantages of using 3D rapid prototyping model creation versus viewing a cad/cam model on a computer screen are palpable. Automotive parts engineers get together discuss the pros and cons of a rapidly produced automotive parts model and discuss the pros and cons of the design, as they pass it around, twisting and viewing the prototype, and decide if that is what they had in mind. This way, problems get solved up front, before going to the assembly line! Once determined that the automotive prototype design is a go, the model can then be sent to a die maker.
Automotive Prototyping and the Die Maker Process
The die maker cannot use model to make the die, but because they have it in their hand and can look at it and feel it, they can determine where the parting lines will be and exactly how much steel they will need to produce it. The timing of the die process is greatly compressed.
Examples of Automotive Rapid Prototype Parts
· Car Engine parts
· Engine castings and parts
· Auto Body Components
· Auto Mechanical parts
· Car Dashboards
· Car Handles and Knobs
· Car Trim parts
Fail first Paradox in Automotive Rapid Prototyping
The automotive rapid prototyping paradox is to fail earlier rather than later. By failing earlier, the design engineers surprisingly succeed in accelerating the project; this greatly reduces development cost risk. By considering all automotive prototype failures as learning experiments, the engineer has much less stress, knowing that they are practicing the old adage, that success comes from ninety-nine percent failure and introspection.
Automotive Rapid Prototyping & Automotive Prototype Services
Classic Profile: The Bugatti
Ask a serious car buff what make of vehicle epitomizes the perfect marriage of engineering and artistry and the Bugatti name will no doubt rise to the top. The sleek models created in the early 1900s, in fact, took automotive design to a whole new level, blending beauty and extreme speed in a highly successful and exclusive racing line.
The story of the original Bugatti line is one deeply entwined with world events. The company itself was founded by Ettore Bugatti in 1909. Ettore, the son of renowned artist Carlo Bugatti, was born in Milan in 1881. He began what would become a journey to create one of the most successful race car lines ever by first studying at the Brera Art Academy. By the age of 17, however, the young Bugatti decided that engineering was more to his liking and he joined a firm as an apprentice. Though he broke with family tradition, Ettore did not leave his love of fine designs behind.
Bugatti designed a three-wheel car within a year of putting himself on the engineering path. This unusual machine ended up winning a host of races, which fueled the fire for Bugatti to continue with automotive design. When the company he apprenticed for would not move forward with his other suggestions, Bugatti struck out on his own. In 1909, he founded his own firm in Molsheim, which at the time was in Alsace, Germany. Bugatti debuted his first solo design at the 1911 Le Mans and came in second. This victory led to a major boon for the Bugatti line as orders began to pour in.
Unfortunately, World War I waylaid production. Ettore took his family to Paris, where he ended up working as an aircraft designer for the course of the war. In 1923, Bugatti once again turned his attention to his beloved cars. From his home in what was then Alsace, France, he would go on to build some of the most successful racing models of all times.
Bugatti set his racing machines apart from the competition in several important ways. First of all, the designs were much smaller and lighter than other cars on the circuit. His 1911 model, for example, weighed in at only 660 pounds and was dwarfed by the Fiat that ultimately won the race. Beyond his sleek, artistic designs, Bugatti also insisted on building each vehicle produced with a painstaking attention to detail. Even the engine blocks were scraped by hand so that no gaskets were needed for sealing.
By the late 1920s, the Bugatti name was one to be reckoned with on the race track. The Bugatti Type 10 took the top four spots in its very first race. The Type 35 is considered one of the most impressive racing machines ever. That model claimed more than 2,000 wins.
The original factory began to decline after Jean Bugatti, the son of Ettore, died in 1939 following a crash during the testing of the Type 57 model. The arrival of World War II saw the Molsheim factory destroyed. By the time Ettore died in 1947, the line was mostly in ruin. A few comebacks were attempted by other Bugatti relatives before the name was sold.
Although Bugatti made less than 8,000 cars in total, Ettore left a legacy of perfection behind that lives on today. Volkswagen ultimately obtained rights to produce cars using the Bugatti name. That subsidiary has stuck with the exclusivity of the original line. Its models are considered both visually pleasing and incredibly fast. Interestingly enough, Volkswagen’s subsidiary is based in Molsheim.
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