Cases
Materialise, more than just a prototype supplier
"Materialise provided a complete solution, enabling us to avoid the extra costs and efforts involved with closing down a production line. Working with the professional team at Materialise was a pleasure. Their expertise on both software development as rapid manufacturing really adds value and results in innovative solutions."
"For the manufacture of replacement components to the historical motor sport industry, we have switched to forward engineering. The time and cost savings realized by working directly with scan data in 3-matic software are key for Holden Engineering to continue our success."
Materialise, more than just a prototype supplier
Materialise Industrial Services & Materialise Software make a unique combination that offer tremendous benefits to our customers. We use our own software tools to tailor unique solutions to your needs, not only for prototype purposes but for production series in the final material as well.
Materialise's software applications, including 3-matic, allow a more efficient use of rapid prototyping and tooling techniques.
Being active in both fields gives us the advantage to offer you a tailor-made solution.
Let us illustrate two examples in which the link between these core competences provided a solution for the customer.
Rapid Spare Part on Demand for Toyoda Gosei
Imagine that a tool gets damaged and you don't have the data available to repair or replace the part, you would probably need to shut down that production line for days or even weeks.
A similar incident occurred at the UK Company Toyoda Gosei. By utilising the unique design and manufacturing skills at Materialise a spare part was created in just 2 days.
Toyoda Gosei UK Ltd. manufactures and sells body-sealing products for automobiles. They are a subsidiary of the global system provider Toyoda Gosei group. In 2005 a tool at Toyoda Gosei UK got damaged and there were no spare parts in stock. Since the tool drawings were only available in Toyoda Gosei's Japanese head quarters no data was available to replace the part in the UK. The company risked closing down that particular production line, which is of course is a costly exercise. Materialise could provide a full solution in an exceptionally short time frame. This way the production line didn't have to be closed down at all.
Toyoda Gosei used a scanning device to digitise the damaged tool part. This data was meshed, optimised and refined by Materialise's 3-matic team. Using 3-matic allowed the 3-matic Team to work directly on the scanned data to modify it and create high quality surface meshes. Reverse engineering could be eliminated and this resulted in huge time gains.
Forward Engineering: the ideal formula for Holden Engineering
Holden Engineering recently implemented forward engineering for the reproduction of the damaged rear upright for the March 711 F1 car. They were faced with a very tight deadline: the car needed to be competing in Monte Carlo in two weeks.
Manufacturing of replacements for the historical motor sport industry often starts with the original, often damaged, components. Currently, companies use laser scanning to create a highly accurate 3D model or point probing to dimension components. They then spend considerable reverse engineering time and effort to create a CAD model, to base the design and production of replacements parts on.
When making replacement castings for suspension uprights the typical process time for producing patterns takes on average 60 hours of highly skilled pattern making.
"In a couple of hours, we can accurately capture the geometry by laser scanning.Next,using 3-matic software from Materialise, we can produce 2D drawings or pattern designs directly from the scan data. This means we miss the reverse engineering steps and we maintain the accuracy of the original scan. Our design times for an upright pattern are reduced to around eight hours."
Next they use DEPOCAM software for quickly generating highly efficient tool paths over the triangle mesh designs made in 3-matic. The level of automations that can be created makes the NC code generation very productive.
This is a true forward engineering process. Everything was performed directly on the mesh data so the time and efforts previously spent in reverse engineering could be eliminated.
"The time and cost savings of working directly with scan data, are key for Holden Engineering to continue its success in the historical motor sport industry,"
In 1971 March Engineering came up with the Formula 1 711 chassis. While Robin Herd had designed the mechanical side of the 711, Frank Costin gave it its aerodynamic shape with an ovoid front wing described as the Spitfire. They finished second on four occasions, and Ronnie Peterson ended as runner-up in the World Championship. The 711 is powered by a Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3 litre engine.