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 | HYDROFORMING . NET the International hydroforming forum and web site |
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It would be interesting to see this automobile prototyping system.
An automotive engineering firm celebrated its acquisition by an Indian automaker and its subsequent expansion in a reception October 24.
Pyzik said the acquisition gives Design Intent greater resources and a worldwide reach, and that the company will now offer more services with "emerging sectors," such as advanced materials and alternative energy power plants. Pyzik said the company's projecting 40 percent employment growth over the next 18 months. More about Eicher at www.eicherworld.com. More about Design Intent at www.designintenteng.com.
[Calvin Banman] The arm we are using runs with Delcam's Powerinspect
software. (http://www.delcam.com/) It has an option for "point
clouds" that you can export as an IGES file. Apparently this would
make reverse engineering easy, but our company was too cheap to spring
for that. I worked with one of our engineers and found a way around
it. We can still export our information in an IGES file, but for it
to be useable for solid modeling; we have to measure a number of
points in a straight line around the part. Then using as many of these
lines as required to give us the detail level engineering needs, they
can import the file into their CAD software, and create a solid model.
Obviously the more data the better the end result. I use magnetic
strips to give me a straight line that I follow with the probe, but I
tried one freehand just to see if it worked and it did. I just drew
some lines on the part and followed it as well as I could. I do the
point lines in a crosshatch or checkerboard pattern. The beauty of
the portable CMM arm is that you can measure parts of infinite size.
Some of our frames are over 20 feet long, and to measure them, we end
up doing about 8-10 leapfrogs (position changes on the arm).
[Jim Peck]I am really interested in the techniques you use to develop
the CAD models.
[Calvin Banman] http://us.romer.com/
I use one of these at work. We don't have the laser scanning
attachment. The reverse engineering option is extra cost and our
company didn't want to spring For it, but I have found a work-around
that lets me give engineering the data they need to do a CAD Solid
model from measurements I take. I know the Honda plant in Allison,
Ontario uses one of the Romer arms to measure body panel fit on the
cars they build. When I was getting my training on the older version
of the arm, I brought in a 360 cylinder head and digitized the
combustion chamber shape.
[James Peck] The May/June 2006 issue of Time-Compression Technologies,
www.timecompress.com, discusses the use of a handheld self-positioned
Laser scanner to scan a vehicle body to produce a 3D CAD model of the
vehicle body. The vehicle scanned was the T-Rex Manufactured in Quebec
For the purpose of doing FEA and using CMM's.
LASER SCANNING | ||
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The August 2006 issue of MetalForming has an article on transfer
presses Anchor Manufacturing acquired to supply stampings to an
automotive OEM. A number of the stampings are aluminum. The article is
in PDF and can be downloaded. I felt the article was significant due
to the emphasis on aluminum.
http://www.metalformingmagazine.com/current/index. asp
I will be posting these comments of the SME website.
If you do not wish any future emails from me on the stamping
subject, reply with cancel in the subject line.
Jim Peck 248-765-4273
jamesgpeck@sbcglobal.net
http://autobodymfg.blogspot.com
http://forums.sme.org/showthread.php?t=208
Avocational interests:
Reproduction Vehicle Body Manufacturing
Vehicle Body Design and Reverse Engineering
Job Skill Testing
Computer Based Learning
Expert Systems
Testing Based Certifications and Licensing
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Sustainable Manufacturing Group
Incremental sheet forming machine (research rig) | | Incremental Sheet FormingIncremental Sheet Forming (ISF) is a flexible process for forming sheet metal under the action of a mobile indenter such that almost any 3D shell shape can be made without specialised tooling. The process is recognised as a sustainable technology because it has the potential to enable a move towards small-scale localised production of customised sheet metal parts, as well as re-engineering of damaged or obsolete products. AimsTo understand the process mechanics and expand the process capabilities in order to develop a flexible manufacturing system that is capable of achieving the specifications of typical sheet metal applications. To achieve this goal, the project seeks to:
The technologyAn ISF machine was commissioned at the IfM in October 2004. The machine was designed and built in-house and is the first dedicated rig built outside Japan. Unique features include a built-in force measurement system, rigid and accurate support of the indenter in three directions and space under the workpiece for the future addition of a second indenter. The path of the indenter is numerically controlled via a PCI board motion controller. ApplicationsPotential applications include:
Current researchResearch projects currently underway include:
|
a-z site index about the IfM the Institute for Manufacturing is a part of the Department of Engineering Go to top of page
This page is from the Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk
Persons:
I have scrutinized the article "University Showcases
One-of-a-Kind Vehicle Program" which appeared in the 2006-06-19
Detroit Auto Scene.
My interests include the design and manufacturing of reproduction
type automobile bodies. I participate in the SME Forming and
Fabricating Community.
Do any of the courses in the CMU Vehicle Design program include
the design of Vehicle Bodies? Do any of the courses include the use of
formability analysis software?
James G. Peck
http://autobodymfg.blogspot.com/
The June 2006 issue of MetalForming includes the article "Simulation Slashes Die-Tryout Costs and Time". This concerns a company, Precise Engineering of Lowell, Michigan, using Pam-Stamp 2G software to design a stamping die that produced a good part without die modifications.
I would guess that Eric Kam and the AutoForm people have read and analyzed this article. I do believe it is of interest to the SME Dies and Stamping Technical Group. Noteworthy things discussed or not discussed are:
? Preliminary die design using VISI die design software. No discussions about whether any CAD files of the part to be produced were imported.
? Export of a strip geometry IGES file from VISI to Pam-Stamp.
? First stage Forming process simulation including changing drawing depth, binder pressure, percentage of standoff, change of blank geometry, addition of blank slots, and evaluation of springback.
? Second and third station retrim with iterative blank design modifications.
? Simulating fourth station drawing versus forming resulting in the selection of forming.
? Not discussed was the process to get the modifications needed determined by the simulation results back to the VLSI design file.
? No discussion of how the detail drawings of each die component were produced and transmitted to the customer.
? Creation of CNC part programs from the VISI software.
? Tryout of the finished die with no modifications necessary.
? Developing a set of detail drawings to be furnished to the die customer. Discussed but no file format mentioned.
I would be interested in seeing a list of criteria to be used in evaluation forming simulation software.
The May/June 2006 issue of Time-Compression Technologies,
www.timecompress.com, discusses the use of a handheld self-positioned
laser scanner to scan a vehicle body to produce a 3D CAD model of the
vehicle body. The vehicle scanned was the T-Rex manufactured in Quebec
for the purpose of doing FEA and using CMM's.
www.handyscan3d.com
www.creaform3d.com
Jim Peck
http://autobodymfg.blogspot.com
A serious impediment to the use of lighter-weight, higher-strength materials in automobile manufacturing is the relative lack of understanding about how these materials respond to the complex forming operations that go into shaping a blank of metal into automobile body parts. One of the most vexing and costly problems is ?springback? ? the tendency of sheet metal to lose some of its shape when it is removed from the die. Springback is very pronounced with two of the likeliest candidates for weight reduction: high-strength steel and aluminum alloys, than it is with standard steel. Unless it is well managed and taken into account when the dies are designed, it leads to parts that are ill-fitting and deviate excessively from design intent.
American auto manufacturers, through the Springback Project of the U S C A R consortium, are engaged in a major effort to predict springback by means of sophisticated finite element modeling (F E M?).
USCAR is the umbrella organization of Daimler Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, which was formed in 1992 to further strengthen the technology base of the domestic auto industry through cooperative, pre-competitive research.
However, the accuracy of predictions of large strain plasticity under complex load histories, such as those applied during stamping processes, is uncertain because of incomplete validation of the F E M programs. Surprisingly, calculated residual stress, one of the key mechanical properties predicted by the state-of-the-art FEM codes, had not been compared with experimental measurements. The present work is the first comprehensive effort to determine the residual stresses of interest.
Diffraction provides a powerful means of very accurately measuring microstructure, strains (from which stresses are determined) and mechanical behavior in a way not possible with other techniques. More importantly, diffraction facilities available to the N C N R include neutron diffraction, laboratory x-ray diffraction and synchrotron x-ray diffraction (at Argonne?s Advanced Photon Source). These constitute the full spectrum of diffraction probes of residual stress and microstructure for surface, sub-surface and bulk specimens. The test specimens employed for this study were two deep-drawn ?Demeri? cups: one, thin-walled (approximately 1 milli meter) 6 0 2 2, T 4 aluminum; the second, thicker-walled (3.2 milli meter) steel. The latter is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. The deep-drawn steel cup. The aluminum cup was similar, except for wall thickness. The objective of this project was to determine the residual stresses in the ?simple? model specimens formed similarly to stamped auto parts. Modelers in the U S C A R consortium would use F E M to predict the stress distributions to validate their codes. At this time, the modeling part of the project is still in progress. Two distinct experimental studies were performed. The first utilized synchrotron x-rays to determine the stress distribution in a ring and pieces (Figure 2) cut from the aluminum cup (which except for wall thickness, was initially like the steel cup shown in Figure 1). The critical point of this study is to determine the stress distribution in the ring and, ultimately, whether the F E M could predict it. Directly related to this was how the measured stress distribution compared with the simple linear depth dependence used in analytical calculations to predict the opening of the ring when cut.
Figure 2. Pieces cut from the aluminum cup and examined by synchrotron x-rays. The residual stresses determined from the x-ray diffraction measurements are shown in part in Figure 3. Representative neutron diffraction results for the steel cup are shown in Figure 4.
Figure 3. Axial and hoop stresses for the 0.9 milli meter thick aluminum cup as determined by synchrotron x-rays.
Figure 4. Hoop stresses as a function of depth in the 3.2 milli meter thick steel cup, as determined by neutron diffraction. The more complete results shown for the aluminum ring, the first such measurements on deep-drawn cups, satisfy both symmetry and stress balance requirements. However, the stresses vary around the circumference and in the axial direction, and differ strongly from ideal bending stresses. So even for the ?simple? model system, the plastic deformation process and the resultant stresses are very complex.
In summary, these results provide the first through-thickness stress distributions by which springback model predictions of residual stress can be tested. Furthermore, synchrotron radiation and neutrons are the only non-destructive methods that are able to provide the necessary accuracy and spatial resolution needed to obtain these results. Finally, successful modeling of springback requires successful prediction of these stress distributions.
References
T. Gnaeupel-Herold, H. J. Prask, R. J. Fields, T. J. Foecke, M. F. Shi, and U. Lienert, submitted to Mater. Sci. Eng. A
Authors
T. Gn?upel-Herold and H. Prask
NIST Center for Neutron Research
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8562R. Fields
Metallurgy Division
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8553D. Haeffner
Advanced Photon Source
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, IL 60439E. Chu
Alcoa Technical Center
Alcoa Center, PA 15069-0001Back to FY2002 HTML main page
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JOB TITLE: AutoForm SOFTWARE ENGINEER
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If you are looking for a career move than you have found it. This is a great opportunity to get world class experience and to work with one of the best auto manufactures.
Experience:
* Must be able to demonstrate experience with AutoForm software
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A plus to have:
* Automotive experience
* Ability to customize AutoForm software
AutoForm Software
AutoForm offers software solutions for the die-making and sheet metal forming industries. The use of AutoForm software improves reliability in planning, reduces the number of die tryouts and tryout time, and results in higher quality part and tool designs that can be produced with maximum confidence. In addition, press downtime and reject rates in production are substantially reduced.
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James G. Peck
bodystamping@sbcglobal.net
Seeking web addresses, articles, and information sources concerning:
? Assembly of vehicle bodies by resistance welding, GMAW welding, adhesives, and other joining processes
? Use of robots to fixture stampings for body assembly
? Software to convert solid models to robot programs for trimming
? Use of Coordinate Measuring Machines, laser scanning and digital photogrammetry to reverse engineer vehicle bodies and stampings
? Use of sheet metal stamping formability software to optimize stamping die design
? Solid modeling of vehicles and body parts in SolidWorks or other products
? Use of ANSI Y14.5 Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing in solid modeling of automotive sheet metal components.
? Design of stamping and hydroforming dies using Solid Modeling software
? Use of Computer Numerical control in manufacture of stamping dies
? Design and manufacture of welding fixtures for vehicle body assembly
? Use of direct metal deposition in die manufacturing
? Design, application, and maintenance of resistance welding power supplies and related components
? Design of robot end effectors for moving stampings from welding fixture to welding fixture
? Stamping and Hydroforming of vehicle body and structural components
? Use of abrasive jet and laser trimming of autobody stamping
? Quick die change and die storage practices for high variety low volume vehicle body part forming
? Vehicle painting in low volume manufacturing
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