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Klasse 1 Welding Morgan Aero 8 |
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Part to Art... in 7 weeks Whilst the market is well covered when it comes to rapid prototyping for plastic parts the options for prototyping sheet metal components are more limited and most companies are forced to take the traditional form and press tool route, which can be extremely costly for large components. There is another way… Superform Aluminium, based in Worcester, UK, offer an alternative route to manufacturing large sheet aluminium alloy parts either for low volume production or prototyping. With the capability to produce components up to 2m x 3m x 0.6m and up to 8mm thick in a range of alloys, the Superforming process is the logical choice. On a typical lead-time of 12 weeks Superform can supply production ready components direct from supplied 3D CAD data. The tools produced are all single surface tools, which can be modified easily if required, and allow the opportunity to try out a range of material thicknesses from the same tool. Working this way, the parts can be developed, and when approved the prototype tool can be used as a production tool, taking the project from sample to production in one cost effective move. Furthermore, the tooling costs are approximately a tenth or less of equivalent match die press tools and the lead-time is comparatively less at 12 weeks maximum instead of a 16-week minimum when using traditional tooling methods. One Superform customer took advantage of this rapid development process recently - going from concept to production part in less than 7 weeks! Battistinis Custom Cycles are Europe’s leading distributor of after market accessories for motorcycles and manufacturer of hand crafted fuel tanks for Harley Davidson.
When they were asked to produce a new fuel tank to fit five standard Harley models with minimum modification they looked to Superform to come up with a cost effective solution – one that could improve the manufacturing process and still provide the high quality expected of the worlds best loved dream machine. Rikki Battistini says “We looked at a number of processes before going with Superform”. "It was quite difficult as each process seemed to fall short in one area or another. For example, investment casting wasn’t practical for the shape needed and so on. At that time we were hand forming each tank using 8 pieces but knew there must be a way of improving the process. I had heard about Superform from a number of people in the industry and finally a recommendation from British Aerospace made us decide to take a look”. "The process was fascinating and Superform had excellent creative and design resources which they used to get the project to a working level. They came up with a solution which allowed us to manufacture using only four pieces reducing the welding required and saving time all round. We would definitely use Superform again. In fact we are considering the process for our next project, aluminium motorcycle fenders”. |
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