EQUIPMENT
/ NEW
AND INSTEAD OF THE HEART - A LASER MOTOR
MORE PROTOTYPES DO NOT NEED
When Volka asked old Hottabych to arrange a telephone, he instantly created an exact duplicate of marble. It was very similar to the real one, but, alas, it did not work.
The creators of the cars would not laugh at all with us at the dull old man, and immediately offer him a fabulous salary! After all, before making, say, a new engine, the designers made an exact copy of it from wood so that the linkers placed the units in the engine compartment. Such models were made up to the beginning of the 90s, and this process took about eight months with the cost of the product … 380 000 euros!
Today, woodcarvers are forced to look for another place of work: the stichel has given way to a laser beam. A full-scale model of an engine made of polyamide and epoxy costs “only” 60, 000 euros and appears in the workshop within seven weeks.
New processes are called rapid prototyping and rapid tooling. In the first case, we are talking about fast (compared with recent times) modeling of components and assemblies of the car, in the second - the creation of models of future technological equipment for their production. But the principle, in essence, is one: digital CAD data from a computer “by itself” turns into a product of epoxy or other flesh.
The part grows layer by layer (each about 0.1 mm thick) from a filler (sand, sawdust, ceramic powder, etc.) impregnated with epoxy resin. Moreover, they harden only in the place where they were irradiated with an ultraviolet laser. The computer "Hottabych" controls it. Sometimes dispense with epoxy. In this case, the laser beam simply sinteres the particles of plastic or even metal. Extra just … shake off!
Having named the model production time of seven weeks, we took the most complex example. And to make the door handle of the future car, the laser only needs two and a half hours. By the way, metal models are so strong that they can be used as a working part. This is how crankcases or cable ducts are made. Moreover, with the help of simulated templates, you can even stamp a small batch of experienced “tin” parts.
