Subject: Time:4:12 PM
OFFICE MEMO CAE-CAD-CAM Date:12/28/93
Computer Aided Engineering might be very useful if one was trying to
re-engineer the suspension geometry and spring rates, or improve the strength
of a high-failure-rate part.
As far as Computer Aided Drafting, my belief is the automakers would be
reluctant to hand out blueprints of their parts, even obsolete parts. About 9
months ago I attempted to get a blueprint from Jaguar of a missing bracket for
the frame of my XK120, by writing to the Engineering department. Never even got
a reply. I finally found another enthusiast with a similar car, and he let me
crawl under and take measurements from it. I made a drawing on MacDraft and
made the part myself with a little help from a machinist. I've done this on a
few other parts as well.
Although I don't know when the CAD revolution hit British industry, I would
guess it was late '70's early '80's, so most of the drawings for the parts of
our LBCs would have been drawn in pencil. The head of our drafting department
told me it costs roughly $500 per sheet to scan a pencil drawing and turn it
into a CAD file. Not economically viable.
So it's up to us enthusiasts to measure up the parts and create what drawings
we need as a labor of love and either become a supplier/manufacturer ourselves
or send them to a major supplier like Moss or TRF to contract with a
manufacturer for a production run. My guess is since Moss, TRF et. al. have to
make a profit, they would be glad to get a free CADfile drawing and thus reduce
their development costs, but they would have to trust the accuracy of the
enthusiast drafter. At the very least you would have to check three or four
examples of a part before declaring that the drawing accurately represents the
part, or is an acceptable substitution. Maybe we could act as reviewers of each
other's drawings. And as for the raw material, you would have to make an
educated guess as to what steel or aluminum alloy should be used.
Computer Aided Machining has proven to be viable in our shop for intricate
parts requiring close tolerances and multiple-axis cutting tool motions, but it
hasn't and won't totally replace traditional machining methods. Charge-back
time is figured at a higher rate for CNC work than for traditional work. And
those high-priced CNC machining centers break down just as much as our LBCs.
So what parts would you start with? Sounds like a fun project, wish I had the
time. Rob
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