Racecar Manufacturing

I. Project Overview

As part of the Mechanical Engineering E3610 course, our project involved recreating a 1920's racecar and building it using different manufacturing processes. The project was split into two parts worked at par with each other; an individual and a group project. The individual project involved the theoretical analysis from CAD to manufacturing of the 1923 Bugatti Type 32 "Tank". The group project applied the theoretical calculations to a physical build.

II. Individual Design

The individual project involved researching and developing a theoretical manufacturing plan to mass produce a scale model of a 1920’s racecar. It involved researching specific manufacturing processes and making calculations to determine design specifications. The car was 3D modeled using SolidWorks and used for mold design and calculations. I used decision matrices to choose sand casting over die casting for the body (die casting's cost couldn't be justified at that volume). I determined dimensions for gating and riser design based on flow rate and fluid mechanical properties. I employed shrinkage and clamping-force calculations for injection-molded wheels, and force calculations for stamping the chassis. I also determined the depth of cut and machining time to justify and specify the process.

III. Group Build

The other part of the project was the group report where the calculations and analysis was used to physically build a model car. We first designed our 3D CAD model for reference following the chosen car's dimensions. 3D printed the casting mold out of a subtraction of the car CAD model. We used silicone casting for the car body. We used additive manufacturing (3D Printing) for the cockpit. We used CNC milling to manufacture the injection molding mold out of aluminum, and we injection molded the wheels using Polypropylene.