Nov.10, 2014
Porsche 550 Spider
Porche 904
Porche 356 Carrera
Anyone who owns a legendary Porsche 550 Spider, 904 or 356 Carrera can count himself lucky. These cars have experienced an enormous increase in value over the last few years. Unfortunately, special parts like cylinder heads are no longer available. If anything is damaged or needs to be replaced, customized parts reconstruction or reverse engineering are the only possible remedies, and 3D printing turned out to be the cheapest method.
Reconstructing complex components for these vehicles is a challenge for any design engineer, because drawings are not available in most cases and these are not provided by the OEM-manufacturers either. In this particular case, the reconstruction of a Carrera cylinder head made of aluminum started with measuring and scanning of the defective head.
Geometric reconstruction of the cylinder head
Valve guides, seat rings, camshaft bearing, intake and exhaust ducts, cylinder head screws etc. had to be set up as 3D base bodies in a meticulously detailed process. The next step was to transfer these to superordinate functional models and the adding of design features from casting technology like site measuring, bevels and fillets.
Affordable sand cores from the 3D printer
The geometric reconstruction has been completed by the company CAD Support from Mössingen, Germany, after which the production of the sand cores was the next item on the agenda. The project implementation using conventional cores based on core-making tools was impossible due to financial restrictions. The only solution was creating the cores in a 3D printer.
Core package
The order for printing the entire core package with a total of eleven cores went to the voxeljet service center in Friedberg, which has extensive experience in working on these kind of projects. Thanks to the excellent printing quality of the voxeljet printer they used, it was also possible to outline the thin-walled cooling rib measuring 2 mm, without additional supporting structure in the inner and outer cores being necessary.
Raw part with gating system
The molding was made by the foundry Rauleder & Rudolf based in Schwäbisch Gmünd, which specializes in constructing unique components. The hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatment led to a tremendous improvement of the mechanical properties, as well as a reduction of pores.
The final T6 heat treatment provided the ultimate strength of the cylinder head. The finishing of the components was made using the 3D CAD files in a 5-axis machining center. After completion, the aluminum cylinder head was ready for assembly.
Cylinder head
Cylinder head
Source: voxeljet
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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It is pretty cool that we are able to do stuff like this. I can see a lot of people being willing to pay some good money for stuff like this. People really do tend to like their cylinder heads. http://www.enginerecoservices.com.au
Brian wrote at 11/11/2014 1:14:38 PM:
@Dtuerk You don't need the drawings, just 3D scan it and use reverse engineering software to make a 3D file.
Brian wrote at 11/11/2014 8:08:06 AM:
This is great way of engineering! Here is another cool movie of reverse engineering, sand printing and casting of an engine from 1912 car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JoPXiC7KoQ
Dtuerk wrote at 11/10/2014 11:38:31 PM:
Good! I wanted to see this happen!!! Now only if Vehicle manufacturers would release the designs for engines....
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