Sometimes a new product is born strongly linked to other components, sometimes it is designed to integrate perfectly with the whole that surrounds it. To achieve this, you can scan the surface of the main body and design the new component starting from the scan result.
Do you need to design a new component that perfectly closes the main body but you don’t have the 3D model of the structure available?
It is possible to overcome this obstacle by scanning its surface to get the starting line of the new object!
This is the case of a water filter cover to be mounted on professional go karts.
Our customer did not have the 3D file of the engine but had to design and build a new version of the filter cover capable of protecting the engine from water while maintaining the correct ventilation functionality. The objective of our client in this case was of two types: to create a new form that is aesthetically more appealing and to create a counter-mold for the production of the gelcoat-based filter cover.
Coesum’s 360 ° expertise in new product development has enabled it to achieve all its goals in just a few weeks. At our factory we scanned the engine casing with an optical scanner ATOS Core 300 that uses Blue Light technology to detect the geometries of physical objects. Thanks to a stereoscopic system of cameras, it digitizes the images in real time, returning a 3D file that can be processed in any CAD software. Our architect Giovanni Annese reported the point cloud obtained from scanning on the modeling software to create two aesthetic proposals of the new filter cover.
The customer chose the second version, where the “V” on the upper part not only have an aesthetic purpose but are reinforcement points of the crankcase. The logo of our client, IMAF Racing, is present directly on the printed, embossed or recessed piece depending on the design solution.
The only constraint to the design was the respect of the volume of air that the crankcase must contain in order for it to perform the cooling function correctly, for the rest our designer was able to draw free inspiration from the cars and other components that cover the Go-kart machines.
On the side areas there are small holes that serve as centering for the positioning of the elastic that holds the filter cover on the engine, while on the front wall the small hole serves as a centering for the post-production creation of the main ventilation hole.
After defining the aesthetic form, we moved on to the executive design of the model capable of acting as a counter-mold. The model was created in additive 3D printing , specifically using stereolithography technology. The choice fell on this one because among the additive technologies currently on the market it is the most precise and ensures an excellent level of surface definition , so much so that it can be aesthetically equated to injection molded pieces.
In order for the prototype to perform the function of counter-mold, our designer has provided a series of reinforcing ribs at the base.
In addition to the reinforcement ribs, the model of the counter-mold also includes additional material, to be cut by the manufacturer once the fiberglass solidification process has been completed.
The result is therefore a product that can be used directly on the car that can even be subjected to subsequent finishing processes such as cubication or other.
