This is a manifold to fit a yamaha blaster reed block onto a vespa. I started the design about 3 years ago but had no way to make it take physical form till now. everything fits really well, quite happy with the results. rendered fit on cylinder reed block and manifold reed block in manifold
Hi, I think you are the first who is trying this at Shapeways (at least that I am aware of). Could you elaborate on your project ? Also how the end result was? regards, Peter
The manifold I'm running right now will only take a 24mm carb. With the new one I'll be able to run a 28-32. This first print was to verify that everything fits. The reed block fit perfect but I found that I didn't leave enough clearance around the heads of the bolts. I also realized that having the bolts countersunk was a bad idea as it will be harder to make a mold from and would be almost impossible to clean up any casting flaws. I also think I can thin the walls down a bit. My original plan had been to investment cast it in aluminum but I may be able to get away with running the SWF. Nylon holds up well to gasoline though I still need to check the temperatures in this area. If I decide to cast it I'll scale it up to account for shrinkage and send the print out for casting.
Hi, thanks for the explanation. I have seen race cars use WS&F (nylon) for intake manifolds so it can stand quite some heat. Whether it would work in your case I do not know. Keep us posted, it is certainly a cool project. regards, Peter
I think pete might be referring to this example: http://www.atcentre.nl/downloads/go/RM_in_automotive/ (unfortunately only in Dutch) Also from Eindhoven . There are more examples though, motor racing/F1 is probably one of the earliest adopers of RP/RM; mostly for prototyping, testing and jigs&fixtures but RM for production parts is on the up with manifolds being very good examples. New plasic RM materials are being introduced with better properties (heat resistance, strength etc.) that will expand the use of RM for structural production parts. And don't forget the metal sintering that potentially creates parts that are stronger than if you would cast them. What I'm still waiting for is some impossible organic manifold design, that you would not even thing of unless you had RP/RM to produce it. I'm sure you could optimise it in terms of material use (=weight) and airflow. To bad I don't have a lot of knowledge of, let alone tools for FEA/CFD. If anyone has the tools and knowledge I would be happy to help out .
Hi Peter, actually no, although I know this one also. I was referring to a design I have seen in the US where indeed they optimized the airflow and could extract a few % more due to the fact that there are no casting seems inside which disturb airflow. regards, Peter