Solid aluminum motorcycle helmet

[mxtras]

Very impressive:

http://www.gaskrank.tv/tv/motorrad-f...-cro-10963.htm

(Safe for work, it is machine p0rn, though!)

Anyone care to hazard a guess as to the amount of time to produce this - how long to model, to program, to prove, to machine? Just curious. My guess is around 90-100 hours using competent software and operators, which I am sure these people had.

Very impressive end result!

Scott

[Geof]

My first thought on seeing your thread title was 'what a ridiculous idea' but it seems it is more a machining demonstration rather than an attempt to make something useful. I have to admit I didn't look at the entire video because my home system is too slow; I will look at it on the office PC tomorrow.


And where have you been for the past little while Mr mxtras? I don't recalling seeing any of your posts in I don't know how long; am I just unobservant?

[austin.mn]

WOW! that is absolutely amazing..... One of these days I will have a machine capable of doing work like that. Until then, I will have to keep sanding out tool marks. It looked as though they were able to put a different finish on parts to make them shinier and duller for the graphics to stand out. Wow!

[mxtras]

Originally Posted by Geof My first thought on seeing your thread title was 'what a ridiculous idea'.....

I thought the same thing!

Originally Posted by Geof And where have you been for the past little while Mr mxtras? I don't recalling seeing any of your posts in I don't know how long; am I just unobservant?

No - you are right - I have been off the boards in general for the last year or two. I have been busier than ever. Now I am in the midst of selling my house and buying land to build my future retirement complex, so things are starting to get crazy once again. It keeps me busy.

Originally Posted by austin.mn It looked as though they were able to put a different finish on parts to make them shinier and duller for the graphics to stand out. Wow!

I noticed that too - very cool indeed.


So - here are my estimates. See what you guys that do this kind of stuff think - I am accustomed to relatively simple (by comparison) parts. This text is pasted from another thread on a motorcycle site I frequent, so it might not be perfectly suited for posting on this site, so let me know if you guys see anything that's grossly inaccurate.


Assuming he was very competent I would guess the programmer probably had 2-5 hours of processing on the model and maybe 3-6 hours of post-processing to get the code close enough to test. This is all speculation, of course and this assumes that he was relying mainly on a CAM package suited for the machine to generate the code and that he was using a clean model. It's tough to say because some guys can spit out very complex parts quickly with 30% less lines of code while other guys struggle or get lost and generate a lot of wasted moves. I will assume these guys have the right tools and know how to use them. Betting against a German machinist is never wise.

The solid model probably took around 50 hours using a competent (expensive) parametric modeling program. This is where a lot of the cost lies. I figure it would take me about 40-80 hours to model something like this with the level of detail they did but I am sure they are more competent than I. A basic helmet shape could be generated in less than an hour or so, but these guys had a lot of detail in their model and it had to be mathematically accurate and clean.

Then theres tooling and proving the program. One crash on that machine could cost $25,000+ if they damaged the spindle so they likley tuned and optimized the code and motion in wax or foam. This could have taken them a few days to tweak each of the two programs. Knowing the Germans, they probably did it in just a few hours for each of the two programs.

There are a lot of steps involved to get what we saw in the video. We also did not get to see the elapsed time from start to finish. My bet is the first set-up took about an hour and the first program ran for probably around 3 hours for roughing and 5 hours for finishing. The second set up probably took about 2 hours, 1.5 hours for roughing and 4 hours for finishing.

The required steps:
Model
Process the model in CAM
Post-process the code (edit, tweak)
Test the program (fine tune the machine motions)
Rough the shape out (2x in this case)
Finish the shape (2x in this case)

In summary - this probably cost about 82 man hours with about 15-20 hours in the machine cutting the actual part (not including proving).

Around $23,000 total cost is my low guess using typical manufacturing labor rates. That sounds about right to me. I am not saying you could go have something like this made for that amount, but that's what it likely cost the people that made it.

Scott

[Geof]

buying land to build my future retirement complex, so things are starting to get crazy once again. It keeps me busy.


Taking a page out of my book, but at a much younger age. I take it the business is going well? Are congratulations in order?

I read your analysis and from my meagre knowledge of CAD/CAM, and having been involved in some Solidworks modelling for a different company, it sounds realistic, and $23,000 is peanuts for a company making and promoting fancy machines.

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

Just don't put that helmet on and then let the visor anywhere near the spark plugs or wires. LOL

Dick Z

[mordantly]

looks like a dmg center. 12.25 hour cycle time... intriguing.

[Shotout]

I think you guys are underestimating the time to machine that work of art. I'm guessing from probing to completion more along the lines of 80 hrs. Just my $.02 No matter what thanks for posting this link, I am glad to have seen that level of work