Chassis manufacturing technology

[fuoriserie]

http://www.inrekor.com/

Would this type of technology fit a modern kitcar design ? do you all think it still is too expensive to trickle down to a modern specialist sportscar manufacturer ?

Would be interested to know your thoughts and experience.

Thanks
Italo

Edited by fuoriserie on Friday 31st January 22:32

[qdos]

Strangely enough we were asked to look into building a chassis along these lines a year ago.

[fuoriserie]

qdos said:

Strangely enough we were asked to look into building a chassis along these lines a year ago.

Would it be worth it cost wise ? interested to know.

[Steve_D]

Crap web site.
Looked all over and found no information on what the material is...could be chewing gum and Plasticine for all I know.

Steve

[GIRF]

This is essentially the technology used by Mosler in their chassis. The parts are CNC cut from composite honey comb panels. The parts all self align and self index in the dados cut into the panels. The individual parts are epoxy bonded and heat cured. Mosler then adds a carbon skin to the whole assembly to add to the bond strength and overall stiffness.

Because the parts can assemble only one way and all self align it is a remarkable simple technique that requires little specialized skill to assemble. The panels can be cut to your CNC output by Teklam, or they will design it for you.

[Hunky Dory]

Seems like there is a lot of marketing speak in there with very little tangible facts.
It also sounds very similar to the iStream design process of Gordon Murray fame (although that may be down to similar language being used to pitch it )
In answer to your question - I doubt it would be particularly viable for Kit's and similar type stuff, mainly due to the fact it talks about being beneficial for high volume manufacture, which intimates that a high (at least relative to our end of the industry) level of investment is required up front.

Certainly this is the case for other similar processes I have experienced (although I know nothing of these particular people)

[qdos]

fuoriserie said:

qdos said:

Strangely enough we were asked to look into building a chassis along these lines a year ago.

Would it be worth it cost wise ? interested to know.

For us yes as we were being asked to do the work on a concept composite chassis, not sell the cars, so all we would have been supplying was the chassis in a concept form (not a finalised production module) It also coincided with a separate vehicle we were doing some work with which was a kind of 'flatpack'

Bear in mind the Midas is a monocoque composite.

[x19.driver]

Not sure if this is available in kit form but I believe it uses similar construction: http://www.javansportscars.com/javan.html

[fuoriserie]

Thank you for the info and comments and will do some further research....

[fuoriserie]

Resurecting the thread, just to post that a new company is going to be using this new and interesting technology:

http://inrekor.com/blog/2012/05/a-modern-classic-f...

I wonder if you could use this chassis technology with Mazda mx5 readily available subframes to create a new kitcar chassis ?

[PaulKemp]

There was an article in CKC where a chassis like the one shown on the site was mocked up for a Chesil

[fuoriserie]

PaulKemp said:

There was an article in CKC where a chassis like the one shown on the site was mocked up for a Chesil

Yes I remember the article, but was wondring about a front engined rear wheel drive option ?

[fuoriserie]

Steve_D said:

Crap web site.
Looked all over and found no information on what the material is...could be chewing gum and Plasticine for all I know.

Steve

Info on the material used :

http://www.arpro.com/news/article.php?id=293

[dom9]

Interesting thread... Sorry I missed this the first time around!

I've been thinking of similar methods to put a composite chassis together but it always seems like too much effort compared to a steel spaceframe...

[fuoriserie]

http://skiddmark.com/2015/12/westfield-adopt-the-i...

New material Microlattice material manufactured by Boeing.

[chuntington101]

It's great to see the low volume sports car industry take advantage of these niche technologies before the more mainstream car companies find a way to use them.

I kind wait to see some of this implemented.

[Fastpedeller]

Lots of marketting speak. I'm not convinced there is really anything new here? .... lightweight, strength, low cost (pick any 2 of the 3, rarely do all 3 go together). Joking aside, the strength (or more accurately rigidity) for a given weight is derived by the shape, hence the honeycomb construction. But a relatively flat shape will still be inferior compared to a very deep one (eg car with roof is far stiffer than convertible, all else being equal). A chassis made very deep (eg without doors) will also be very good. I'm pretty sure the QDOS manufactured Midas being a GRP monocoque will have a very good stiffness (albeit with holes for doors and windows), and I suspect be better than a not very deep honeycomb structure with a bodyshell added. I await correction!

[qdos]

Fastpedeller said:

Lots of marketting speak. I'm not convinced there is really anything new here?

You're not wrong, some 20 years ago in a past life we were testing composite blast walls for oil rigs using a similar kind of construction, though these days you can 3D print this kind of thing but I can't see that being very cost effective given we could do this in GRP back in the 1990s

Fastpedeller said:

I'm pretty sure the QDOS manufactured Midas being a GRP monocoque will have a very good stiffness (albeit with holes for doors and windows), and I suspect be better than a not very deep honeycomb structure with a bodyshell added. I await correction!

Not entirely sure what this is that you are referring to as Qdos is the company or usually me (though there are other people using Qdos as an online name in other forums) and Midas is also another company though admittedly we work closely together on several vehicles and development projects. I assume you are referring to one or all of the Midas cars which are indeed GRP monocoques and yes they are pretty good regards stiffness though obviously the two roadsters are less so than the coupes

[Fastpedeller]

qdos said:

Not entirely sure what this is that you are referring to as Qdos is the company or usually me (though there are other people using Qdos as an online name in other forums) and Midas is also another company though admittedly we work closely together on several vehicles and development projects. I assume you are referring to one or all of the Midas cars which are indeed GRP monocoques and yes they are pretty good regards stiffness though obviously the two roadsters are less so than the coupes

My apologies - I was referring to your note which appeared 11 before this, and thought you also produced the Midas kit car.