My Elio Alternate Project Is Underway.

[Mark BEX]

Mark,
One of the things I did for Boeing was support the users of their production control software.
That included Emergent Production Planning.

At some point do you document all these details into a plan that is given over to a future factory?
Or is this thread 'de-facto' that production plan, at least in the short term?

Actually, I'm not asking, more noting you should copy out all these pages into a thumb drive.
I have found that things do not last forever on the internet. When nobody is looking, snap!, they are gone.

I'm guessing, pretty soon, you will have someone shadow you and document what goes into the final plan.
That way the transition to production is less a serial process and more in parallel. All these materials take as
much time as actual prototyping and are the bulk of production R&D for most companies.

You have all these skills and knowledge. Planning is the process of putting all of it into a can, for others to reuse.
But.... you know about all that. Just curious what you are doing about it.

4 things:

1/ Most of it is in multiple CAD drawings, I never delete them. If I make a change, it becomes a new CAD drawing and the old one is on file. This is on number 15 file. And of course I keep all my cnc laser cutting files.

2/ The length of the upper dash tube is 800mm, on the car I built 25 years ago. The car's lower control arm length is 310mm from pivot to ball joint on my built in about 2009. I can remember almost every single tube length of almost every car I have ever built, pivot heights, angles, etc. In fact I forgot to bring my USB home last night that I drew some stuff at work on CAD, no problem, I drew the new parts on my home computer completely from memerising all the measurements. My brain is just wired that way, I make stuff, I rarely forget it, and yet I can't remember appointments I might have, or what day it is.

3/ There are people who can count, and people who can't.

 

[Bert]

I've built a few stock cars over the Years, rebuilt street cars, as well as rolling cage to track ready. But, nothing I've done is as impressive as what you're doing here. As has been noted, I may end up being one of your customers once you're ready for production!
I'm glad to say I follow you clearly on axis inclination and triangulation. Preset weight distribution, body roll and weight transfer. Preset camber and castors, and yes, scrubbing..

 

[Mark BEX]

And it works.

Quite happy as I mentioned, no glues, welding, rivets or pins, just a tight press fit over the steel tube.

 

[84mpg]

And it works.

Quite happy as I mentioned, no glues, welding, rivets or pins, just a tight press fit over the steel tube.

View attachment 25422

K.I.S.S. in beautiful action and demonstrates exactly why this vehicle can be produced at the target price.
Simply a beautiful solution...

 

[Mark BEX]

Simply a beautiful solution...

A bit of luck involved to find the right piece that is made in the millions all over the world.

However, that "luck" also has come at a cost of thousands of hours over decades sifting through junkyards, parts' shops and shelves of stuff seeing what's usable and remembering bits that may be handy for the future.

.... and that I own a small hydraulic press :-)

 

[84mpg]

A bit of luck involved to find the right piece that is made in the millions all over the world.

However, that "luck" also has come at a cost of thousands of hours over decades sifting through junkyards, parts' shops and shelves of stuff seeing what's usable and remembering bits that may be handy for the future.

.... and that I own a small hydraulic press :-)

That's right, it's not luck. It's pretty hard to beat one's experience. I'm glad you're applying yours toward this project.

 

[Mark BEX]

Hopefully this is the final mounting set for the steering, and it's actually simpler than it looks.

For those technically interested, I have been also experimenting with how to lower time on the laser.

A chunk of time of the laser cutting is first piercing it's way through the metal before it can start it's run. So the parts here with the red dots are a single piercing, and a continuous non-stop run all the way around, and the green dot is 3 piercings rather than 7.

All goes to saving time and money, and the laser shop charges me for each piercing.

Another tricky trick, is I need to weld a flange (blue dot above) on the end of the minor end mount to hold the rack tube in (just a bit of the roll cage tube), and the weld around it, blue arrow, creates a proud step that stops the tie rod boot from slipping off. Love it when a single item performs 2 functions :-)

 

[84mpg]

Hopefully this is the final mounting set for the steering, and it's actually simpler than it looks.

For those technically interested, I have been also experimenting with how to lower time on the laser.

A chunk of time of the laser cutting is first piercing it's way through the metal before it can start it's run. So the parts here with the red dots are a single piercing, and a continuous non-stop run all the way around, and the green dot is 3 piercings rather than 7.

All goes to saving time and money, and the laser shop charges me for each piercing.

View attachment 25424

Another tricky trick, is I need to weld a flange (blue dot above) on the end of the minor end mount to hold the rack tube in (just a bit of the roll cage tube), and the weld around it, blue arrow, creates a proud step that stops the tie rod boot from slipping off. Love it when a single item performs 2 functions :-)

View attachment 25425

Just curious.... about how long will it take for the laser to cut out those 11 (or so) parts? A minute or two?

 

[JEBar]

All goes to saving time and money, and the laser shop charges me for each piercing.

Per Hannibal of the A-Team, I love it when a plan comes together !!

 

[Mark BEX]

Just curious.... about how long will it take for the laser to cut out those 11 (or so) parts? A minute or two?

The similar whole process here from a cut last year, same machine, same thickness.

You can see clearly the time it takes to pierce each time, and that's what i am trying to save on.