Prototyping
The jigs are the features that hold the actual chassis in place while building each section. The design of the jigs started with the 3-D model of jig table placed underneath the chassis (figure 2). The jigs give us a way to reference the model in reality. Without the jigs the manufacturing of the chassis would be extremely difficult. The jigs also offer the team a way to reproduce the chassis many times over, and keeping the chassis with a tight tolerance. See images below.
Figure 1: Jigs mounted to the table (left), and the same jigs holding tubes in place (right).
Figure 2: 3D model of the top half of the chassis sitting on the table. The jigs where drawn from the table to the chassis to assure a precise fit during fabrication.
A “V” slot design was used in order to center the tube evenly on the jig. An additional top “V” bracket is used to sandwich the tube between the two “V” bracket, effectively mounting it to the table. When modeling we simply modeled the jigs off of the table with each side of the “V” tangent with a tube. Once the jigs were modeled they where cut out of 3/16″ plate using MOG Metalworks & Designs CNC plasma table.
Figure 3: CNC plasma cut “V” brackets that hold the A-C pillar bars in place.
Figure 4: Top and bottom “V” brackets that sandwich the tube.