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Thread: RP of plenum

  1. #1
    we want to manufacture our plenum using Rapid Prototyping.
    we have SLS and polyamide material for manufacturing.
    can anyone give me suggestions on RP of plenum regarding what material should be used and what should be the thickness of plenum?
    will polyamide be sufficient for plenum?
    Rohit Kumar
    Axlr8r formula racing
    IIT- Delhi

  2. #2
    Senior Member
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    Oct 2009
    Location
    San Antonio, TX
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    Hey Rohit,

    We were very pleased with the flawless performance of our RP intake assembly this past season. It was directly bolted to the cylinder head of a single-cylinder motor (vibration city) and took intake backfires like a champ. Per the sponsor's recommendation, all surfaces were 5 mm thick. This is the polyamide material that was used: http://www.eos.info/en/product...ems/pa-22002201.html
    -----------------------------------
    Matt Birt
    Engine Calibration and Performance Engineer, Enovation Controls
    Former Powertrain Lead, Kettering University CSC/FSAE team
    1st place Fuel Efficiency 2013 FSAE, FSAE West, Formula North
    1st place overall 2014 Clean Snowmobile Challenge

  3. #3
    We SLA our intake. All the walls are about 1/4 inch thick on ours.

  4. #4
    should we do epoxy coating of it after RP?
    Rohit Kumar
    Axlr8r formula racing
    IIT- Delhi

  5. #5
    Senior Member
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    NSW, Australia
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    Wollongong had troubles with their RP intakes last year due to erosion by fuel and other fluids. I imagine some kind of coating would have stopped this. Anyone else had this kind of problem?

    Perhaps it's worth getting a test piece done and seeing how it responds to heat/fluids/etc, especially if you are unfamiliar with the process and/or the manufacturer.
    Jay

    UoW FSAE '07-'09

  6. #6
    Senior Member
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    Oh yes, it will be one large vacuum leak at the very least if it isn't coated. It might also have fuel/fluid resistance issues depending on the material used. Our sponsor uses a process they call "imprexing" to seal it and provide chemical resistance. I've seen another team with idle vacuum issues related to an uncoated RP intake seal it with just a thorough spray painting of the part's exterior.
    -----------------------------------
    Matt Birt
    Engine Calibration and Performance Engineer, Enovation Controls
    Former Powertrain Lead, Kettering University CSC/FSAE team
    1st place Fuel Efficiency 2013 FSAE, FSAE West, Formula North
    1st place overall 2014 Clean Snowmobile Challenge

  7. #7
    Our team used a (I think) 30% glass filled nylon via selective laser sintering. Worked great and survived quite a few backfires even at just 1/8" thick. It was thin enough that we could see a backfire through the material at night.

    I think my team has used it for a few years now without it breaking.

    Ben

  8. #8
    Originally posted by Ben K:
    Our team used a (I think) 30% glass filled nylon via selective laser sintering. Worked great and survived quite a few backfires even at just 1/8" thick. It was thin enough that we could see a backfire through the material at night.

    I think my team has used it for a few years now without it breaking.

    Ben
    I want to say this is the stuff: http: //production3dprinters .com /sites /production3dprinters .com /files /downloads /DS_DuraForm_GF_US.pdf

  9. #9
    I can attest to the strength of RP'd intakes. I think we had a fibre reinforced nylon (Don't quote me on that), through which you could see back fires. The plenum chamber you could also see flex during transitions between Close and WOT. I mention this, because I also remember the backfiring events when we got a bad sync (wasted spark starting), you could see the combustion events in the intake. I think the material was better than other RP materials because it had this flex to absorb such events. (For instance I know the wall thickness on a previous intake when using alumide(spelling?) was greater than when we switched to the nylon. Thus ssaved a fair amount of weight)

    (Go view warwick racing website / fbook for pictures of the WR1 plenum - the monster green colored one)
    Electronics Warwick Racing 11' Alumni

  10. #10
    Out of curiosity, has anybody tried printing their own intake?? Using something like the makerbot??
    MakerBot Replicator 2

    I have a bunch of questions that follow this:
    Would the intake last backfires?
    Would additional coating be required??
    Is it technically possible to make reliable non-critical components for FSAE out of cheap printers like these?
    Does anybody know somebody with such equipment? Can you try printing out something like this?

    Regards,
    Nikhil

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