Manufacturing Technologies - Coursework Example

? MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES Manufacturing Technologies Overview Bicycle frames have been made, for at least the last century, from an assembly of tubes. Various tube materials have been used, including aluminum, titanium and polymer matrix composites, with appropriate joining processes, but the vast majority of frames are still made from steel tubes brazed into joining pieces known as lugs. Most studies postulate that the process of making frames is a difficult process hence reason behind why the process is still almost entirely carried out manually by skilled workers (Anon, 1988: 37-39). There has been an entirely different process route apart from the automation of the joining process that most studies postulate to be viable. The late1980s was marked with intense marketing of a cast magnesium frame (Anon, 1987 and Anon, 1988). Despite the fact about the difficulties regarding the proof of the long term success as a product, this however had quite little to do with the functional design and method of manufacture of the frame (Anon, 1987: 235-236). Today, there is many more research being conducted in this production field which ultimately aims at improving the existing models and bring into market more sufficient models that are of high quality. Critical aspects in the processes of manufacturing sequence for a bicycle frame Bicycle manufacturing involves a series of process which can be classified in to primary stage and secondary stage. The primary stage safe ultimately involves the hardware part of manufacturing with the main aim being the creation of the structure of the bicycle while the secondary part can also be looked upon has the finishing stage of manufacturing a bicycle which involves the painting of the bicycle among other small things that are done to a bicycle before it is ready to be used (Springfield Bicycle Manufacturing Co. (Boston, Mass.), 1888). The process of manufacturing a bicycles frame involves a sequence of processes. There are two main sequence processes that are followed in the manufacturing of the frame namely, the casting technique and the forming-joining technique. The casting technique is an innovation of British bicycle and was designed by Frank Kirk. It is designed using computer. The casting technique used a magnesium alloy which was more efficient and advantageous as compares to steel-tubed diamond bicycle frame. Magnesium alloy casting proved to e twice as rigid as steel-tubed bicycle frame, it was more aerodynamic, cheaper to produce (Linda, C, and Ernest, 1996). It is also lighter and cheaper to produce in the long run. Another advantage of the casting technique was that it produce a bicycle frame which could not flex, it did not produce energy that was expended to produce propel the machine and it was made to be high stiff by running the down to tube along the axis from the head tube to the rear axle. Casting production method was an improvement seen it facilitated the production of identical frames with identical performance that were more durable (Springfield Bicycle Manufacturing Co. (Boston, Mass.), 1888). Casting production of the bicycle frame proved to be more sufficient in terms of its function despite its low cost. Another advantage of the casting of a bicycle frame was that the frame had special inserts which allowed the insertion of all components parts of a bicycle such as the brakes and it was also composed of a carbon fiber hanger which enabled the mechanism to be swurfg clear so that the wheel can removed and replaced more easily and fast (Yu-Shan, Ming-Ji, Lin, and Chang, 2009: 207-217) The production of bicycle frame was boosted by development of the a large pressure die-casting machine which produces large amount of bicycle frame over a short period of time with the production of one frame being estimated to take one minute and annual production being 200000 frames. The process of making a bicycle frame is very complex. It involves joining tubes together by brazed lugs where more lugs are built in order to allow for the brake cables to pass in and out of the frame (Linda, C, and Ernest, 1996). This process is very complex and therefore it does not lend itself to the mass production of bicycle frames. In the choosing of materials for making bicycle frames, a high purity of magnesium has proven to be best and most appropriate type materials. This is because magnesium is very light with a density of 1.8kg/m3 as compared to aluminum which has the density of 2.7 kg/m3 and steel which has 7.8 kg/m3 (Springfield Bicycle Manufacturing Co. (Boston, Mass.), 1888). Despite magnesium being the best material for production of bicycle frames there has been several misconceptions about it which has discourage the use of it. These misconceptions are that, magnesium corrodes easily, it burns so fast and it is very expensive and the reality is that these misconceptions are not true by any chance and magnesium has been done in the production of large number of applications. However, magnesium can burn in the case whereby the surface area to volume ratio is small and flat in nature (Canada, 1950). And thus the parameters of the machines should be set in such a way that the chips are as large as possible. The only big worry in Kirk Precision factory, the biggest danger is that the molten magnesium can explored but this is taken care of by the keeping the metal in Carbon (iv) oxide atmosphere when it is in molten state (Springfield Bicycle Manufacturing Co. (Boston, Mass.), 1888). About its corrosion, the removal of copper, nickel and iron from it during the meting process has improved it and from testing done using atmospheric and salt- spray, it has been proven that magnesium is as resistant to corrosion as either 380 aluminum alloy or cold-rolled still which makes it better to be used in frame production and only challenge that is faced in production of bicycle frames is the acquisition of magnesium because of its price but the most important point is that the overall finished cost of production of a magnesium die-casting is directly comparable to that to one of aluminum which are equivalent (Anon, 1988: 37-39). The production techniques of magnesium diecastiing ultimately require not more than 100mm of the magnesium. The production equipment of magnesium frame basically involves two machines each 18.5 m long with a locking farce of 1000tonnes (Springfield Bicycle Manufacturing Co. (Boston, Mass.), 1888). Despite the use of magnesium in cast production technique, according to Sarah Herbert, new methods which involve the use of advanced composite materials which have the advantages in terms of high strength to weight ratio, exceptional stiffness and excellent resistance to corrosion can improve and speed up the production of bicycle frames. The structural composite production part involves two main economic alternatives which are the resin transfer moulding (RTM) and the sheet moulding compound (SMC) (Anon, 1988: 37-39). A finished product of RTM has a low tooling cost which is composed of good surface finish. These two economic alternatives involve the use of cheap raw materials. According to Cambridge Consultants limited, with low labor input, negligible wastage and maximum technical performance under RTM, the structural can be produced at the similar price to that of aluminum and steel (Springfield Bicycle Manufacturing Co. (Boston, Mass.), 1888). The technique allows for a wide range of shapes to be manufactured which include the I-beams, curved, arched and tapered shapes. Thus it is more reliable since its shape can be restructured in severally in order to come up with the desired shape that is needed in the production of the required mode of bicycle. The first projected that was completed under this method proved to be more efficient with the first prototype managing to a test load of 30tonnes yet it weighed less than 40kg in which it was of reduced material and labor input thus cheaper to produce than even the current existing RTM method (Anon, 1988: 37-39). There is a lot of active researching going on about composite production in automotive production because the use composites help in weight reduction which is the main concern of car manufacturers. The secondary stage bicycle production is more cheap as compared to the primary since involves less materials which are less costly as compare to the materials used in the primary manufacturing of the bicycles frame (Canada, 1979). The primary stage plays a great deal towards ensuring the quality of the final product which is a bicycle and therefore more emphasis should always be focused toward ensuring primary stage effectively and efficiently achieved in order to ensure the production of bicycles that are of good qualities and are easily acceptable in the in the trading market. In conclusion, the use of casting technique which involves the magnesium in die-casting in the process of manufacturing bicycles frames has proved to be the best and most efficient means so far (Linda, C, and Ernest, 1996). This has been due to the advantages that magnesium has over other materials such as aluminum, titanium and polymer matrix composites and the ability to produce bicycle frames at large scale using the casting techniques has opposed to the difficult ways manufacturing frames using steel tubes that are brazed into joining pieces well known as lugs that are very difficult to automate and are still done manually by skilled workers (Canada, 1953). However, there is still a call for improvement of these manufacturing process with the use of more cheaply and quality efficient raw material in the production. The most recent and advantageous proposal is the use composite materials which has more advantageous has compared to all other materials used so far. Reference List Anon (1987) ‘Magnesium makes a better bike’, Engineering, 227, 4, pp. 235–236. Anon (1988) ‘Building a better bicycle frame’, Engineering Materials and Design, 32, 3, pp. 37, 39. Springfield Bicycle Manufacturing Co. (Boston, Mass.). (1888). The Springfield Roadster: Manufactured by the Springfield Bicycle Manufacturing Company, under the Yost & McCune patents. Boston: The Company, No. 9 Cornhill. Canada. (n.d.). (1979). The bicycle manufacturing industry. Ottawa: Queen's printer and controller of Stationery. Canada. (1950). The bicycle manufacturing industry. Ottawa: Mining, Metallurgical and Chemical Section, Industry and Merchandising Division, Dominion Bureau of Statistics. Canada. (1953). The bicycle manufacturing industry. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Industry and Merchandising Division, Metal and Chemical Products Section EBSCO Publishing (Firm). (n.d.). TIER Industry Report - Bicycle Manufacturing. S.l: s.n. Pakistan. (1963). Report of the bicycle manufacturing industry. Karachi: Manager of Publications. Yu-Shan, C, Ming-Ji, J, Lin, C and Chang, F (2009) Technological innovations and industry Clustering in the bicycle industry in Taiwan, Technology in Society, 31, (3), 207-217 Linda, C, and Ernest, E (1996) Creative design of the Lotus bicycle: implications for knowledge support systems research, Design Studies, 17, (1), 71-90. Read More