These are just a couple of projects which 17D has been involved in in recent months:

CNC Machined Car Suspension Mounts:

The customer (a well known prestige car manufacturer) required a small batch of front suspension mounts, for a new build / replica project. The original parts were forgings but tight delivery schedules didn't allow for this. The use of steel castings was explored but, again, time scales with the necessary grades of steel proved unachievable.

Billet machined parts generally provide increased strength over a casting and, although not quite the same yield strength as a forging, some small design changes can provide the necessary outcome.

In this case, a small number of prototype parts were produced by us for customer approval, in under two weeks, in a suitable grade of steel. Once the customer completed the required trials, the full batch was produced on one of our cnc machining centers and after deburring and final inspection, delivered ready for installation into the car chassis.

Project costs: once the cost of tools required for the forging process and the final machining of the rough forged components are taken into account, the process of machining from solid actually works out less expensive on small batch items. The same applies when compared to casting, once pattern costs are calculated.

Initially the client explored having the fire hole ring water jet cut straight to finished size minus the rivet holes.

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