Aluminium Sandwich Chassis

[mickyc]

Hi there, can any of you guys give me any advice on hardpoints on an aluminium sandwich chassis, this is the first time we've tried this method and would appreciate any tips, (none of the "don't eat yellow snow" variety please!!)

Where's the flange??

[Erik C]

Are you using pre-manufactured panels or laying the part up yourself? If you are doing it yourself, then do a core pan down in the area of your hard point; it is best not to apply point loads/brackets/fasteners through areas with core if you can avoid it. Determine the loads, and how many plies you will need for pull through/bearing on the laminate. Done

If you are using panels, and will have to be mounting through core, then one way would be to "spoil" the core in that area and fill it with some sort of epoxy paste adhesive. This will create a local hard point that you can drill through to attach your fasteners through. I would also use a backing plate to help distribute the load over a larger area....

Well, now that I have probably confused you.....

[clausen]

Anybody got any good photos of aluminium fsae car chassis' ?

Regards

Paul Clausen
Uni of Adelaide

[J. Cheng]

There are many off-the-shelf inserts available from the aerospace industry. Delron is one brand manufactured by Fairchild
http://www.alcoa.com/fastening_systems/en/market_category.asp?cat_id=679. They are very expensive to buy in small quantity (like U.S.$30+ a piece). The structural inserts will grip both faces of the sandwich panel (require a special tool to install them) and then you can inject epoxy thru holes in the flange to fill the honeycomb core underneath. Usually, the pot-in type (that doesn't grab the far-side skin of the sandwich panel) has a lower load capacity. They have shop drawings of the inserts in their catalogue and some of the simpler pot-in ones can easily be duplicated in a machine shop.

Joe

[This message was edited by J. Cheng on November 19, 2003 at 11:45 PM.]

[mickyc]

cheers guys, some good info to go on.
Does anyone have any pics of thier FS aluminium chassis as i have never actually seen one done before??

Where's the flange??

[Kevin Hall]

Once the FSAE websites link gets going again at formulasae.org, check out Queens

Kevin Hall
University of Saskatchewan
'03-'04 Team Director

[Brent Howard]

http://www.sae.org/students/schools.htm

It's all there still, just no direct link until it's updated.

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae (http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae)

[James Waltman]

I think that we use some like J. Cheng was talking about. They go on either side of the panel and get bonded in with epoxy. We only use them for non structural stuff like radiator mounts. They are pretty easy to make on the manual lathe.
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/James/Web%20Pics/panel%20inserts.JPG

For structural stuff we tie into our bulkheads. We use carbon fiber/Nomex honeycomb panels but I assume that many of the techniques would be the same.
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/images/V35%20Chassis_jpg.jpg

Check out the website for more pictures of the bulkheads.

The Safety Harness Testing (http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/viking35_safety_harness_testing.htm) part of our photo gallery might be helpful as well.

James Waltman
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/
Vehicle Research Institute at
Western Washington University

[Scott Wordley]

Paul and Mickey,

Look at:
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae/otherteamsoz02b.htm

Under the UNSW section.

Regards,

Scott Wordley

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae

[mickyc]

Those fixings look pretty easy to make thanks.
Thanks for the link to Queens Brent, nice looking car! Can anyone from Queens give me an idea as to how much weight would be saved using this type of chassis over a steel spaceframe?

Where's the flange??