Overview:
T his part is a hood support for the fiberglass hood on a piece of construction equipment. It acts as the metal pivot and locking points and is adhered to the hood with glue. We use the timesaver specifically to give the customer their desired rough surface finish for glue adhesion. The timesaver is basically a large automatic belt sander. These areas are then masked and the rest of the part is powder-coated at an outside vendor.
Originally the drawings were received from the customer for the complex tubing weldment. Our in-house engineers determined how to hold or constrain the part to be welded per the customer specifications. SolidWorks was used as the design software.
This part includes components that are made on the plasma cutter that are then grained on the timesaver. There are tubular components that are bent on the CNC 3D tubing bender, and a custom weld fixture that is designed by our engineering staff is provided. Powder coating is provided by an outside vendor.
We worked closely with the customer through their stringent pre-production approval process before the first production run. Often the print and the sample prototype that are supplied don’t match 100%. We then need to deviate from this to give them the part they want. This is done working closely with the customer’s Quality Control department. What we deliver is a completed part ready for the customer to drop right into their assemblies.
This customer orders 300 parts per year. This part is provided by a blanket order to avoid delays in production or demand spikes. Similar types of parts and components can be produced in quantities in the thousands if needed. The parts are packaged carefully to maintain the powder-coat finish and then delivered with the company’s truck. E Tube & Wire has been making parts for this industry for over 20 plus years.
Applications:
- Fiberglass and plastic panel/hood supports
Equipment:
- Mig welder
- Plasma Cutter up to 1.5″ thick.
- CNC 3-D Tubing Bender up to 3″ dia.
- Timesaver – handles parts 36″ wide and infinite length.