American Chopper- Design- Assembly-Rendering Using Solidworkss

OBJECTIVE:

To Design, Assemble and Render an American Chopper using Solidworks. The objective of this project is to create a fully equipped chopper with all its essential parts and bring it realistic as much as possible. Realistic in the sense giving the headlight, Position of the bike with respect to the ground when it is parked, applying materials to the components,applying decals to the chopper and Giving a realistic view to the chopper etc. Also to learn the standards and criteria while creating a component with respect to its Manufacturing Process.

American Chopper:

A chopper is a type of custom motorcycles which emerged in California in the late 1950s. The chopper is perhaps the most extreme of all custom styles, often using radically modified steering angles and lengthened forks for a stretched-out appearance. They can be built from an original motorcycle which is modified ("chopped") or built from scratch. Some of the characteristic features of choppers are long front ends with extended forks often coupled with an increased rake angle, hardtail frames (frames without rear suspension), very tall "ape hanger" or very short "drag" handlebars, lengthened or stretched frames, and larger than stock front wheels. Choppers evolved from bobbers in the 1940's and 1950's. Bobbers were basically stock bikes with the fenders bobbed or cut down, or even removed altogether. Indian motorcycles were typically modified into bobbers. This made them lighter, making them quicker, but also improved the look to many. The chopper was originally based on land speed record motorcycles and drag racing motorcycles, which had raked front ends, lowered suspension & frames, narrow front tires, small gas tanks and wide rear tires for traction.

American Chopper

Design:

To create the Chopper, I used Bottom-Up approach which defines that the components are created first and are assembled one by one. Here we use accurate dimensions and for chassis we derive the dimensions from the Sketch image of the chopper.

Components:

1.Transmission Belts:

Belt drives are generally used where they offer noise-free, smooth transmission for long distance riding. Since comfort and smoothness is more important here as compared to performance or fuel efficiency, the belt drive system lends itself well to the application.

The Design aspect of the Transmission belt involves simple basics like creating the 2d sketch, extruding the sketch, applying fillets and applying the material. The material used here is Rubber.

Transmission Belts

2.Kickstand:

A kickstand is a single leg that simply flips out to one side, usually the left side, and the bike then leans against it. Side stands can be mounted to the Chain stays right behind the bottom bracket or to a chain and seat stay near the rear hub. Side stands mounted right behind the bottom bracket can be bolted on, either clamping the chain stays, or to the bracket between them, or welded into place as an integral part of the frame.

The Design aspect of the kickstand involves creating a sketch, extruding, applying fillets and dome.The material used here is Chromium Plate.

Kickstand

3.Fenders:

Fender’s primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other roadsprays from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire. Fenders are typically rigid and can be damaged by contact with the road surface. Sticky materials, such as mud, may adhere to the smooth outer tire surface, while smooth loose objects, such as stones, can become temporarily embedded in the tread grooves as the tire rolls over the ground. These materials can be ejected from the surface of the tire at high velocity as the tire imparts kinetic energy to the attached objects. For a vehicle moving forward, the top of the tire is rotating upward and forward.

The Design aspect of the Fenders require the application of splines in sketches, extrudes, fillets, split features, Shell. The material used is Siena colored car paint.

Front Fender

Rear Fender

4.Oiltank:

Oil tanks as the name indicates it stores the engine oil for the chopper. The engine oil tank must be maintained well and the oiltank is usually mounted near the engine but in a position where it won’t get damaged very easily.

The Design aspects of the oiltanks involves Sketches, extrudes, fillets, shell. The Material used for the oiltank is Siena colored car paint.

Oil Tank

5.Chain:

A chain-drive system uses one or more roller chains to transmit power from a differential to the rear axle. This system allowed for a great deal of vertical axle movement (for example, over bumps), and was simpler to design and build than a rigid driveshaft in a workable suspension. Also, it had less unsprung weight at the rear wheels than the Hotchkiss drive, which would have had half the weight of the driveshaft, and differential to carry as well. This meant that the vehicle would have a smoother ride. The lighter unsprung mass would allow the suspension to react to bumps more effectively.

The design aspects of the Chain involves creating the internal and external links and pattering them in the curve produced using the diameters pf the sprockets and patterned. The material used here is Chromium plates.

Chain

6.Pedals:

The pedals are usually used for shifting the gears and for applying the rear brakes. They are usually attached to the engine. The left side pedals are used for shifting gears and right side pedals are used for applying rear brakes.

The Design aspect of the Pedals involve sketches, extrudes, fillets, patterns and domes. The material used is Chromium plates.

Pedal

7.Wheels:

The application of a wheel in a bike is well known, it moves the vehicle and consists of brake drum,calipher,spokes,rim and sprockets.The chai connects the engine and wheel where the transmission takes place.

The Design aspect of the wheel requires Sketch,extrude,fillet,revolve.pattern,thin extrude mirror feature.The material used here are Siena,Chromium plates and Rubber.

Front Wheel

Rear wheel

8.Forks:

A motorcycle fork connects a motorcycle's front wheel and axle to its frame, typically via a yoke, also known as a triple clamp, which consists of an upper yoke joined to a lower yoke via a steering stem, a shaft that runs through the steering head, creating the steering axis. Most forks incorporate the front suspension and front brake, and allow the front wheel to rotate about the steering axis so that the bike may be steered. Most handlebars attach to the top clamp in various ways, while clip-on handlebars clamp to the fork tubes, either just above or just below the upper triple clamp.

The Design aspect of a Fork involves sketches, extrudes, revolve, fillet, sweep, mirror feature, patterns and domes.The material used here is Chromium plates and Rubber.

Fork

9.Chassis:

The Chassis of a motorcycle acts as the carrier in which all the parts of the chopper is mounted.The Engine,Fueltanks,Oiltanks,Pedals and Rear wheel are mounted on the chassis.The front fork is also attached to the chassis.The Chassis must be always rigid and should have a good strength in order to improve the performance of the bike.

The Design aspect of the Chassis involves 2d sketch which is mostly derived from the chopper image and uses spline in its sketches, extrude,revolve,mirror feature,sweep,Split,Dome,Projected curves fillets.The material used is Siena.

Chassis

10.Engine:

A motorcycle engine is an engine that powers a motorcycle. Motorcycle engines are typically two-stroke or Two-stroke engines but other engine types, such as Wankels and electric engines have been used.The main objective of the engine is to generate energy from the combustion of the fuel,a typical bike engine consists of piston,cylinder,sparkplug,inletvalve,exhaust valve with its outer covered by fins.

The Design aspect of the engine requires 2d sketches, extrude, sweep, extrude, extrude cut, revolved cut, Composite curve, project curve, pattern, mirror feature, dome fillet. The material used here is Gunmetal.

Engine

11.Fueltank:

The Fuel tank as the name indicates that the fuel tank stores the fuel and is mounted to the chassis and is placed above the engine. Sometimes called the reserve tank is a secondary fuel tank (in many cars/bikes it contains around 15% of the capacity of the primary tank) these are more commonly found on bikes, older cars (some without a fuel gauge) and vehicles designed for long distance or special use. A light on the instrument panel indicates when the fuel level dips below a certain point in the tank. There is no current standard, although some efforts are made to collect this data for all automobiles.

The Design aspects of the fuel tanks involve 2d sketches, extrude,surface loft, surface boundary,Surface knit,project curves,Surface trim,Surface fill,shell.The material used here is Siena and Rubber for the Seat.

Fuel Tank

Assembly of the Chopper:

• Now the parts are being created,First the Chassis is imported and placed with respect to the Origin.Its followed by Engine,Pedals,Kickstand,Transmission belts,Rear wheel,Rear fender,Chain,Oil tank,Fueltank,Fork,Front wheel,Frontfender.
• To make the Chopper look like it is parked, mate the top plane and the bottom of the tyres and also mate the top plane with the kick stand bottom.
• The mates employed here are coincident,parallel,concentric,angular and special mates like widge mates.

Fully Assembled Chopper.

Top plane being mated with bottom of the tyres and kickstand bottom.

Rendering the Chopper:

Rendering the Chopper involves making the component realistic as much as possible.It involves giving decals,giving headlights,Giving scenes,giving a camera view to the Chopper etc.

Headlights and Decals

Fully Rendered Chopper in Classic Studio.