Fender Design
Fender Design
Fender is a sheet metal body part of an automobile , attached side of the engine compartment and top of the wheel. When a vehicle is in motion it tends to throw mud, debris, stone chips fro the road from its wheel, which could be dangerous for the pedestrians. So fender is given to protect the pedestrians from such debris and stone chips. It is also called mud guard in some countries. It is also designed such a way that in a event of collision the fender takes up the energy and gets separated from the vehicle.
Types of Fender
There are two types of fender available in the market.
1. Full bumper type
2. Half bumper type
Master Section
From the given CAD file we have to design the fender following this master section. The drip area should be designed as when the hood is open the tool can access the inside area to fit the fender with the car frame.
Final Design
Different mounting regions zones of a Fender
A Pillar mounting - This mounting is provided to attach the fender with the A pillar of the vehicle body.
Drip area mounting - This is the most important mounting area of an Fender. It is attached with the engine compartment. We have to consider a lot of factors before designing this mounting zone, like ease of opening and closing, accesebility of tools, vibration etc.
Sil area mounting - This mounting zone attaches the fender to the floor of the vehicle.
Bumper mounting - This mounting zone is attached with the front bumper of the vehicle.
Baffle mounting -
Manufacturing process
First a die is prepared by the tool and die maker following the final approved fender design. A piece of sheet metal is cut from sheet metal rolls called blanks are then puts over the die. That die is next goes for a stamping operation in a hydraulic press in which a ram which a similar impression like the fender presses the blank into the die cavity. After maintaining the pressure for a certain time the blank is now removed from the die. the extra projections needs to cut of from the surface. Now we have a fender which is ready to go for the painting operation.