Fender Design Challenge

DESIGNING OF A CAR FENDER

FENDER:

The fender is the car body part that frames the wheel. Its purpose is to prevent sand, dirt, rocks, and other roads spray from being thrown into the air by the rotating tire and close the engine component. When a vehicle is moving, tires pick up stones and others and hurl them in all directions. Fenders are basically present to prevent any injuries to pedestrians and contain the motion of these particles. A pair of front and rear fenders can be found on each side of a vehicle.

Fender is the US English term for the part of an automobile (vehicle body) that frames a wheel well (the fender underside).

Aside from keeping your vehicle clean, car fenders protect vital components from minor collisions. They also help define the car's overall style and design. They provide classy contours that give your car a classy, edgy look, especially when your vehicle is viewed from the side. They also help improve your car's aerodynamics, so your car is not only cleaner but also faster.

Curved steel was predominantly used in the fabrication of fender panels when they were first introduced in the late 1800s. Today, automakers use non-ferrous sheet metals and other materials to avoid corrosion damage caused by exposure to water and the elements. You can find modern car fenders made from steel, aluminum, thermoplastic, and fiberglass.

Types of car fenders:

• Full Bumper type
• Half Bumper type

Either a single full bumper type or two half bumper type fenders can be produced from a single blank. Half bumper type is widely used because of less wastage of material, which in turn reflects the car's overall price.

Fenders based on location:

• Front Fenders or Front Quarter Panels:

Front fender panels are located on the sides of each front wheel. These panels typically cover the sides of the headlights to the hinge of the driver and passenger doors on the A-pillar. A car front fender runs vertically from the hood to the wheel well.

• Rear Fenders or Rear Quarter Panels:

Rear fender panels are located on the sides of each rear wheel. They extend from the edge of the rear doors on the C-pillar all the way towards the edge of the taillights. Rear fenders also usually feature a fuel hole with a gas cap. These features can be found on either the driver or passenger rear panels, depending on the year and model of the vehicle.

Mounting points on a fender:

• Drip Area
• Bumper Mounting Region
• Sill mounting Region
• A-Pillar Mounting Region
• Wheel Arc Mounting Region

Drip Area: It is the critical mounting area located inside the engine component. Designed according to the master section provided, an optimal opening angle is maintained to make it look well assembled from the outside. Minimum clearance from headlamp and cowl part is maintained. The vertical distance of the drip mounting is maintained at less than 60mm to avoid the spring-back effect. The drip area is mounted to the engine compartment by weld nuts.

Master section to create drip area:

Modeling:

Drip and Sill Regions

Bumper and A-pillar mountings

Splash/Baffle Mountings

Commands used from NX CAD to model this fender are:

1. Offset in face
2. Curve on surface
3. Trim sheet
4. Law extension
5. Datum plane
6. Intersection curves
7. Face blend
8. Bridge curve
9. Sketch
10. Projected curve
11. Emboss
12. Edge blend
13. Sew
14. Dart
15. Thicken

• While designing the drip area, a 150mm clearance is maintained from the front-end for headlight fittings and 200mm clearance from the rear-end for the wiper motor assembly (Cowl top area).
• The depth of the drip area is maintained at less than 60mm so as to avoid the spring-back effect.
• Ribs are provided at the fender drip area to increase strength in that area.
• It is to be observed that no sharp corners persist so that machining can be carried out easily.
• A thickness of 0.75mm (22 gauge) is given after all the modeling is done.

LINK: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pTPZ-jIIxsvxOP9gCw_pB6tpbT0e_2rs?usp=sharing