MODELING OF AMERICAN CHOPPER USING SOLIDWORKS

                                                                                                                   Modeling of American Chopper in Solidworks

 

• Introduction:

          In this project, we will discuss about detailed Modeling of American Chopper by using SolidWorks modeling Software & Photo-Realistic Rendering of our final assembly by the use of Solidwork Visualize.Solidworks is one of the most use software for solid modeling, create 3D parts from 2D Sketches. It is a handy tool to work on complex geometries to create 3D solid parts with many Features, tools to work on your geometry, and to convert it into 3D models. The most interesting feature of Solidworks is that it allows Parametric Modeling which is very Beneficial when you work on Complex projects and where changes had to be made in your geometry, then the Solidworks modify your final part accordingly to the changes made in your geometry which saves a lot of effort and time.

In this project, we will create our American Chopper Part modeling and then Assembly to create our final Model and after this Rendering of our Final Model.

• Objective: 

      The main objectives of this project are

1. To create Individual Part modeling of chopper by use of Solidworks
2. To Assemble this Parts of chopper to get our final complete assembly of Chopper
3. To give appropriate apperances and looks to our final model by use of decals,colors & lights
4. To create photorealistic model and render it using photoview 360 & Solidworks Visualize

 Design Methodology of American Chopper : 

 

 

Kickstand:

We will Create our first part that is Kickstand it is also known as a side stand whose main purpose is to support the vehicle to rest steadily on the ground without falling on the ground without our kickstand we cannot rest our chopper on the ground.

      

Features use to create Kickstand:

• Skecth
• Loft
• Dome
• Extrude Boss
• Extrude cut
• Fillet
• Split

 

Skecth: To start with the first part model we have to create our skecth of Kicksatnd.

The Skecth is the 2D representation of the model which afterwards get transformed in 3D object in solidworks there are different tools provided to do our skecth such as line, Rectangle, spline, circle, arc etc.

So, the above image shows that we have created a spline first with the following dimensions & then create an Ellipse at the two ends of the spline which completes our skecth.

                                                                                                 

 

Loft:

The Loft Feature allows you to create complex geometry by adding material between two skecthes, faces, edges and generating a smooth profile as shown below. It does it by interpolating through cross-sections created and genetares a solid feature that is known as a lofted profile.

 

Dome:

This feature is mainly used to create Dome shaped smooth profiles on mainly faces. It is a solid geometry feature tool i.e after the creation of some solid parts you can directly use this feature to generate a dome shape profile. This allows you to apply domes to irregularly shaped contours as shown below.

          

 

 

Extude Boss/Base:

This feature is mainly used to convert a 2D Skecth into a 3D model by extruding the selected skecth or contour and creartes a solid Feature.

Extude Cut:

This feature is mainly used to remove material from the 3D model created for that purpose first a skecth is needed to be created on an appropriate plane from which we have to remove the material as in the case of our kickstand we have drawn a skecth on our midplane as shown below to remove material from our kickstand.

Fillet:

This feature creates a rounded internal or external face on the part. You can fillet all the edges of a solid model you can also select a loop to give fillet to multiple edges.

Split:

This feature is used to create or project multiple bodies from a skecth entity on another surface of the model this surface can be curved or plane. You can also create multiple bodies from a single model by using the split command.

Procedure to be followed to create Kickstand:

• First open a new part file in Solidworks software.
• Before creating Skecth changed the default name of planes as follows:

1) Front Plane- Front Plane

2) Top Plane- Top Plane

3) Right Plane- Mid Plane

• Now select the midplane on which we have to skecth our spline. select spline entity from our skecth entities and start drawing a spline
• Give appropriate dimensions to our spline and ensured that our skecth is fully defined
• Then at the two endpoints of our spline start drawing ellipse for that you have to create referance planes on the two endpoints after that draw ellipse and give dimensions to it
  
  
• Once this is finished you can now use Loft feature to create a smooth loft
• Then use the Dome feature to create dome shape solid profile at the end faces of our lofted model.
• The extrude cut feature is then used to remove material from our model for that purpose you must first create a rectangle on the midplane and then use extrude cut feature to remove unwamted material
• Fillets are applied on the sharper edges of the required radius to create smooth curvred edges on our Kickstand model
• Then finally the part is saved by the name "Kickstand"

 

Transmission Belt:

This part is used to transmit power generated by the engine to Rear wheels via GearBox.

 

Features use to create Transmission Belt:

• Skecth
• Offset
• Extrude Boss
• Fillet

Skecth: To start with our model we have to create our skecth of Transmission Belt.

The Skecth is the 2D representation of the model which afterward gets transformed into a 3D object in solidworks there are different tools provided to do our skecth such as line, Rectangle, spline, circle, arc, etc.

Offset:

This entity can be used to Offset one or more Skecth entites by a certain distance. We can also offset faces, edges of our model by using this feature also we can offset arcs, splines, loops by using this which reduces a lot of time and effort to redraw these skecth entites. In the above image, we can see that we have offset our skecth.

 

Procedure to be followed to create Transmission Belt:

• First, open a new part file in Solidworks
• Then select the front plane from the featrue tree and Start skecthing on the front plane.
• Use skecth entites such as line, arc to draw the skecth and give dimensions and necessary relations to the skecth to make it fully defined.
• Once the skecth is completed then select the offset entity to offset our skecth by some distance on our front plane.
• Ensured that our skecth is completely closed then used Extrude Boss feature to convert our 2D Sketch to 3D object.
• Then Fillet of the required radius is provided on the edges.
• Lastly saved the model with the name "Transmission Belt"
  

Front Fender:

The front fender is partly mounted above the front wheel and in between the Front fork. This part of the chopper protects the rider from any foreign entity get directly hit to the rider when the chopper is in running condition such as stones, Dirt, muddy regions, etc also it protects the other parts of the chopper. 

Features use to create Front-Fender:

• Skecth
• Revolve
• Dynamic Mirror
• Split
• Offset
• Trim

 

Revolve:

This feature is used to sweep a skecth entity, profile along with an axis or centerline in 360-degree angle to give a solid part or model.

 

Dynamic Mirror:

Dymanic Mirror is one of the most useful skecth tools which can replicate or mirror the skecth entity about preskecth skecth entity. As shown in the Image a curve is mirrored by using this feature.

 

 

Rear Fender:

The Rear fender is partly mounted above the rear wheel of the chopper. This part of the chopper protects the rider from any foreign entity get directly hit to the rider when the chopper is in running condition such as stones, Dirt, muddy regions, etc also it protects the other parts of the chopper. 

Features use to create Rear-Fender:

• Skecth
• Revolve
• Dynamic Mirror
• Split
• Offset
• Trim

It is similar to that of the Front-fender same steps are to be followed for the Rear-fender.

 

Chain:

This part also plays an important role as it is used to transmit power generated by engine to rear wheel through gear-box, the chain get its power from sprocket which is attach to the shaft of the engine with the help of key from where the motion is been transmitted to rear wheel in a very efficient way without loss of power. So, it is important to prepare model of this part correctly.

 

Features use to create chain:

• Skecth
• Make Block feature
• Exturde Boss
• Pattern Feature
• Fillet
• Mirror

Procedure to be followed to create Chain:

• The first step to create any model is to prepare a fully dimensional sketch of the part to be model.
• So, start preparing a sketch of the chain, select the front plane to start the skecth, and use skecth entities such as spline, circle to draw an outline of the chain profile as shown in the figure below

• As shown above this will give you a fully defined skecth of the chain after that you have to exit the current sketch and start a new skecth on the front plane
• Start preparing further skecth of chain link as shown below draw two seperate links as shown in the fig.
• Now, we have to create a block for that select Make block option by going into (Tools-->Blocks-->Make Block) then select the first skecth of chain endplate in edit mode and click on Make block option, repeat same steps for second end-plate
• Then save the blocks in a specific folder and select the insert block option from (Tools-->Blocks-->Insert block) and insert the two blocks created recently
• Give relations to the blocks and make it align with the curve created on the front plane

 

 

Pattern:

This feature allows you to create geometric patterns of the skecth entities along a straight path, curved path or against a defined path. It also allows us to create a pattern of solid feature against a defined closed curve such as a circle etc.

In the case of the chain model, we have to use a Curved driven pattern to complete our part model as shown below, as in curve driven pattern the pattern is created against a curve and all the patterns follow that path.

 

Oil Tank:

      This part is used to store engine oil and supply it to the engine when the engine is in running condition, as oil is important for the smooth running of the engine. This part model is created by using features such as shell, combine, extrude-boss, etc as shown below.

 

Features use to create oil-tank:

• Skecth
• Exturde Boss
• Shell
• Fillet
• Combine

Procedure to be followed to create oil-tank :

• Start a skecth on Top plane use skecth entities like three point arc, line to complete the skecth give dimensions to it and exit the skecth
• Use Extrude boss feature from feature tab and select the skecth drawn on front plane extrude it to given dimension, click on ok to accept the extrude
• Again start skecth by selecting the right plane give dimensions to the skecth and accept the result. Then extrude the same to given dimensions
• Once finished with this operation use Combine feature to get our required oil tank model, it gives us a solid model of oil tank
• At last use the shell feature to create a hollow structure and click ok, apply necessary fillets, and accept it. 

 

Shell: This feature is used to create Hollow bodies from solid bodies, it can be done by providing the required thickness to the body as in the case of our oil-tank 3mm thickness is provided as shown below 

Combine: This feature is used to add, subtract or combine to exturded bodies to form a single soild body, etc.

 

Pedal:

Pedal this part is located or fixed at the chassis of the chopper so that the rider can place his or her foot on the pedal and it provides comfort to the rider while riding the bike, it is an external part but it is also an important one.

Features use to create Pedal:

• Skecth
• Exturde Boss
• Linear pattern
• Fillet
• Dome
• Chamfer

 

Chamfer:

This feature is used to create a slope or bevel against a slected edge, vertex or multiple edges can also be selected to apply this feature.

 

Front Wheel: 

A wheel is the most important part of any automobile vehicle as it moves our vechicle from one place to another by its circular motion.

So, basically, wheel is a circular disc-like part that has several sub-parts such as Rim, Tyre.

Rim is metal part generally made up of alloy steel or another alloy it is lightweight but strong in construction on which our Rubber tyre is fixed which has treads on its surface to provide grip on the ground it is also rigid in construction.

Features use to create Front Wheel:

• Skecth
• Revolve
• Revovle cut
• Trim
• Fillet
• Boss-Extrude
• Linear Pattern
• Chamfer
• Cut Extrude
• Circular Pattern

Cut Extrude: This feature is used to remove unwanted material from our solid body to give us the required part or model.

Circular Pattern:

This feature is used to create a pattern of the selected entity against a circular path we can provide an angle in between two entities that are pattern along a circular path in case of our frongt wheel model this feature is used to make a circualr pattern of the spokes inside the rim. Similarly, linear pattern is also used on Disc fitted on the front wheel to provide holes. The parent bodies or features are used to create patterns and a number of instances are given to prepare a circular pattern.

 

Rear Wheel: 

A wheel is the most important part of any automobile vehicle as it moves our vechicle from one place to another by its circular motion it rotates along an axis a bike has two wheels one in front and the other one is the rear wheel.In which the rear wheel is the driving wheel and the front wheel is the driven wheel it is so becasue the power of the engine is given to the rear wheel so, it rotates first and drives the front wheel.

For that purpose, a rear wheel is fitted with a sprocket on which the chain is fitted which transmits the power from the engine to the rear wheel.

So, basically, the wheel is a circular disc-like part that has several sub-parts such as Rim, Tyre.

Rim is metal part generally made up of alloy steel or another alloy it is lightweight but strong in construction on which our Rubber tire is fixed which has tread on its surface to provide grip on the ground it is also rigid in construction.

Features use to create Rear Wheel:

• Skecth
• Revolve
• Trim
• Fillet
• Revovle cut
• Boss-Extrude
• Linear Pattern
• Chamfer
• Cut Extrude
• Circular Pattern
• Combine

 

 Front Fork:

This part is located in the front portion of our most the bikes it serves multiple functions such as firstly it acts as steering for our bike we can direct our bike in the required direction by turning our front fork in that way. So, we can control our bike by using the front fork secondly the front wheel is also mounted on the front it thereby it provides support to the vehicle all the controls of our vehicle such as brake lever, accelerator, horn, light switches are all located on front fork handle.

The front fork is simple in construction with two telescopic shock absorbers located at the lower portion of the front fork where our front wheel is mounted and another part extends to form the handle of the fork as shown below.

Features use to create Front Fork:

• Skecth
• Revolve
• Trim
• Fillet
• Boss-Extrude
• Projected curve
• sweep
• Combine
• Mirror
• split
• Move/copy body
• Dome

Move/Copy Body: 

This feature is used to move or copy the created body from one place to other.

Mirror:

By using this feature we can create a mirror copy of solid bodies, features that are already created along a referance plane. In the case of the front fork, half body is created and the other half is mirrored along the midplane to create the full part and afterward combine feature is used to combine the two separate bodies into a single one.

Projected Curve:

A projected curve is a 3D curve generated by a combination of two different 2D skecthes to create a complex 3D smooth curve.

Sweep:

With this feature, we can create a solid body feature by moving a 2d skecth along a 2d or 3d sketch path.

 

Chasis:

Chasis or it is also known as a frame of our bike which forms the skeleton of our complete vehicle on which all the elements of our bike are mounted such as the engine, front fork, rear wheel, oil tank, gas tank, etc. 

The main funtion of chasis is to support all these elements mounted on it and form a rigid structure that absorb all the shock and vibrations genrated when the bike is in running condition and provide strength, durability to our vehicle.

 

Features use to create Chasis:

• Skecth
• offset
• Trim
• Fillet
• Revolve
• Convert Entity
• Projected curve
• sweep
• Combine
• split
• Cut Exturde

 

Engine:

The engine is the heart of any vehicle it is the powerhouse of the vehicle which generates power.In engine, the chemical energy is converted into heat energy by combustion of fuel and generation of heat energy which further gets converted into mechanical energy by reprocating motion of piston Thereby producing rotational motion.

This rotational motion is then transmitted to the wheel by means of chain & sprocket mechanism with the help of gearbox, clutch to the rear wheel and it runs our vehicle.

 

Features use to create Engine:

• Skecth
• offset
• Trim
• Fillet
• Revolve
• Composite curve
• Projected curve
• sweep
• Circular pattern
• split
• Cut Exturde
• Mirror
• Dome
• Boss Extrude

Composite Curve: This feature is used to combine two 3d curves into a single curve thereby creating a complex single curve.

Gas Tank:

A gas tank is used to store gas or fuel for the engine and supplies it to the engine when the engine is ignited.

Also, it provides an Asthetic look to our vehicle as we can use different shapes and complex geometry to form our gas tank shaped and it has an integrated seating arrangement for the rider as shown below.

Features use to create Gas Tank:

• Skecth
• Trim
• Fillet
• Projected curve
• sweep surface
• Loft surface
• Surface Trim
• Surface Knit
• Sweep cut
• Fill Surface

Loft Surfaces:

This feature creates surfaces between two or more profiles i.e between selected curves to create a smooth lofted surface

Sweep surface:

This feature sweep a surface open or closed by selecting an open or closed path to create the surface.

Fill Surface:

The fill surface feature allows us to create a surface path with any number of sides within a boundary defined by existing model edges, sketches, curves or composite curves.

Surface Knit:

This feature is used to combine the different surfaces as a single surface we can select multiple surfaces which we want to knit together and formed a single surface for our convenience and apply appearances to it.

Surface Trim:

This feature is used to trim unwanted surfaces by creating a 2d sktech on a plane and then selecting the surface through which we want to trim the surface to get our required surface.

 

Assembly of American Chopper:

After all, the individual parts of the chopper are created the next step is to assemble them to prepare our final complete chopper.

Assembly is the systematic arrangement of all parts with required relations to form a complete product or model we can also create a mechanism with the help of assembly for that purpose we need to create a new assembly in Solidworks software.

Procedure to be followed for assembly of chopper:

• The first step is to open new assembly in solidworks software then select add components/parts option from the Features menu
• Open the first part i.e the chassis now we need to give relation to this open part there is a number of relations available such as fix, float, tangent, perpendicular  etc. from those options select the fix one because the chassis is the first component on which all other parts are to be assembled.
• Then start adding other parts to the assembly and apply required mates to the parts to make it fully defined and prepare our chopper assembly.

 

Features use for assembly of chopper:

• Mates

Mates :

By using this feature in the assembly menu we can provide relationship between the different parts of our assembly the main purpose of applying mates is to restrict the motion of our part i.e the degree of freedom. This is only possible through applying mates their are several types of mates which we can provide they are as follow:

• Tangent
• Perpendicular
• Concentric 
• Horizontal
• Vertical
• coincident
• Parallel

By providing this mate we can fully define our assembly there is advanced mate option by using which we can provide restricted motion to different parts of our assembly, we can provide angular motion to the parts by using this option and it is also helpful to create a certain type of mechanism. 

 

Rendering:

• Rendering is the process of creating realistic images of the created assembly in different environment by providing different appearances to the existing model to showcase our design
• By use of this feature, we can transform our model into a realistic object to create the illusion of how our actual object will look like and it helps us to get more clear idea about the concept of our new product and its appearance.
• It can be done by using two different softwares in solidworks
• Photoview 360
• Solidworks Visualize

Photoview 360:

This is provided in Solidworks software as an Add-in option it is a visualization and rendering solution providing different environments and appearances options for our model and then render it into that environment to create a photo-realistic image of the model.

Solidworks Visualize:

Solidwork Visualize is completely separate software for transforming our 3D cad files into realistic high-quality images with an en-number of tools. We can create from images to animations, interactive web content, and immersive Virtual Reality with ease and in a faster way.

Conclusion:

• In this way, we have created the final assembly of our American Chopper and Prepare a Photo-Realistic Image of the same.
• Learn to use the Solidwork software to create 3D parts by using different tools available in solidworks part model
• Learn to assemble the parts created and to apply mates to the assembly to create fully defined assembly of our american chopper
• Learn to use Solidwork Visualize and photoview 360 to create high quality render images of our american  chopper and give it a realistic look