AMERICAN CHOPPER BIKE

TITLE: DESIGN, ASSEMBLY, AND RENDERING OF AMERICAN CHOPPER BIKE.

OBJECTIVES:

• To ideate, design, assemble and render the American chopper bike.
• To learn the SOLIDWORKS software as a design tool in an industrial manner.
• To be industry ready for the role of Mechanical Design Engineer.

INTRODUCTION:

In this project, I built an American chopper. The design started with the ideation process followed by part modelling one by one for each part. After that parts are assembled in an assembly environment and then rendered using SOLIDWORKS visualize or Photo view 360.

DESIGN METHODOLOGY:

While designing anything in the industry it has to be passed from certain steps. It first started with ideation. In ideation, the designer tries to portray the sketch on paper which is already created in his mind by doing some brainstorming. After several trials and errors, one sketch is finalised. After that 3d modelling of various parts started. Once the modelling of all parts is done they are assembled in an assembly environment and then rendered using various rendering tools like photo view 360, and SOLIDWORKS visualise.

The following flow chart represents the whole process of designing an American chopper from beginning to end.

DESCRIPTION:

IDEATION:

The ideation process started with creating the mood board. A Mood board is nothing but key things or experiences that we want from the final product. After finishing mood board sketches in photoshop, we can use pen and paper as well. After several trials and errors, a final sketch is obtained, which is then taken as a base/blueprint for modelling various parts.

DESIGN AND 3D MODELLING:

Once ideation is completed the blueprints were imported to the SOLIDWORKS part modelling environment and the modelling of the various part as per the blueprint was completed one by one.

Some of the most widely used features in this project and the most important are described below.

• Extrude: This is the main feature for converting 2d sketches into 3d models. While extrusion material is added to the sketch.
• Extruded cut: The extruded cut is a similar feature to extrude but instead of adding material it removes material from the body
• Revolve: Revolve feather used for creating circular bodies about the central axis
• Revolved cut: Revolved cut feature is similar to the revolve feature but instead of adding material it circularly removes material from the body.
• Linear pattern: The linear pattern is used when we have to perform the same function linearly many times. So, it gave us access to create the same function no. of times linearly. It saves lots of time.
• Circular pattern: Circular pattern is used when we have to perform the same function many times on a body in a circular direction.
• Mirror: Mirror is the feature used for creating similar bodies or edges concerning some face/ plane.
• Shell: Shell feature used to convert solid bodies into hollow. Without shell features, we have to go with very time-consuming surface modelling.
• Project curve: Project curve feature converts two different Sketches from two different planes into a single 3d curve. The project curve feature is very helpful for creating complex geometry.
• Combine: Combine is the feature which is used to combine two different bodies or to remove the intersection between two bodies.
• Rollback: Rollback is a powerful feature which gave us access to edit the parent feature without disturbing the child feature (most of the time). rollback is widely used to remove errors from the parent feature or add some more functions to the parent feature.

PART DESIGN:

• CHASSIS

While designing any automobile we have to first focus on the chassis. Because it is the most integral part of the automobile that bears all the load of the automobile. While designing chassis for my American chopper I mainly used features like sweep, dome, boss extrude and fillet.

I firstly started with sketches and after that, by using a projected curve I managed to merge these sketches and did a sweep on that like blueprint. While creating a geometry which cannot be sketched in one plane projected curve feather helps a lot in creating such geometry. I mainly designed the chassis in tabular form because it provides good strength. Lastly, for appearance, I painted the chassis in Black colour.

• ENGINE:

For me, the engine was the part that consume max time while designing the American chopper. As engine as a whole is a very complex part because it contains many individuals part of the American chopper like starting motor, inlet manifold with filter, exhaust, chain sprocket, etc. Firstly, I started with a boss extrude for the cylinder block and then another extrude for the cylinder head after that I modelled the fins with the help of a linear pattern. For the base of the engine and starting motor, I used boss extrude and fillet with proper dimensions and references from the blueprint. While designing the inlet exhaust, I mainly used projected curve features for merging two sketches and creating an appropriate path for the sweep. Which later leads to the creation of the inlet and exhaust. I also used spilt feature at the end of the exhaust to create the appearance of real exhaust. While designing the sprocket and filter for the inlet of the engine I used a circular pattern which helped me a lot to save time. At last for appearance, I used chromium plate metal.

• FRONT FORK:

The front fork is the part which makes the American chopper different from other bikes because of its two long forks which keep the front tyre away from the whole bike and give it a different look.

I started with designing the fork first by using revolve feature. I also used revolve feathers for designing the headlight. For designing the handle, I had firstly created an appropriate projected curve as per the ideation sketches and then with the help of a sweep I modelled the handle. Similarly, I created the cables for the front brake and clutch. For grips, I used the sweep command. Then I mirrored the fork, headlight, handle, grip, cable, and lever about the appropriate face which results in developing the full model of the front fork. The mirror is the feather which I loved most during the designing of this part because it shreds my work in half.

For good appearance, I applied chromium plate metal to forks, headlights and handles. For grips and cable, I preferred glossy rubber as appearance. Also, for realness, I applied mild black glass to the front of the headlight.

• FRONT WHEEL:

The front wheel is much thinner than a rear wheel of an American chopper. It is a multi-body part which consists of a rim, rotor, calliper and tyre. The design started with revolve feature for the base of the tyre and ended by creating the holes on the rotor with the help of a circular pattern. In between boss extrude, cut extrude, cut revolve, fillet and circular pattern are the other main feathers which were used for modelling the front wheel. At last, calliper provided chromium black, rotor with chromium plate metal, rim with carbon steel metal and tyre with matte rubber appearance.

• REAR WHEEL:

The rear wheel of an American chopper is a multi-body part consisting of a rim, rotor, calliper, sprocket and tyre. Mostly used features for the rear wheel were boss extrude, cut extrude, cut revolve, and circular pattern. The appearance provided was also the same as the front wheel other than the sprocket which was provided with chromium plate metal.

• FUEL TANK:

The fuel tank of the American chopper is not similar to the other traditional bike fuel tank. It is a long curvy fuel tank which gives it a different look. The fuel tank is designed as per the ideation, the main features used while designing were the surface loft, fill surface, boundary surface, etc. The fuel tank was made hollow by using shell feathers for storing fuel. A trademark low seat was also designed along with this. After applying the Black with a glossy appearance I applied a few decals for improving the austenitic of the bike. The seat was given a cloth appearance.

• OIL TANK:

The oil tank was created as per the ideation sketches and placed above the engine block. It was also made hollow. Boss extrude, and shell were the major features used for designing the oil tank. Gray with a black border was applied as the appearance.

• FRONT FENDER:

The front fender was created by using revolve feature and then used a split feature for making its ends pointed. Gray was applied as appearance to this part.

• REAR FENDER:

The rear fender is the same as the front fender having a small length. It doesn’t have pointed ends like the front fender. Revolve and spilt were the major features for designing the rear fender. Gray was applied as the appearance for this part.

• CHAIN:

The chain is used for transmitting the power from the engine to the rear wheel. While designing the chain I first started with the crating sketches for two chain links and then converted them into two different blocks. Creating blocks made my work easier because I don't need to draw them again and again whenever I need them I can simply insert the blocks. After that, I extruded the chain links. Due to the curvy nature of the chain, I had to extrude them 4 times for making the whole chain. Then I applied a mirror to the chain links and completed the chain. While designing the chain I noticed that I had given more emphasis to the relation in this particular part than in any other part of the American chopper. Lastly, I applied a chromium plate metal appearance to the whole chain.

• TRANSMISSION BELT:

The transmission belt transfers the motion from the front pulley to the rear pulley. It was the simplest part it this project and was created by only the boss extrude. It was applied with a matte rubber appearance.

• PEDAL:

The pedal is the part which is useful for resting the foot while driving the bike. The major feature used for this part were boss extrude, revolve, chamfer and linear pattern. It is applied with a chromium plate metal appearance.

• KICKSTAND:

A kickstand is used for supporting the bike while parking. Kickstand was created by feathers like a loft, cut extrude, spilt and dome, etc. It was provided by chromium plate metal as an appearance.

ASSEMBLY:

After creating all parts alone, I assembled them in an assembly environment.

I started by first inserting the chassis. The first insert in SOLIDWORKS is a default fix so my chassis gets fixed automatically. Then I started to insert components one by one. I gave them a relation concerning chassis so that if I move chassis they move together. All the components I gave coincided in relation with the midplane of the chassis to their midplane which ended up resulting inappropriate assembly. Coincident, concentric, distance and parallel are major mates that I used during the mating. Mate is the feature which connects or joins two different components. After inserting components, I applied the required mates to each part with the respect connecting part. SOLIDWORKS assembly environment gave us the freedom to edit parts in the assembly itself or by opening it whenever there is an interference between them. While assembling the American chopper. I found some interference in the parts which I solved one by one. Firstly, there was interference between the exhaust pipe and the chassis which was resolved by editing the exhaust pipe. Another interference occurred between chain and chassis which was resolved by editing the backplate and creating a slot there.

I also used features from the assembly environment which gave me the freedom to mirror the parts. I mirrored the pedal about the midplane chassis and create my other side pedal.

Isometric view:

Front view:

Top view:

Right-hand side view:

Camera setup view:

RENDERING:

In today's world aesthetics play a vital role. It is the aesthetics which make the impression in the customer's eye other than the technical features of the product.

In rendering for applying decals and setting the camera view I mainly used photo view 360 which is the inbuilt feature of Solidworks and for the final image render I used another software from SOLIDWORKS which is SOLIDWORKS visualize which can render extremely high-quality images.

Rendered images of American chopper:

Camera setup view:

Front view:

Top view:

Isometric view:

Right-hand view:

Solidworks visualization render:

CONCLUSION:

Successfully ideated, designed, assembled and rendered the American chopper bike. learned Solidworks software as a design tool in an industrial manner. This project helps me to enhance my design skill and help me to become industry ready for the role of Mechanical Design Engineer. Overall, the project was successful.