[Z06] Inside Pfadt Power Products: Header Development Stage 3 - JIG Design
10-31-2012, 03:19 PM
#1
Inside Pfadt Power Products: Header Development Stage 3 - JIG Design
As many of you have heard we are in the midst of releasing our very own Tri-Y 4-2-1 header! We've been working on this for many months now and thought it would be fun to give folks a behind the scenes view of what's involved in bringing a fully fledged part to market.
We are going to keep the posts short and sweet, but break it up into 5 components:
- Initial Analysis and Dyno Verification
- CAD and Packaging
- Jig Design
- Part Production
- Mid pipe spotlight!
Part 3: JIG Design
We now have our design criterion and packaging set from our first two installments. Now it's time to begin production!
An often overlooked aspect of manufacturing comes from Jig design, they really are the unsung heroes of this entire project. In our experience so far we have almost as much time and effort into designing effective jigs as we do any other single item related to production! Jig design is absolutely critical to repeatedly welding precise headers for a consistent product.
A great welding Jig starts with a great foundation. We are using a custom precision machined flat steel surface as a base for all of our jigs. This foundation allows us to quickly swap left side, right side, sub assembly, bung, and X pipe jigs to hand tack weld the components into place. If the foundation of your jig isn't completely flat it's very possible that your entire product will end up off as well. That's why having a precision machined flat surface is so critical.
It's been a consistent theme through the entire project so far, but we've also used our CAD design process for designing the jigs as well... however there really is more to this story than meets the eye. As you begin adding heat through welding to the tubes there will be a natural pull, the direction of which depends on which tubes are being welded together. Consistency and longevity are absolutely key to a great header, and this pull can make it extremely difficult to accurately align the tubes together for final welding. A very large part of the jig design process has been designing and modifying jigs to compensate for pull during welding.
The result of our efforts in Jig design is an extremely reliable system to ensure there aren't any small changes between sets of headers. Accuracy and consistent products to our design ensure that when you purchase a Pfadt Race Engineering Header it's going to fit correctly the first time. No dimpling of tubes or removing of starters required!
Final assembly jig supporting a fully welded left side header
CAD design of the tail section jig, including accurate placement for the O2 bung.
Real world photo of tail section jig
View of left side assembly jig CAD data
Real world photo of the same Jig.
Last edited by Pfadt Racing; 11-12-2012 at 12:01 PM.
10-31-2012, 10:39 PM
#5
Team Owner
10-31-2012, 11:36 PM
#7
as many of you have heard we are in the midst of releasing our very own tri-y 4-2-1 header! We've been working on this for many months now and thought it would be fun to give folks a behind the scenes view of what's involved in bringing a fully fledged part to market.
We are going to keep the posts short and sweet, but break it up into 5 components:
- initial analysis and dyno verification
- cad and packaging
- jig design
- part production
- mid pipe spotlight!
part 3: Jig design
we now have our design criterion and packaging set from our first two installments. Now it's time to begin production!
An often overlooked aspect of manufacturing comes from jig design, they really are the unsung heroes of this entire project. In our experience so far we have almost as much time and effort into designing effective jigs as we do any other single item related to production! Jig design is absolutely critical to repeatedly welding precise headers for a consistent product.
A great welding jig starts with a great foundation. We are using a custom precision machined flat steel surface as a base for all of our jigs. This foundation allows us to quickly swap left side, right side, sub assembly, bung, and x pipe jigs to hand tack weld the components into place. If the foundation of your jig isn't completely flat it's very possible that your entire product will end up off as well. That's why having a precision machined flat surface is so critical.
It's been a consistent theme through the entire project so far, but we've also used our cad design process for designing the jigs as well... However there really is more to this story than meets the eye. As you begin adding heat through welding to the tubes there will be a natural pull, the direction of which depends on which tubes are being welded together. Consistency and longevity are absolutely key to a great header, and this pull can make it extremely difficult to accurately align the tubes together for final welding. A very large part of the jig design process has been designing and modifying jigs to compensate for pull during welding.
The result of our efforts in jig design is an extremely reliable system to ensure there aren't any small changes between sets of headers. Accuracy and consistent products to our design ensure that when you purchase a pfadt race engineering header it's going to fit correctly the first time. No dimpling of tubes or removing of starters required!
final assembly jig supporting a fully welded left side header
cad design of the tail section jig, including accurate placement for the o2 bung.
real world photo of tail section jig
view of left side assembly jig cad data
real world photo of the same jig.
where are the cats?
10-31-2012, 11:50 PM
#8
Team Owner
11-01-2012, 12:39 PM
#13
Hey, if the demand is there stranger things have happened. Just keep in mind that a genuine Titanium header like this would be extremely expensive to manufacture.
They are welded in at the head of the Mid Pipes. Below is a better picture of the cats. The Mid Pipe will be available in both Catted and Non Catted forms.
The factory LS7 system weighs in at about 69lbs without gaskets. That includes both manifolds, down pipes and mid pipes.
Our system weighs in at about 45lbs including the Catted midpipe and the required V Band clamps. That's about a 24lb weight savings!
For a non catted midpipe it brings the weight of our Pfadt system down to about 42lbs. This is a 27lb weight savings over the stock LS7!
They are welded in at the head of the Mid Pipes. Below is a better picture of the cats. The Mid Pipe will be available in both Catted and Non Catted forms.
The factory LS7 system weighs in at about 69lbs without gaskets. That includes both manifolds, down pipes and mid pipes.
Our system weighs in at about 45lbs including the Catted midpipe and the required V Band clamps. That's about a 24lb weight savings!
For a non catted midpipe it brings the weight of our Pfadt system down to about 42lbs. This is a 27lb weight savings over the stock LS7!
11-02-2012, 09:21 PM
#19
Team Owner
11-04-2012, 02:11 AM
#20
Drifting
Gary
