Research and Development

New Products and Subtractive Rapid Prototyping (SRP)

We have decided to take a look at some new product ideas to compliment our existing range as well as going back to look at some old development projects that were not put into production due to the manufacturing costs at the time.

To this end we have now invested in 3D scanning and milling equipment as well as 3D CAD software. As well as SRP the equipment is also capable of small batch production runs.

Examples of some new products will be:

• Balance weights
• Connecting rods etc.
• New wheel moulds

Examples of some old development projects will be:

• Gear boxes
• Motor bogies
• Side frames

As a test of the scanning option, we scanned two rail chair masters which were made some years back now. The results from the scanned masters can be seen in the 3D images below.

2 Bolt Chair

3 Bolt Chair

The above 3D images were scanned at a resolution of 0.25mm per step in both the X and Y axis. Total scan time for each chair was around 3 hours. The best resolution would be 0.05mm per step, but would also take longer to complete the scan.

Once items like the chairs have been scanned or drawn from scratch it is fairly simple to use the milling option to reproduce the item. It can also be scaled and modified as required.

More details will be posted here as and when we have them.

If you have any thoughts, comments or questions on the above, then please contact us, either by E-mail at enquiries@ultrascale.co.uk or via the Feedback page.

If any one has suggestions for products that they would like to see available, then let us know and we will consider the possibility of adding it to our range.