Little update on my project

B5 S4/ RS4
#1

I posted in this thread http://audirevolution.net/forum/index.php?topic=1412.0;topicseenabout the little project I’m doing. If you don’t want to go through and read I’m deigning and building my own intake manifold made specifically for my setup on my car. Been a little busy and haven’t worked on it as much. But I’m printing the bellmouths and plenum this week.

My 3D printer is slowly coming along but isn’t precise enough to print the intake manifold runner. So I contacted 034 and they gladly helped me with it and for a great price! APR quoted me nearly 3 times as much for their SLA printer.

Hear are some pics of the progress.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af44/dustinmacias1989/3DPrintedRunner1_zpsc28c9bfd.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af44/dustinmacias1989/3DPrintedRunner2_zps11597b1b.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af44/dustinmacias1989/3DPrintedRunner3_zpse8c2b6b2.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af44/dustinmacias1989/Progress_zps3c057f4d.jpg

#2

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af44/dustinmacias1989/3DPrintedRunner4_zpsad9a1f35.jpg

#3

Interesting… What did they charge you for 3D printing?
I’m glad I have access to CNC machines so I can make anything I desire :wink:

Which reminds me I must get back to work on my intake lol

#4

Guys it seems a little rude to the OP to me that you guys are arguing in his thread… I mean really.
Way to derail an interesting thread >:(

Shit like this makes me wonder why I hit refresh.

To the OP… did you do any cfd on your design? Is the Plenum going to be made in the same way?

I was first to make a B5 2.8 manifold
#5

They charged me like $80 I think for it.

I should be done by the end of April if I can get my tune working right.

I did steady state cfd to to just get the design in the ballpark then dynamic valve events to refine it more. Went through like 6-7 different revisions on it. Also did separate cfd analysis on the runners individually.

Yes, the plenum is going to be made the same way.

#6

Not a bad price at all.

What CFD program did you use?
I’ll have to show you my design some time :wink:

#7

Nice, your CF manifold will be a true one-off, I doubt we’ll see anyone else doing that. Any idea what machine 034 used for the printing? Some sort of Stratasys I bet.

#8

Yep, on their website it says they have a Dimension Elite 3D Printer.

I think I found out what is wrong with my tune.

Doing some more cf tonight after dinner.

#9

Nice D, thanks for the update!

#10

Runner #1 with 2 layers of carbon fiber all dried. It looks a little rough around the edges in the pic (loose fibers hanging off) but it will be cleaned up when the two halves are joined together and the 3rd and final layer goes on.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af44/dustinmacias1989/Pic1_zps274fa99e.jpg

Runner #2 getting its 2nd layer and runner #3 getting started.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af44/dustinmacias1989/Pic2_zpsfdfdfe32.jpg

Plenum is taking shape! Can’t tell the definite shape from the pics because of all the cf hanging off but you can get the idea. I put on all of its 3 layers last night at once.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af44/dustinmacias1989/Pic3_zpsa5928f9b.jpg

The manifold-to-head and throttle body flanges should be back from machining today and getting taped for threads.

#11

I’m a little confused about your CF build process here.

It doesn’t look like you are just layering the CF on top of that IM.

I’ve gone through this before with a friend of mine, that will not be strong at all.

You need to do a negative mold, then lay the CF w/ resin + hardener into the mold, and then vacuum it so that the layers compress properly, otherwise you will be left with a floppy CF part that you will not be able to do anything with.

#12

The plenum pices are negatives molds. And the runners are done on the outside then the inside layers are matched to the thickness of the mold to get the ID I designed the runners to be.

I am using a epoxy resain with a hardener and is measured out to the appropriate mix using a gram scale (this can be seen in a pic in my OP).

The epoxy and hardener I am using does not need to have a vacuum bagging process, even though that would be ideal.

The first layer of cf by itself is floppy but with the 2nd layer done it is much harder. It will be getting a 3rd layer also plus a much more aggressive mix of hardener/epoxy mix.

#13

Neat project.

#14

Are you joining all of the separate parts and the flanges with just epoxy?

#15

Well then carry on :slight_smile: It didn’t seem like it was done using a mold… just layered. looking forward to updates as you go along

#16

I’m going to try and do it with that. I don’t think it will undergo a lot of tensile or compressive stresses in the direction of the bonding to the flanges. I am worried though about the thermal stresses caused by the aluminum flanges on the bond.

If that fails I will probably go with some heavy duty stuff like:
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Aerospace/Aircraft/Prod_Info/Prod_Catalog/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECIE20SOG5000000_nid=0TTM48GPXHbe1K3HXBTMF8gl
or
http://www.henkelna.com/adhesives/product-search-1554.htm?nodeid=8797913677825

Even though both of those have higher than what I need strength.

Notorius, I am also looking into a sealant that will also give it a nice shine. I’ve read where some people just use a thick layer of epoxy to do that. I will also seal the inside with more epoxy.

#17

If you use some phenolic spacers on the flanges, I imagine you’ll be all right there. It’s more the large joining lines in the plenum etc that I’d be worried about.

#18

Looking like it’s coming along nicely…
Are you going to be epoxying in some pre made injector bungs? That would be the best way to do that…

Looks like I’k going to have to hustle with my design… I actually just did a big design change so I need to remodel then start throwing some chips :slight_smile: