"The impetus came from Formula 1," recallsMario Goth ona visit to the Sauber team in Switzerland in2013 .The Head of Mechanical Production at MTTechnologies wasamazed to seehow modern the racing engineers were clamping the individual parts with AMF clamping technology .What the master model maker subsequently initiated in his own production has sincegrown into a consistentzero-point clamping systemon all the necessary machines .With Andreas Maier GmbH & Co. KG from Fellbach (AMF), theIngolstadt-based company hasa competent partner atits side whounderstandsthechallenges ofits customers andcan offer tailor-made solutionsfrom standard products.

Clamping and set-up processes simplified and accelerated

"We were met with an open ear at MT Technologies right from the start," mentions Erik Laubengeiger from AMF, who looked after the customer at the time. There was a greatwillingness to simplify the complex clampingoperations for the aluminum raw blocks and significantly reduce the long set-up and measuring times. "After all, most of theparts we produce are individual parts or small batches of a maximum of four pieces,"says Mario Goth.

When it is finished ,the 1:1 scale modelactually looks like a real car, just made of aluminum .Even the doors and tailgate can be opened. And iteven stands on aluminum rims. This allows designers and engineers togetan initial three-dimensional picture of a newly plannedvehiclemodel and actually walk around it. OEMs also attach add-on and trim parts toverify the fitfor later series production .The clips are even attached to the aluminum model for this purpose. Later, the final aluminum model is on the assembly lineas a test and gauge model.

Small power packs pack a punch

Theraw aluminum blocks for the individual parts such as the floor assembly, side panels, roof, tailgate and wheels must bemanufactured with corresponding precisionon the huge portal milling machines and clamped exactly beforehand .Two clampingtables measuring 1300x2000200 millimetres and two measuring 1300 x 1000 200 millimetres as well as afurther are used in the Jobs LinX machines . They are each equipped with 50 or 20 K10 zero-point installation clamping modulesfrom AMF at 200 millimeter intervals ."With the defined grid spacing ,each clamping tableoffers us the greatest possible flexibility when positioning the elements ,"assures Goth. And if a clamping point is outside the grid or even outside the panel, this is not a major challenge. "With clamping rails, multiple clamping strips or other numerous clampingelements from AMF, we can reach any point we need for secure clamping. "

The system is as simple and logical as Lego

On the clamping tables with integrated zero-point clamping modules and cross T-slots, the workers place modular intermediate elements on top of each other until the block or blank reaches the required height to enable five-sided machining .Clamping can be plannedjust as easilywith this standard modular system .The AMF range of support, superstructure and compensation elements as well as various adapters is virtually inexhaustible . The upper interface to the workpiece is once again a mechanical zero-point clamping module K10, which reliably positions and clamps the M8 or M10 clamping bolts screwed into the workpiece. "The system is as simple and logical as Lego.Everything fits together and can be positioned quickly and accurately thanks to the zero-point clamping technology," emphasizes Christian Vogel from AMF, whois currently supporting the Ingolstadt-based company.

The clamping modules in the clamping table are openedhydraulically at an operating pressure of 60 bar .Each one pulls in the appropriate clamping bolt with ten kilonewtons andthen holdsit positively with 25 kilonewtons. Because the modules are intelligently designed and carefully manufactured ,they can do this with repeat accuracy and precision of less than 0.005 millimeters .And because they are mechanically locked by spring force and are thus clampedwithout pressure, the pressure lines are removedafter the clamping process .

Collision-free 5-sided machiningthanks to direct clamping

For direct clamping, the necessary holes for the clamping bolts are drilled directly into the blank or the aluminumblock . The design engineers plan this in advance .AMF provides CAD data in many common formats for all of its own products toensure that machining later takes place without interfering contours and without collisions . "This is an indispensable help in advance," Vogel assures us.

The machining performance is immense. This caneasily add up to 40 hours ofmachining time.It can happen thata tailgateis milled out ofan aluminum block with an initial weight of 1.7 tons,which in the end only weighs 90 kilograms .All in all ,aluminium blocks ofdifferent sizes weighingaround 20 tons arerequired for a vehicle .It takes around five months to complete a full-size vehicle. Because several spacious halls ensure the strict separation of individual projects, the model making experts at MT-Technologies can produce up to ten models a year.

Experience and craftsmanship for a 1:1 model

Inthe end, a new vehicle model stands before the viewer in its original size, long before it hits the roads .For car manufacturers, this is an indispensable component in the development phase of a new model . And thanks to the experience in model making and the manufacturing skills ofMT-Technologies, a company withover150 years of tradition ,the developers know at an early stage whether the car will meet their expectations. Whether it will be as racy as a Formula 1 car, however, is not realistic.