V8 Engine Block Machined From Solid Block

amazing machine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsmiIeAkE-o

 

Batten Performance machined a prototype V-12 billet aluminum block for Ferrari in the early 90's... I've got pics of it somewhere..???....

 

Pretty Amazing. I wonder what the actual elapsed time is,and what it costs.

 

I worked at a place that had an LS1 billet aluminum block made. Stupid $$ but it was fast!

 

I wonder how many "OH, SHIT'S" were in the programing before they got it right?

 

They first use a wooden version to machine and inspect..

 

i wonder who has it on their mantle? maybe it'll show up at the thrift store one day....

 

Forget the block that machine just gave me wood.

 

When I first moved into this house, I found a wooden inline 6 cylinder head layin' in the garage with canted spring pockets machined into it.... I knew it had to be a prototype for some inline motor, but I didn't know for what motor it was for... Jeep maybe???

 

I'm not seeing any reference do we know that this is a full sized engine block?

I kid I used to work with for his project in Machinist school made a complete billet single cylinder air cooled engine. Everything in it was machined from billet with the exception of the cylinder sleeve and the valves and the cam shaft. he did buy some pieces like valve springs and carburetor. It ran on 60% nitro, it was like 3 cubic inches or something silly like that.

That is a pretty cool looking block anyway.

 

Just think how long that would have taken to do manually! CNC's are amazing tools with an amazing price. I'm sure the programming was very time consuming also.

 

I'm having a hard time wraping my mind around how they do the oil and coolant passages all through the inside of the block

 

They use all kinds of tooling... Some cnc mills I worked with have turrets that hold 40 or more tool holders. End-mills, boing heads, center drills, regular drills, tap holders,. etc, etc...

 

Now days, computers write the progams... And they do it fast!

 

Based on the small cutter size I'm guessing it it's a miniature engine block. Cool though.

Charlie

 

All the prototype parts we did were all full scale..... One time we machined a 1/18 scale "wooden" 1998 pro stock Firebird body so it can be tested in a small wind tunnel..

 

Amazing video, programing is something else.

 

Top fuel blocks have been billet for a while. Although it's not common, it's no longer rare either. For every billet block there are a lot more billet heads. With CNC equipment now affordable to small companies and individuals, stuff is being made today that wouldn't have been practical to do in the past.

Some fighter planes have billet wings. A huge chunk of titanium is carved out, then skinned on the open side. As expensive as that is, the bad news is thgat those wings don't last forever.

 

Is there a paticular reason they finished the bores in the manner they did? Why would they not use conventional tooling?

 

They probably hone the last .003" on a Sunnen honing machine with a torque plate bolted on...

 

One for the Ford guys. http://www.kirkhammotorsports.com/kmsblog/entry/kirkham-university-video-billet-block-

 

We took a shear head to a machine shop in Milwaukee that was going to do some repair on it. They had a large CNC machine that had a vertical endless belt that held the tools. That belt reached 30 feet in the air and could probably hold 100 tools. The machine would cut with one tool, put it back in the belt and the belt would advance to the next tool and it would grab that and go on machining. Multiples of the same tool could be put in the belt and the machine could tell if one got dull, change to another and inform the "operator" to change out the dull tool.

Unfortunately, the machine wasn't quite big enough to handle the ten ton shear head we needed repaired.

 

I remeber seeing a show about the then new dodge V8 that was developed for nascar.Ray Evernham had several of the wood prototypes in his office while they were interveiwing him.He also had several 1/8th wooden prototypes of the dodge body to be ran.I am sure this goes on alot more than us laymen might think.

 

The engine blocks in the pro mod I wrenched for was once a big billet chunk, starts out 450 Lbs and ends up less than 90 lbs. Same goes for the heads, cranks and camshaft, all cnc billet. Complete 5.3 bore space engine (904") came in under 700#. US pattern in Michigan does some phenominal prototype work like that too.

 

..... And when your not deburring and inspecting a part, they are fun to watch...