Caged is using SolidWorks 3D CAD and COSMOSWorks design analysis software to transform a decades-old hand-crafted automobile chassis manufacturing process into one that is faster, more efficient, and more accurate. Caged said that it has cut weeks out of development and made the chassis lighter and straighter for Caterham sports cars.
Caged specializes in designing durable roll cages for motor sports vehicles. The company had been supplying specially built roll cages to Caterham Cars when the car maker decided to reconfigure its Caterham 7 chassis and the inexact, labor-intensive process for making them.
Caged used SolidWorks to streamline the chassis design and COSMOSWorks to test load strength and other tolerances. Both SolidWorks and COSMOSWorks are the starting point for Caged’s new automated design-to-manufacture process. This new process lets engineers design and build a universal chassis that could support four different engines in 10 days.
We couldn’t have finished that first project in AutoCAD software. It doesn’t have the ability to do that work, said Phil Squance, engineering director at Caged. SolidWorks as a product family is great because it lets you design something, tweak it, and analyze it in COSMOS to test it – all in one package. SolidWorks and COSMOSWorks have more than doubled our productivity, while enabling us to design better chassis.
