Sunday, 6 October 2019

Engine mounts

The next step was to put together the engine mounts, and all I had was the MX5 mount that I wanted to reuse;


Rather than weld some metal together, I thought some proper design might be good. So out came fusion 360! I replicated the engine mount itself, as well as the chassis bar, then virtually welded some metal together.


I think this will be plenty strong enough, with the bar at the bottom being the chassis, some 3mm plate on top, then welded 25mm bar going to the engine mount. A couple of 3mm fillets to reinforce it, and those mounts will be strong enough to carry an engine.

But for once I thought I could go one step further, and make a real one;


I did figure out that 3D printing doesn't like geometric shapes, but a 50% print made it quite apparent that the strength is there. I don't think I can cut it down, but I also don't think I need to reinforce it anymore. It also shows I can get to the mounting nut, and I can see how to mount the whole thing to the chassis. 

I can start cutting and welding a real one now! :)