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28/09/2011
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When it needed fully functioning prototypes for an affordable, engine management system to impress a potential customer, Scion-Sprays Ltd, founded in 2002 and based at the Hethel Engineering Centre for advanced manufacturing, chose the award-winning, rapid manufacturing services of Proto Labs® to produce production quality components in just days.
 Founded by Jeff Allen, former Chief Engineer at Lotus Engineering, Scion Sprays grew out of research into the electrostatic atomisation of fuel. Jeff and a small team set about developing an innovative engine management system called Pulse Count Injection (PCI) and with the help of rapid prototyping services from Proto Labs, are now moving out of development and into production.
By 2006, Scion-Sprays had produced their first working PCI prototype, which in turn led to the development of a fully integrated Quantum Fuel Injection (QFI™) system. It was while developing a prototype of their QFI for a prospective European customer in the early part of 2010 that Richard turned to Proto Labs. "I needed about 15-20 pre-production QFI systems for customer-testing, which meant they had to be fully functional and made from the same materials that would be used in actual production. I used different rapid prototyping services to produce less-critical components," says Richard, "but chose Proto Labs for the throttle crank and stepper motor arm because there could be no compromises in their mechanical qualities: and the production method and materials would be very similar to what we use in the final version."
Richard decided to use Proto Labs' Protomold injection-moulding service to produce the stepper motor arm from glass-reinforced nylon. However, he says: "I chose Firstcut's machining service to make the throttle crank from the same material, partly because I wanted to compare the processes and partly because creating a mould for the throttle crank would not have been cost-effective. At this stage in product development, it is important to minimise costs."
Richard contacted Proto Labs using the company's two interactive, online quotation systems: Protoquote® and Firstquote®. Both systems let him upload his 3D CAD models and then within hours sent back an accurate quote.
The machined parts were delivered within three days of Richard accepting the quote: "And that was their standard delivery – they can do even faster if wanted. The moulded parts took slightly longer but that is because of the tooling required. Nevertheless, they were with me in a matter of days, not months, like other suppliers."
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Author
Proto Labs
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