Freelancer Mechanical Design Engineer-Brian Grice IEng MIMechE

Freelancer Mechanical Design Engineer

Mechanical Design

Mechanical Engineering and Design are the bedrock of all engineering fields. Mechanical engineering is an engineering branch that utilises physics and mathematical principles with materials science to be able to design, analyse, and manufacture, mechanical structures and assemblies with great precision. CAD, computer aided design is the tool we use to model and analyse Mechanical Systems and SolidWorks is the tool of choice for us. Once all the component parts have been modelled in an assembly, we can check for interference of components, perform tolerance and structural analysis to ensure the individual components are within specification, mass properties to ensure the overall mass is within specification and perform finite element analysis to ensure not just the structure will survive a given environment but to ensure the shape of individual structures have been optimised such that they are not unnecessarily over engineered and unnecessarily too heavy and expensive. All this can happen without a single component being manufactured.

Specific areas of expertise are:

Manufacturing methods for prototyping:

Small volume and large production runs including rapid prototyping (stereo-lithography), castings, welded assemblies, turned, milled, prefabricated components and injection mouldings.

2D to 3D conversion:

Producing solid models from your historical 2d manual drawings.

Concept / proof of principle designs

Producing initial conceptual designs from your ideas, inventions, or design specifications utilising experience in a wide range of disciplines including Space, Aerospace, Defence, Automotive, and Commercial Industries.

Design for Manufacture & Assembly (DFMA) and ease of maintenance

A typical structure shown below that has been modelled, and rendered using SolidWorks.

The drawing below was detailed using the above solid model with full Geometrical Tolerancing to BS8888. The drawing directly references the 3D geometry in the solid model and can be said to be a full a 100% accurate geometric description of the item to be manufactured.

We can output a wide range of computer files to fulfil a range of manufacturing processes that your suppler will need like IGES, STEP, STL etc.

Special purpose machinery

Below is a case study of a “Seal Press Machine” I designed for a world-renowned car manufacturer. It was outlined for discussion with the customer as a conceptual design. Shown below. The machine comprised part of a Car Engine assembly line. The purpose of the machine was to park the engine block that was on a platen travelling on a continuous assembly line via a slideway. "Seals" were fitted at each end of the crank shaft which can be seen as blue discs within a gravity fed magazine. The press head was retracted and then pressure tested. The sealed Engine block was then progressed to the next stage of the engine assembly and another Engine block was moved into place on the machine for the next seals to be fitted.

It was modelled and rendered for additional realism and graphically illustrated the working principles of the machine as shown below.

Once approved, the machine was detailed, manufactured, tested and shipped 9 months after approval. Below is an actual photograph of the machine being shipped.

Jigs & Fixtures

Below is a fixture for accurately holding a turbine whilst measuring radial runout at pertinent points. It is effectively a Go No-Go gauge.

For career experience and professional summery please click here!

If you are looking for a Mechanical Design Engineer with many years experience in a wide range of arena's, please get in touch for a no obligation discovery meeting.

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