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Thread: Manufacturing Design Dilemma...Artemis Product

  1. #1
    Associate Engineer
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    Manufacturing Design Dilemma...Artemis Product

    Hello! I'm a new engineer and to this forum in general. Good to be among you all

    Our objective is to reduce material cost and weight. Right now our product rests at 600 lbs heavy. The parts are made from 6061 Aluminum alloy. I'm thinking of switching to carbon-fiber composite...but it would be costly. Maybe even switch some of the parts to a polymer composite.

    Thanks for the forthcoming advice.



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  2. #2
    Technical Fellow jboggs's Avatar
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    Forthcoming advice to what? I didn't see a specific question. General inquiries generally get little response. Specific design questions about specific parts might get more response. Generally, carbon fiber might work. Might not. Polymer composite might work. Might not.

  3. #3
    Associate Engineer
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    Question: Are carbon-fiber composites a viable replacement to machined aluminum 6061 for medical device products? Do you have experience manufacturing with carbon-fiber material from Rock West Composites? What is your approach to determining the trade off for material weight vs. cost?

    This is vague. I know. I'm looking for engineers experienced with material manufacturing experience.

  4. #4
    Lead Engineer Cake of Doom's Avatar
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    My first stop would be to check the standards as to what materials are excepted for medical instruments and machinery. If the material I want to use checks out, then I would look at cost benefits.

    Another check would be to see what your competitors are doing. If now one else has bumped up production costs to use funky materials, there is usually a reason for it.

    Instead of reinventing the wheel, why not look at the individual parts. "Do these bearings really need to made of x?". Perhaps shave weight of that way, as long as it doesn't compromise the integrity of the device; most places will take longevity over trendy any day of the week.

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