Greeves Motorcycles & GPD Developments
Rapid Manufacturing
Description and aims
To design and manufacture prototype engines for the Greeves trial bike.
About Greeves Motorcycles & GPD Developments
Greeves Motorcycles was formed in by Bert Greeves in 1952. The company produced lightweight, high powered 2 stroke machines which proved very successful in the trials market,competing with Triumph and BSA. The company won several important competitions in the early 1960’s, including the European Motorcross Championship, Manx Grand Prix and Scottish Six Day Trial. Competition from Japaneses imports and a disasterous fire at Greeves sister company Invacar led to closure of Greeves in 1976. However, in 1999 entrepreneur Richard Deal resurected the Greeves name and began production of spare parts, fully restored classic bikes and even launched the replica Anglian Trial machine with modern parts and up to date technology.
In 2007 Richard decided to develop a completely new trials bike, the first new Greeves product for over 20 years! As part of this highly ambitious development programme the Rapid Product Development Group at DeMontfort University were contacted to help develop a new lightweight engine.
How the project is being undertaken
The Project was undertaken in DeMontfort University’s Innovation Centre, which provides incubation units for new start-ups, as well as support for more established companies across the region and the UK as a whole. The Centre is equipped with a wide range of product development tools, including advanced CAD, rapid prototyping and reverse engineering equipment. Within the Centre there is the capability to develop products from initial concept right though to production. These projects are undertaken by enthusiastic and innovative students, supported by staff with years of experience in product development.
Impacts and benefits
Due to cost and time constraints the latest and most effective product development techniques were employed in the project. Engineers from Greeves worked alongside students undertaking the Rapid Product Development MSc at DeMontfort University. These students took the performance requirements specified by Greeves and designed a completely new 280cc, 2 stroke engine. To enable existing components to be used in the new engine these parts were scanned using the Centre’s Renishaw Cyclone Reverse Engineering machine. The geometric information gathered was then feed into Solidworks and the students were able to design the new engine around these existing parts. Rapid Prototype models of the new engine were then manufactured on the Centre’s 3D printing machine (Zcorp Z510) to check for fit/assembly prior to manufacture of prototype cast metal parts.
At this stage local foundry GPD Developments Ltd (Nuneaton, Warwickshire) were brought into the project team to provide know-how to enable the students to fine-tune the design for manufacture of castings and to undertake design of the sand mould and cores. Rather than produce traditional prototype tooling for the sand moulds to cast the engine components it was decided to opt for a revolutionary method of printing sand moulds directly from CAD data. Prototype sand moulds were produced using this new technique and these were then delivered to GPD Development Ltd who successfully cast several prototype engines. The engines are now in the final stages of finishing and once assembled will be subjected to rigorous testing.
For more information about the project
If you would like to hear more about this project, please contact Prof. David Wimpenny, Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing Group, DeMontfort University Leicester.
Email: dwimpenny@dmu.ac.uk
Telephone: 0116 257 7689 / 07748591189
University
Academic Lead
Prof. David Ian Wimpenny
Contact
0116 257 7689