detailed digital photos
detailed digital photos
(OP)
In my role at an aftermarket exhaust manufacturer, I design, build, and test several products every week. To remain competitive it is necessary to cover almost every vehicle ever made by our products. In my quest to speed things along I believe that much of the initial research could be completed by simply looking at some detailed photos of the underbody. So my question is why there is no such database online, or at least not one I can find. A2Mac1.com comes close, but I was looking for a far simpler approach. Say I get a 2006 Chevrolet Express 1500 5.3L 135" WB in the shop. I could take 100s of photos, and with a simple scale included in each photo, many measurements could be taken to start my development. With advanced CAD software I could even scale a current system and overlap the one in the photos. Is there anyone else out there that could use such a database?





RE: detailed digital photos
RE: detailed digital photos
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: detailed digital photos
Not easy, not fun, and not accurate.
Similarly with a small, 'inexpensive' 3D arm type 'almost CMM'.
Not easy, not fun, and not accurate.
On the other hand, that POS arm came with a copy of Rhinoceros to act as its user interface, and _that_ was a revelation.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: detailed digital photos
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: detailed digital photos
RE: detailed digital photos
By the way, I do currently have a database of photos for use within my company, but they are only the area I am interested in and only on vehicles I have, obviously, already seen. I will attach one for an idea of what I am discussing. It is of a 2500 Chevrolet, as I have already completed that system, I was looking into the 1500 version. I need to know if there is clearance for the same muffler, specifically between the driveshaft and the frame rail. If so I can continue development of this additional application. Please don’t pick on my welding, this is only a prototype and I am not a welder.
RE: detailed digital photos
For a while I worked at squeezing big exhaust systems into big yachts' (usually tiny and cramped) engine rooms. This is typically done after everything is built, because things tend to move around in construction and the concept of interchangeable parts has yet to reach the yacht building industry. So we would send someone out with a tape, or send a dimension form for the customer to fill in, but without a photograph we'd too often run our pipes into stanchions or generators that no one had mentioned.
In your case, at least under a van, you have a relatively cavernous space in which to route your pipe, but of course you need sway clearance for when things move around, and you have to accomodate OEM options, and popular aftermarket options like running boards, so you can't just slap your stuff anywhere.
For a while I thought it would be nice to have a laser scanner to map the available space, but its work product is a point cloud, and point clouds are not real easy to work with.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: detailed digital photos
(Ok, in reality I copied the idea from another aftermarket mfgr.)