There are several factors that affect the fuel economy or fuel average or mileage in simple terms. The main parameters are:

• The condition of the vehicle such as Engine, tuning, suspension, transmission etc.

• Tyre pressure per manufacturer recommendations.

• Quality of fuel used including engine/motor oil.

• Traffic conditions,and

• Most importantly, the style of driving

Here are few suggestions to improve the vehicle mileage:

• Keep the vehicle in good condition by replacing all worn-out/damaged parts. Engine, brake and clutch tuning is very important and should be done at least once in three months.

• Use exact grade of engine/motor oil specified by the vehicle manufacturer.

• Get fuel in reliable gas stations both in terms of quality and quantity.

• Get the air pressures in tyres checked and filled every week as per the manufacturer recommendations. Tyre pressure has significant effect on vehicle mileage.

• Needless to mention, but avoid high traffic areas. Choose traffic free roads though the distance is more than 20% or so.

• Always drive the vehicle at a constant speed (preferably between 40 to 45 kmph for Indian vehhicles).

• Avoid changing gears too frequently, try to adjust the engine speed by controlling throttle as much as possible. Shift gear only if it is necessary. Try to shift the gear whenever you notice jerks from gear box, otherwise you are fine in controlling the speed using accelerator.

• Avoid rapid acceleration and sudden deceleration.

• Stop the engine if you need wait at a signal light for more than 2 minutes.

• Do not operate clutch while slowing down the vehicle. Use front and rear brakes simultaneously while reducing the throttle. Operate the clutch only before getting jerks. This is very important.

If you maintain the above steps definitely the efficiency will improve by at least 30%.

Feel free to share your comments on these suggestions.

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Nesting the parts while machining using CAM

While working on a recent CAM project using CAD model, we found few interesting techniques. In the first job, we requested the operator to use a 1/4″ Ball nose cutter of 1″ long. We were expecting there could be some tool flexing because for the first cavity profile cut. But he used almost 1 1/2″ long cutter. Finally, once the machining is done there is a clear cut draft left on the part which is almost 3 degrees. Also, there was not enough overpass of ball nose at the bottom of the part leaving a radius there. It was not too bad other than doing some manual cleanup of the part after machining.

In our second batch of CAM, we nested four parts as shown on image from two separate CAD models. So, we have to make a single pre-machining block to make two separate parts of quantity two each. Also, we tried to machine only up to 4 mm around the part using 1/4″ cutter. This saved us almost 50% of machining time as we eliminated machining unneeded stock. Also, we ensured the cutter overhang is only 22mm just more than nose overpass. This didn’t cause any tool flex and squeak.

Nesting the Parts example

 

Another interesting thing is after doing the rough cut with 1/4″ cutter, we lost the datums where we set original zero. So, for finish cut we have not changed X and Y coordinates. But, asked the operator to reset Z with respect part top surface which was intentionally left unmachined before. This helped us in quickly running the finish cut using 1/8″ cutter without much time on reference point set.

Hope you found this article useful. Please share your comments below.