Once we have a design for a motorsport part we send off the CAD files to a CNC machiner to make the pattern from tooling board. The CNC machine is a big, expensive bit of kit and looks like this:-
The engineering toolmaker that we use is a true craftsman and he is always very busy so we have to build a lead time into everything we do. We've tried to cut time out by using other toolmakers but we got some really shoddy patterns back that ended up having to be re-cut by the original toolmaker. So it ended up taking twice as long and being much more expensive. Lesson learned; when you find someone who does a good job, stick with them.
When the raw pattern comes back to us it has to be finished and sealed. Finishing means a lot of rubbing down with various grades of rubbing down paper. This can involve a lot of swearing as well. I've never got a sensible explanation as to why, I just accept it as a fact of a life.
Even I can help with the sealing bit. We use fine cotton cloth and sealing fluid. I wipe every bit of the pattern with the sealing fluid and it is passed over for more finishing. It then gets passed back to me for more sealing and so on at least five times.
We then end up with perfectly finished patterns. The surface is absolutely smooth and is highly polished with a silky touch. This is one of our patterns.
A pattern may only be used once but the effort put into this stage of the production makes all the difference between something that fits and looks good and something that vaguely does the job. Your design can be brilliant but if the pattern is rubbish guess what you get?
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