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Sport Copter’s new gyroplane takes flight with SolidWorks
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04/06/2008
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Sportcopter II – claimed to be the fastest gyroplane on the market and the only model with a fully enclosed cabin and engine – came to fruition in half the design time and cost of former innovations, thanks to SolidWorks CAD software.
So says Sport Copter president and chief designer Jim Vanek: “We’ve evolved from making scale models of control systems using wooden sticks to test geometry, to 3D CAD with SolidWorks.
“SolidWorks has proved to be much more efficient and affordable in the long run than filling the shop with dust and Bondo from prototypes made from 2D AutoCAD drawings.
“We’ve reduced prototyping costs by a factor of 10, cut art-to-part time in half, and are using SolidWorks as a critical step to go from design straight to CNC machining – which will further reduce development time.”
He also credits improved design visualisation and accuracy with helping his engineers to dramatically cut prototyping and raw materials costs.
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Author
Brian Tinham
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