Orangeburg, SC—Electrolux Home Products Group supplies lawn and garden equipment to it's sister companies Poulan and Husqvarna as well as to Sears. Among these are mulching mowers with large mower decks, which, because of the diversity in size and shapes for their customers, caused the company to seek a more expeditious way to prototype new designs.
Working with 3-Dimensional Services (Rochester Hills, MI), Electrolux was able to reduce prototype development time on certain parts to three to four weeks for the first sets and just two weeks thereafter for second sets of a new 54-inch wide, three-blade mower for garden tractors. These decks, made from 10-gauge low carbon steel, measure 56.5 inches wide by 27.5 inches front to back and are 6 inches high.
At 3-Dimensional Services high tonnage presses formed the deep draws of the deck and a multi-axis laser cutting system trimmed the blade mounting holes and the discharge chute opening. They delivered 20 initial parts three to four weeks after receipt of CAD files with the remaining 15 second-run parts being delivered in two weeks.
According to Electrolux this fast turnaround time significantly reduced the overall product development time. This is just a typical job at 3-Dimensional Services, which has a completely equipped prototyping facility that enables it to complete production-like prototype parts in a rapid time frame.
You can check out 3-Dimensional Services at www.3dimensional.com.