front end

[woody]

If the rack is loose you will get a dead zone as campbell describes but then once in the corner I would guess it feels no different than otherwise identical car with a new rack except that you'll use ~5mm more steering lock for a given corner than you did before. In this case I cannot see it accounting for your light steering.

Agree, however, if the play is in the Track rod-end, steering column universal joints or the collapsible section of the steering column, it can give a 'glassy' feel as the play is taken up on entry to the corner, released & taken up again through bump-steer. I.e. the steering wheel will remain constant in the driver's hands while steering influences other than the wheel cause inputs through the rack to the point of play. This of course will differ from corner to corner.

I've had it on the elise and other cars. Could be as simple as tightening the pinch bolts in the column.

[tuscan_thunder]

This is all very useful stuff! I will investigate! (Or, more accurately, bribe Mike to investigate..... )

The track rods etc are all new (done less than 1,000 miles) but will make sure they're all tight etc.

One thing I noticed today when parked on a slope; when I released the handbrake, the rear brakes grab slightly. I wonder if this is a factor, pulling the car slightly?

[robin]

Binding rear brake on one side only will certainly cause "tank steer" for want of a better word ...

Cheers,
Robin

[andyc]

Tuscan_thunder....did I pass you in Keithall earlier? I was heading other way in a black Cupra.

[tuscan_thunder]

I'd be pretty sure you did! I'd have been there about 10 to 6?

[111Robin]

Pro/E is more powerful than some may think....in the right hands some awsome results can be had

Andy, I'll believe you when we can stop wasting our time checking every single dimension on 10 sheet drawings incase something has moved or dropped off due to "Pro-E glitches" when we make a simple change. Add up all that wasted time (not to mention the savings on highlight pens) and we could finish projects 6 months early Mind you if they're happy to pay engineers to sit colouring drawings................

[andyc]

You just need a good designer that's all
I used to sell Pro/E and let me tell you.....it is one of the best CAD systems on the market! Some of the competitors can't even open some of the stack ups we work on!! Why do you think I came back after only 10 months working for the competition!!

[111Robin]

Tell me about it. Just seems odd that we're using such a high spec' software package yet still labouriously checking drawings every time someone "touches" it in Pro-E. Must be some means of doing this electronically, ie. scanning software or something ?. Maybe other folk don't bother with the 100% check, but it's what I've been told to do so.............

[robin]

If you really spend so much time on it, why not invest in some automation to do it for you? If you really think it adds 6 months to project timescales it would pay for itself on the first project I would think.

As a matter of interest, when was the last time you came across a discrepancy that was caused by Pro-E glitch rather than finger trouble of the person driving the tool?

Cheers,
Robin

[Gourlay83]

I'll 2nd the Good Designer comment. Seems to be a problem at the moment, 3 months for the last designer to do one of my trees.

Robin's - The trouble is when you modify a face/datum/anything on a model the dimensions fall of the drawing, so need to be re constrained which leads to checking every detail on the drawings.

What I find funny about the whole checking thing is the drawing is checked for correct text sizes, drawing borders, showing the correct qty (2 x not 2 off )blah blah but never checked to see of we can make it better or more efficient.

and don't get me started on Geometric Tolerances, a useful tool but convinced no one knows what they actually mean and just put a box in referencing a datum.

Alan

P.S Thanks for moan

[111Robin]

If you really spend so much time on it, why not invest in some automation to do it for you? If you really think it adds 6 months to project timescales it would pay for itself on the first project I would think.

As a matter of interest, when was the last time you came across a discrepancy that was caused by Pro-E glitch rather than finger trouble of the person driving the tool?

Cheers,
Robin

I was exaggerating a bit with 6 months but it is a complete waste of time doing the before/after checks manually. I don't usually say "It's not my job" but it really isn't my job to streamline the engineering process, there are plenty managers who should be doing this (I'm just a monkey not an organ grinder) Alan is correct in that we spend too much time on crap as opposed to making sure parts are optimised for manufacture/cost reduction etc. I can't give a recent example, suffice to say I don't want to be standing in front of my boss explaining why a project is delayed because I missed a dimension that dropped off so it's back to the box of highlight pens for me

[BiggestNizzy]

I'll 2nd the Good Designer comment. Seems to be a problem at the moment, 3 months for the last designer to do one of my trees.

Robin's - The trouble is when you modify a face/datum/anything on a model the dimensions fall of the drawing, so need to be re constrained which leads to checking every detail on the drawings.

What I find funny about the whole checking thing is the drawing is checked for correct text sizes, drawing borders, showing the correct qty (2 x not 2 off )blah blah but never checked to see of we can make it better or more efficient.

and don't get me started on Geometric Tolerances, a useful tool but convinced no one knows what they actually mean and just put a box in referencing a datum.

Alan

P.S Thanks for moan

As I am the poor sod that has to make these things I agree 100% I am convinced designers have no concept of what 0.001" or what a positional tolerance actually means.

[Gourlay83]

If you really spend so much time on it, why not invest in some automation to do it for you? If you really think it adds 6 months to project timescales it would pay for itself on the first project I would think.

As a matter of interest, when was the last time you came across a discrepancy that was caused by Pro-E glitch rather than finger trouble of the person driving the tool?

Cheers,
Robin

I was exaggerating a bit with 6 months but it is a complete waste of time doing the before/after checks manually. I don't usually say "It's not my job" but it really isn't my job to streamline the engineering process, there are plenty managers who should be doing this (I'm just a monkey not an organ grinder) Alan is correct in that we spend too much time on crap as opposed to making sure parts are optimised for manufacture/cost reduction etc. I can't give a recent example, suffice to say I don't want to be standing in front of my boss explaining why a project is delayed because I missed a dimension that dropped off so it's back to the box of highlight pens for me

Did you realise we have a procedure for the correct colour to use for checking, i used green for 'Good' and pink for 'What the f*ck is that' but got told we have standard checking colours.