{"id":22727,"date":"2021-07-14T06:48:07","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T13:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=22727"},"modified":"2021-07-15T10:31:32","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T17:31:32","slug":"starling-cycles-takes-generative-design-for-a-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/starling-cycles-takes-generative-design-for-a-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Starling Cycles Takes Generative Design for a Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A look at how generative design in Fusion 360 inspires mountain bike company Starling Cycles’ traditional, human-led design process<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"starling-cycles-generative-design\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Joe McEwan likes to keep things simple. After 20 years as an aerospace engineer, he turned his hobby of building bike frames into a full-time career and thriving startup business: Starling Cycles<\/a>, a line of mountain bikes made by hand in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy goal is to use my engineering background to make bikes that ride well,\u201d he says. \u201cSimple and elegant. Not overcomplicated or adding features for the sake of marketing. That\u2019s the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given his traditional approach, McEwan is the last person you might expect to champion generative design<\/a>. Nevertheless, McEwan\u2019s first experience with the technology has convinced him of its potential to augment the overall design process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGenerative design is really interesting,\u201d McEwan says. \u201cI\u2019m still learning about where it can work well and what structures it can improve. The assumption is that you put the loads in and get a fancy part out, but it\u2019s much more involved. Selecting the right parts to optimize is challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"starling-cycles-generative-design\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

McEwan was introduced to generative design by an engineering student from Bristol University<\/a>. The two had collaborated on a swing arm redesign presented at Autodesk University<\/a>, then decided to give generative design a try for the main pivot structure of a bike frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to change the design for easier manufacturing,\u201d McEwan says. \u201cThe bearings sit in the main frame in aluminum cups, and there are several processes involved for making the frame and cutting a hole to weld in the housing. There are often alignment issues. It would be much easier to have a machined part that drops right in. Generative design with a 2.5-axis constraint made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"starling-cycles-generative-design-detail\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One challenge was the lack of loading data, which can be difficult to generate for a mountain bike because it is so dynamic. McEwan used his engineering experience to provide the initial loads for the frame, and the Autodesk team used simulation to extrapolate the loads for the pivot structure. Then the generative design engine went to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe found one area where we could remove a lot of material, which was really beneficial,\u201d McEwan says. \u201cWe ended up using the load path analysis from the generative results to inform my design, so it was really a combination of the two approaches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"starling-cycles-machined-part-detail\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In retrospect, the tight physical limitations of the part \u2014 given its central location in the frame \u2014 did not give the generative design engine much room to work. Nevertheless, McEwan believes the experiment was valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven if you\u2019re uncertain about the loading inputs, you still get ideas from generative design that point you in the right direction,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes you stick with a design because that\u2019s how it\u2019s always been done. It\u2019s good to see a different way to solve the same problem and use the generative design output to take a new approach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about how generative design can improve your team’s workflow and possibilities here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A look at how generative design in Fusion 360 inspires mountain bike company Starling Cycles’ traditional, human-led design process. Joe McEwan likes to keep things simple. After 20 years as an aerospace engineer, he turned his hobby of building bike frames into a full-time career and thriving startup business: Starling Cycles, a line of mountain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4494,"featured_media":22771,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[236,165],"tags":[34,124,223,212],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-22727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mechanical-engineering","category-industrial-design","tag-customer-stories","tag-design","tag-engineers","tag-industrial-design","dhig-theme--light"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStarling Cycles Takes Generative Design for a Ride - Fusion Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A look at how generative design in Fusion 360 inspires mountain bike company Starling Cycles' traditional, human-led design process.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/starling-cycles-takes-generative-design-for-a-ride\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Starling Cycles Takes Generative Design for a Ride - 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