Our Brazil trip go full force… we’re still here till end of the week and the schedules are just overfull!
Yesterday we paid a visit to the machining plant of Hübner (Auto Linea) to see how our engine cases and cylinder head been machined after the casting yesterday.
Hubner is a massive factory (I’ve been here several times before) that works real hard on larger diesel applications… The owner, by everybody known as Mr Nelson, is a Fusca lover hence he provides so many of us with high quality products to keep our Volkswagens alive…
The factory is al split up in departments what they call “families” here, well here is the VW engine and cylinder head “family”
The machining of the two cases has to be equal (both sides the same) so only can be done simultaneously…
Jerry was pretty impressed here!
After machining the cases been assembled with the necessary studs and center pens by these lovely ladies! Believe me or not they’re crazy about Fusca!
Full pallets of engine cases everywhere,
We also came here to discuss the new Magnesium case they have in the pipeline. till now all of their cases been made from aluminum.
The improvements from the original case are many… where under more material behind the pulley…
and a reinforced area behind the flywheel, where the original cases tend to crack.
as said Hübner makes a lot of heavy-duty diesel engine blocks and heads so the machines here are out of proportion… a (little) tour for your service!
Here a couple of Sunnen honing machines…
Just a drill? These run all together to drill a cylinder head at once! imagine!!
This is an alignbore machine…
Many machines need many tooling right? CNC tooling are not cheap at all, this is the capital of the company! A team of 5 people take care for only these tools!
a new CNC machine was installed, for a production for Scania of a certain motorblock for the assembly line! is this big enough to be impressive, I used Jerry as a refence…LOL…:)
at the end there is the shipping department off course!
Mandatory lunch… and yes we still love the Churascheria (Brazilian BBQ) Thanks for the invitation Alison! I think the only vegetarians in Brazil are the cow really…:)
Alison drove us to the factory of our 6 volt voltage regulators… they gave us a very warm welcome!
Some even have BBT sticker on their computer here, are we friends? You bet!
These are the internals of modern voltage regulators, a whole package of technology!
Production is almost clinical here, no dust allowed!! Some areas are even restricted for visitors…
Test, test, test!!! The number of test equipment here is enormous, every little step needs his own control!
In product research and development department we got simulations for our next production run of 6 volt voltage regulators, as we’re about to run out of our first production. We discussed the improvements and gave it a GO!
This is research engineering (for modern cars) unbelievable what these guys put on just a mini mini circuit board!
But also the production work is here… this is the printer of the circuit boards!! Very extremely high specialised!!
and more testing!
This is the assembly of the circuit boards, they get so small now it’s hardly impossible for humans to put them together, this machine is crazy amazing, it goes so fast! The rolls in the front are the little components….
and more testing… end control is all control as they say…
That was another day… we fly back to Sao Paolo now, for a drive to several larger factories tomorrow..
Our uncle Sammy with a big smile in an old 1951 Plymouth… Sammy is not a real Uncle, but for BBT he is… we go back a long way and Uncle takes really good care for us!!
Hey Uncle, can we drive along to our next adventures?
Tomorrow I leave the Blog for the BBT Friday product update team but will try to make another report for You on saturday and sunday!
stay tuned!!