Britain’s number-one skeleton racer for the last 20 years says that CAD/CAM applications are vital in keeping the sport’s leading athletes at the top of their game; and when not hurling himself down tracks at 90mph on a small high-tech sled, Kristan Bromley designs and manufactures sleds for 22 nations preparing for the next Winter Olympics — including Britain, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Korea.

Mr Bromley has one world championship under his belt, two overall world-series titles and numerous British national titles.

Furthermore, he is three-times European champion; and in 2008 he became the first man in history to win the World Championship, European Championship and World Cup in the same season.

The British media nicknamed him Doctor Ice because he gained a PhD from Nottingham University with a thesis entitled Factors affecting the performance of skeleton bobsleds.

His company, Bromley Sports, makes between 100 and 200 bespoke sleds a year for athletes around the world.

However, it is currently moving into the recreational arena, having designed and developed a patented sled for the new snow activity called Baseboarding.

Mr Bromley says: “Over the next two to three years, we will be changing from providing low-volume highly customisable Olympic-specification sleds to manufacturing up to 10,000 Baseboards for a mass market. Our mission is to become the most advanced manufacturer of ‘sliding sport’ products in the world.”

Mr Bromley says VISI from Vero Software (www.visicadcam.com) is playing a key role in his company’s future: “It is absolutely vital for creating both high-precision performance parts and carbon-fibre lay-up tooling.”

Recently introduced at the Whistler Olympic Park in Canada, Baseboarding is described by Mr Bromley as “body-boarding on snow”; the participants slide down a ‘groomed run’ on a patented board that has a low centre of gravity and is designed to provide optimal ride dynamics by keeping the rider close to the snow.

“The Baseboard has a low-friction curved base and parallel runners; this combination creates a highly agile board with easy-to-learn steering using feet and subtle upper body movements.

It is a safe recreational way for families visiting snow resorts to experience the head-first ride position of skeleton racing, which is an amazing adrenalin rush.

"Furthermore, although the Baseboard is extremely light, it is strong and stylised; the product features thermoplastic composites that create a super-tough 3-D structure capable of withstanding temperatures of -30°C.”

Bromley Sports made its name in the highly competitive world of skeleton racing.

“We’re giving athletes the tools to fight for Olympic medals, and VISI is absolutely pivotal in creating sleds that offer maximum performance by pushing the boundaries of design.

“Reducing aerodynamic drag by 5% can cut an athlete’s time by one, two, or even three tenths of a second — and that’s enough to take them from tenth place right through to Gold.”

With more than 60 carbon-fibre and stainless-steel components in the skeleton sled, and with the prospect of mass-producing Baseboards, Mr Bromley said it was important to bring the whole operation in-house.

“Previously, most of the tooling work was sent to sub-contractors, but we realised that by bringing tool design and manufacturing in-house, we could create new designs, develop products faster and innovate more efficiently.”

New VMC and software

To achieve his aims, Mr Bromley bought a Doosan DNM 650 VMC; this was retro-fitted with a Nikken fourth-axis rotary table and driven using VISI’s multi-axis machining software. The capability provided by these means that Bromley Sports can develop complex tooling, as well as machine prismatic-style components.

“The VISI team were instrumental in explaining how the software works and getting us up and running with our machining centre,” says Mr Bromley.

“The engineers’ machining knowledge was invaluable. Indeed, without their support we wouldn’t have been able to get our products out there so quickly, helping athletes win medals in the World Cup.”

The company, which was established by Kristan and his brother Richard in 2000, now uses VISI for every component in its skeleton sleds and Baseboards. “Moreover, it’s not just the components that go into making up the products for which we use VISI. We also use it to develop everything that supports the manufacturing process — including the tooling and jigs.”

Rules for the skeleton sled are set by the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT), the sport’s international governing body. These rules allow the use of a variety of materials that can be combined to make a high-performance product.

Technology is key

“Technology is one of the key parts of an athlete’s performance. In the same way that a Formula 1 driver can’t win the world championship without the best car, a skeleton racer would really struggle to win Olympic medals and world titles without the best sled technology.

The development process includes ensuring that the sled is tailored to the individual athlete’s body.

“We design it around the athlete’s own ergonomics, reflecting the pressure points of their shoulders and knees. We use a Hexagon Metrology Romer Absolute Arm with integrated laser scanner to reverse-engineer the athlete’s form.

“We can scan an athlete’s body shape and generate accurate mesh data for Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis in less than an hour.”

Once the design is completed in Creo — a 3-D CAD software and modelling solution — Mr Bromley seamlessly drops the file into VISI and starts to work on machining strategies.

“Although VISI is extremely powerful and flexible, it is also simple to use. When we’re machining new tooling for the carbon-fibre composites, being able to approach that particular tool with different machining strategies and having the ability to manipulate those cuttings paths is critical.

To achieve the precision we need to help athletes win medals, we’ve found that we cannot hit a tool with a ‘one tool-path suits all’ approach. We need to tailor those tool-paths and the cutting strategy in order to reduce machining time and produce a part with a high level of surface finish that requires minimal hand polishing.

VISI’s simulation capability ensures that we have the mould and tool-paths ready for perfect, accurate and collision-free machining before we start to cut metal.”

In conclusion, Mr Bromley says VISI software allows the company to build sleds with greater precision and to the required tolerances.

“Gaining performance is all in the detail; and as an organisation trying to help athletes win Olympic medals, we need the best to help the world’s best.”