Blog #6 10/5-10/11

In this past week, we presented our project to the class and instructors. Prior to the presentation there was a big push that all the teams show that they had completed around 50 hours of work since the start of the project. We realized we have not worked for that many hours however we believe we are on track to complete our goals for the semester and the year. By this point we should have run finite-element analysis so we could get a jump on building the rapid prototype. We will be doing that in the coming days and spend the next week pushing to get some parts manufactured using the materials and tools in the design center.

At the end of our presentation, Professor Furman asked us some questions that we were prepared to answer, but we would like to provide more details about our plans. One of the things he mentioned was that the screws that hold up the brackets are problematic. This is very true, the screws are very tiny and are either stripping or bending. Ideally we would like to actually weld the brackets to the rail where we can without making assembly/disassembly more complicated. The brackets on each part (A-F) would be welded using the TIG welder, and where each part mates together, would be bolted together. Any remaining brackets and connections would have to use all new bolts and screws.

Another issue Furman had mentioned is that bending sections A-D could be difficult to do according to our design (2 straight sections with a bend in the middle). This was something that came up several weeks ago as we discussed our designs with the fabrication team. Ultimately, both of us decided to make a serious attempt at manufacturing the parts the more difficult way because it should make assembly the track more precise. We have a few ideas on how it can be manufactured but are aware that we may have to refer back to the previous design method.