Skip to main content

Small Scale Track - Tyler - November 14

     This week the small scale track team finished the design of the track support brackets.  Several brackets were 3D printed to test fitment and overall design.  Each bracket takes upwards of 7 hours to 3D print, so we plan on changing the 3D printer fill settings to reduce the printing time.  Our new design was coordinated with the small scale bogey team to ensure that their new bogey can fit through our brackets. Our team also met with an injection molding consultant to discuss the possibility of injection molding these brackets.
    Our team also pushed forward on the new track bender design.  It is a modified version of last years design that will improve accuracy of bending and improve bending speeds.  We plan to have a horizontal platform for bending, as opposed to last years' vertical hanging design.  A mockup of our current track bender is shown below.  We plan to have the 3D model finished before next Wednesday so that we can start manufacturing the track bender.
 A 3D view of our current track bender design.  It uses a bottle jack and rollers to produce an even, consistent bend in an aluminum section.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Small Scale Track - Tyler - May 1

This week we obtained all of the rails to be bent and started into the full swing of manufacturing our new curved sections.  We have found out how to consistently get bends in our rails using a step by step process.  We are following last years advice and having only one person (me) manufacture the rails so that there is not measurement bias or manufacturing differences between users of the track bender.  We have begun receiving 3D printer samples from makerspace and found out that they are having great difficulties in getting us our orders, so we will need to revisit this.
Post a Comment
Read more

Small Scale Track - Tyler - May 18

The other small scale teams were not able to get their designs working by Friday night, so the first testing happened during the demonstration.  There were some problem areas of the track that we did not notice (and could not notice) before testing began, but these can be polished up by next years team.  The demonstration went well overall, and next years team should be well prepped to continue our work.  We will leave behind a fully assembled track, functioning track bender, and spare parts for them to work with.  It has been a good year with Spartan Superway, and we wish future years' teams the best of luck.
Post a Comment
Read more

Small Scale Track - Tyler - April 10

This week was the start of the 2nd presentation.  The presentations had to be cut short because of the move of the guide way from campus to the 115 Terraine St location.  The remainder of the class was spent purchasing our final materials and setting up reimbursements with Tinan.  We believe we have everything we need ordered.  Also, I found a family friend that can provide access to basic welding equipment!  Hopefully it will be enough for us to complete what we need to.
Post a Comment
Read more