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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.

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