This week I met with professor Muntz to see if we would be able to use the machine shop in the industrial studies building. He said that we technically need to take the course to use the machine shop, but that if we were doing something very simple (such as threading a rod) that we could use it. We really need access to a machine shop for welding, and I have reached out to the machine shop in the mechanical engineering building to see if we can gain access. We continued trying to assemble the track and found that the situation was worse than we initially thought. Much of our material that we have planned to use for rail bending appears to have been misplaced or scrapped during the move. We will need to order new aluminum sections to replace and expand the track. Many of the pieces do not fit together as they should and need a matching mate to work correctly. This is leading to a constant guess and check of the track. We are set on the new track layout that we discussed with the former BART engineer, and are working hard on achieving it. The new track bender is underway and almost all materials have been obtained.
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.
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