Blog 5

             Progress from December 11th to February 3rd 

During the break, the team made tremendous progress in completing Milestone 3. The team as of February 3rd has finished researching the possible material vendors and has settled on ordering the materials from McMaster-Carr due to the price and the shipping time for the materials. During winter break, the team finished the 3D prototype for both the front and rear uprights. The week of January 22nd the team completed the third task in Milestone 3 by checking the dimensions of the design and ensuring they were compatible with the existing assembly of the car. Dimensions such as the bolt-hole diameter and screw threading have been edited after completion of this task. This then allowed the team to order the material from the vendor and the order is to be received by the 16th of February. 

Future Plans to Achieve Major Milestones

For the work period of February 4th - February 17th, the team plans to acquire the material for our final product, have a finalized engineering drawing for the machinist, and verify the fitment and dimensions of the uprights. The team met at the shop on January 26th to check the fitment of the uprights with the current iteration of the chassis. Fitment of the uprights have been checked and minor tweaks to the designs are being made. Once the final fitment has been confirmed, the material for the final product will be ordered. The major milestone the team aims to complete by March 18th is prototype testing. From February 4th - February 17th the team has advanced in this major milestone by completing 2/5 of the work tasks. 


Foreseen Obstacles and Possible Solutions 

One obstacle the team predicted in the project work was difficulty fitting the dimensions of the current design to the already manufactured parts in the car. This was an obstacle the team had to maneuver around this week by adjusting a couple of measurements before finalizing the design for manufacturing. This then raises the challenge that in the future there might again be issues with these new dimensions. To fix this, prior to machining the design the team will print another 3D print and verify the dimensions one more time. Another obstacle that could arise but is highly unlikely is the material arriving late, being back-ordered, or having unexpected shipping delays. While some of these scenarios are out of the team's control, to get ahead of this possible obstacle the team has placed the order for the material very early on. 

Current Status and Progress Pictures 

The pictures bellow represent the completion of the third milestone, a 3D printed prototype fabricated and integration assessed. Featured are both of the 3D prints for the front and rear uprights design. The verification of the sizing and compatibility took place in the FSAE shop with the exact braking and suspension components that will be used in the 2024 race car.

Figure 1: New (Left) and Old (Right) Front Upright Design 



Figure 2: Front and Rear Upright 3D Print



Figure 3: Compatibility Measurements Taking Place




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                                                               
                                  



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