12/7/2016 Blog #14

Hi,
this week I worked on presentation and ensuring the slides were all approached with assertion-evidence. I also distributed the tasks for the final report first draft, giving my best in terms of distributing an even workload and based on individual strengths. I completed my portion (approximately three pages of writing) which included reading the articles that were linked to us. Following that, I began to research articles and take notes for the third writing assignment. I also did FEA on the curved rail and PLA U-Bracket which we needed urgently. At a 5-pound force, the absolute worst deformation that would occur for the curved rail is about .03mm. As for the U-Bracket, there is about a 0.4 mm deformation at the right corner when there is a 5-pound force applied to the bracket at the shown locations. The deformation is rather large but this is an exaggeration of what the U-Bracket will actually be facing since the bogie's weight will be distributed across the two corners equally (roughly 2.5-pounds each) and then mitigated by the rail that will be carrying most of the bogie's weight (which is not depicted). However, we may address this deformation anyway by thickening the sides of the U.

 

11/30/2016 Blog #13

Hi,
this week I discussed and settled with the Track Manufacturing team that they will be handling the bends of the track's corners (which they have completed). I completed most of the PowerPoint and started the final report. The final report first draft is due on Friday, so we will continue to work on it throughout this week. I have been e-mailing Eric, Michael, and Neil the bill of materials which we have completed for the most urgent material we needed: PLA filament. Eric approved of it and we purchased it for only $93 on Amazon which should be enough material for all 30 castings of our U-bracket. The bill of materials I completed was rather sloppy since we needed the PLA filament ASAP, but I will be updating it with all of the company's quotes tonight. This week was slightly more relaxing since it was Thanksgiving weekend and we were waiting for approvals.

11/23/2016 Blog #12

Hi,
this week I was responsible for finishing a rather urgent Bill of Materials which I did and e-mailed to the three people: Eric Hagstrom, Michael Kemp, and Neil Shankar. They are responsible for approving our budget which will then need to be approved by the A.S. It was an urgent bill of materials because we decided to 3D print all of our brackets which our teammate Jezreel has offered to do for us, free of charge (of course, not including the 3 orders of PLA filament which would cost around $75). I also dimensioned the overall dimensions of the track to make sure it fit the given area when presenting at Paseo Prototyping and Maker's Faire which was within a 15 by 15 feet area. Our track currently sits at about 13 by 13 feet as shown below. On Friday, Jez and I went to see VanderBend to talk about our quote and future meet-ups and were given a tour. Having gone to VanderBend, we got to see how they do things different from us and we were given a little information as to how the track manufacturing team and us should tackle the bending issue.

11/16/2016 Blog #11

Hi,
this week I have been remaining in contact with Kearny Foundry and about making a mold for our bracket (picture shown below). The only problem with the mold is that they would be unable to create the press fit and holes of the bracket (which would require for us to machine ourselves). I spoke with Kevin (from the manufacturing team) and we could make a station and/or mount to repeatedly tap holes and make the press fits consistently. Just this morning, however, I finally obtained a quote from them and they said: $940 for the mold and $16.30 per heat treated casting which totals $1429 and would take about four weeks. I told this to the group and we decided that we might just 3D print the brackets instead with a 60% ink fill PLA filament approximating $60 and roughly three weeks. 3D printing would save time, money, and solve the issue of creating repeatable press fits and holes.

11/9/2016 Blog #10

Hi,
this week I focused on turning all SolidWorks parts into drawings and pdfs for the sake of organization, submitting to companies to request for quotes, and uploading to Google Drive for other teams to stay updated. Two of the fifteen drawings I finished this week are shown below. I was also responsible for getting a quote from Kearny Foundry; we should have a quote by next week just in time for the Bill of Materials deadline. We are slightly behind in terms of getting a quote because they had a ton of questions and since it was my first time asking for a quote, my e-mail was not extensive enough and I have been e-mailing Kearny for several weeks as a result. I have also been talking to Kevin from the 12th scale Track Manufacturing team about their process of creating a tool to bend aluminum and his team has been making great progress. We might just be able to manufacture all of the stuff in-house if the dimensions remain consistent.

Franklin Kha

11/2/2016 Blog #9

Hi,
this week I did not do much after our Presentation. I have simply been shooting e-mails back and forth with Kearny Foundry, trying to satisfy their questions for us so we can get a quote - so, yes we are still waiting for a quote. We need to speak with the other teams about a more definitive date for all going to Vander-Bend together. There is little left to do in the design process; we are all figuring out manufacturing process currently. This week has been a busy week for me due to midterms and other projects.

10/26/2016 Blog #8

Hi,
this week I drew the design that I sent to Kearny Foundry and requested a quote. I was trying to do Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on the track but it would not work since the entire loop was created as an assembly and our SolidWorks did not support that so I simply redrew the loop as one part to get an FEA for it. I also worked on the PowerPoint for Presentation #2 and created a spreadsheet to tabulate our inventory and things we might need. Afterward, I searched for several sites that would sell ALU 6061 and found that Eric's recommended company, Coast Aluminum, was the cheapest.


                                           

10/19/2016 Blog #7

Hi,
This week, I helped draft a bracket mount that would be specific to the curved track, but soon realized that the radius was so much larger that the curve on the bracket mount would be meaningless and costly. The picture below demonstrates the radius of the loop on the track and the mount with specific legs would align perfectly with the bend to reduce wiggle. However, as can be seen in the picture, the radius is so large that the tangential point of contact is negligible. It would take money to put in that extra radius that effectively accomplishes little. Next, I was also helping Jez change the units of the entire track from metric to standard since we wanted to make the numbers look good with a perfect three significant digit number. However, the dimensions of the track would change and we would have to build a new track, so we agreed to just change the units and leave as is for now until we begin working on the new track next semester. I also compiled a list of things that we will be addressing tomorrow before the presentation on the 26th of October, including, but not limited to, drafting a bill of materials, documenting inventory, contacting companies like Vander-Bend Manufacturing, performing FEA on our assembly, updating Gantt Chart, and creating a PowerPoint.



Franklin Kha

10/12/2016 Blog #6

Hi,
after we completed our presentations, I went ahead and posted our slides on the team blog as instructed. There were only a few minutes remaining of class time when the presentations were over and so we all dispersed. This was a fairly mellow week for us, but as according to plan, our goal is to begin calculations and other tests tomorrow on the designs we have. The plan is to finish by the 19th of October. Also, I will continue to update the Gantt chart as needed and the team is currently waiting for some replies about dimensions from the other teams.

Franklin Kha

10/5/2016 Blog #5

Hi,
this week I caught the cold so meeting deadlines for my classes and studying for my midterms were already devastating. Aside from the sickness, I worked on the presentation and improved the Gantt Chart because apparently what we were supposed to learn from the videos of Assertion slides, were not simply having fewer words and more blatant pictures - we were supposed to have our titles relay a message. I also updated the PowerPoint so that it would properly and accurately represent what we have done so far, for better or worse. Some individual goals I have for the coming weeks include ensuring we finish the designs and calculations by October 19th and when we later finish the manufacturing, we make sure it remains compatible with the other groups' needs.

Franklin Kha

9/28/2016 Blog #4

Hi,
this week I worked on the Presentation. I took pictures, gathered documents, and brainstormed notes - all of which, will be going on the slides. Our team also met up on Saturday where I was able to finish most of the slides or get them started on the right path. This week is slightly less productive for me with respect to the superway project because we have the presentation and writing assignment deadlines rapidly approaching.

Franklin Kha

9/21/2016 Blog #3

Hi,
this week was rather productive on a macroscopic level because we were busy establishing a stronger foundation for all the teams to communicate as one. As suggested from blog two, I was going to recommend the plans for a more lego-like structure of a track so that a manufacturer can literally build a few unique pieces infinitely and create infinite tracks. Of course, this does not account for varying landscapes or dimensions but the connecting pieces will allow room for any piece to simply fit right in there. I also proposed that, instead of trying to fix the previous track and redesigning, we simply redesign the new track so that our team will have more time to test and find out the kinks afterward. We will have more time to redesign and improve the Superway this way. After some convincing, the rest of my team agreed that it would ultimately be better.

9/14/16 Blog # 2

Hi,
during this week, my team and I got to accustom ourselves to what tools were available and what the half-scale track looked like. It was not as beautiful as what the report indicated and we may need to completely recreate the track. Anyway, the three of us discussed some tentative ideas on how to improve the track because we noticed that the curvatives were incorrect due to different manufacturers and the track's lack of repeatability. After juggling the issues and ideas around, we spoke with Eric Hagstrom and we seem to be on the right track. I also looked read last year's report on the track to get a better idea of their plans. I think I have a rough idea of what designs I want to implement and will be bringing those to the table for discussion, tomorrow.

Franklin Kha

Week 1 8/30/2016 Spartan Superway

Hi,
this will be my first blog I have ever written so please excuse the mistakes. I am expected to work with two others on improving the track for the Spartan Superway. Since I have yet to meet the team or see the project, it is difficult for me to begin assessing what would be good to improve. I do not have much experience with tracks, but am eager to learn.

Looking at the previous team's report, it seemed to me that they were attempting to create a replicable modular design readily available for mass production. However, after careful inspection that is not the case. When looking at their design, I see that they created four loops that are interconnected as can be seen below. The problem with this particular design is the fact that the team did not account for mass production in which the stations on the outside will collide with another four-loop track. So instead, a better idea would be to move the stations to the inside so that it would be modular and repeatable.

Currently, the support is made up of a square inch steel tube that is three feet tall. The setup seems justified for now and quite frankly, sufficient. Thus, there is no urgency to change the material or the layout of supports, but of course, if it becomes necessary, we will do so. Also, according to the report, the bends of the track were off and so the bogie would get snagged or fall off of the track. Afterward, though, they managed to fix some bends and create a track that was smooth enough for the bogie to run autonomously. That team also mentioned that their track was easy to disassemble and reassemble so that one could easily bring the track to events. But from first glance, it seems that there may be a design that is more efficient at being disassembled and reassembled. I imagine there is a way to create a more easily assembled track with simply five unique pieces (the curvature, the two stations, the shorter path, and the loop connecting piece). The design I have in mind has not taken physical form yet, but I imagine that the method in which these pieces connect will allow room for environment-dependent pieces to fit right into the jigsaw puzzle.

Franklin Kha