Hi,
this week I took charge of ordering PLA filament we needed, but that required us obtaining numbers from the positioning team who did not reply via Slack. I will be talking to them tomorrow with regards to the dimensions, quantities, and files of the brackets they need. I also drafted a design of the collar that would be used to support the solar mount that the solar team needs. However, Jez built upon my design and drafted a better design. I started the presentation, but since we will be presenting the following week, I have been focusing more of my attention on creating a jig that would allow us to quickly fix the bracket to the correct location on the rail we want to weld to.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
2/22/2017 Blog #17
Hi,
this week I worked on figuring out what the Solar Team needed from us in terms of aluminum material and the support their solar panel mounts would need. It is critical to understand their position because if we focus solely on our team, when the time comes, the entire project would not come together smoothly. I also did research on how to FEA a 70% in-fill PLA object but the results were fruitless. All I could find was a chart on the how strong it is. But just knowing the strength is not enough because I also would need density and other properties to plug into SolidWorks to obtain a logical representation of the stresses and strains.
This next week, I will be working on drafting some designs for the support structure necessary to fulfill Solar Team's needs but also fitting our own parameters (e.g. easy (dis)assembly, low material/cost, etc.). I will also be working on the presentation this week.
this week I worked on figuring out what the Solar Team needed from us in terms of aluminum material and the support their solar panel mounts would need. It is critical to understand their position because if we focus solely on our team, when the time comes, the entire project would not come together smoothly. I also did research on how to FEA a 70% in-fill PLA object but the results were fruitless. All I could find was a chart on the how strong it is. But just knowing the strength is not enough because I also would need density and other properties to plug into SolidWorks to obtain a logical representation of the stresses and strains.
This next week, I will be working on drafting some designs for the support structure necessary to fulfill Solar Team's needs but also fitting our own parameters (e.g. easy (dis)assembly, low material/cost, etc.). I will also be working on the presentation this week.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
2/15/2017 Blog #16
Hi,
this week I researched why our material is not bending the way Kevin had anticipated. Therefore, it means our material is not the exact same product as the old heat-treated ALU 6061, despite it saying so. I also prepared the metals for cutting - we have cut about three so far until we realized our lengths might be slightly off.
This week, I will try to figure out why our material is not reacting according to Kevin's calculations despite the specs being the same as the previous year's material. The newly obtained thicker material are over-bending and the thinner material are under-bending. If we cannot figure out why, Kevin would need to create dies that are rough to the radius we need - therefore, they will not be precise and be a huge consumption of our time.
this week I researched why our material is not bending the way Kevin had anticipated. Therefore, it means our material is not the exact same product as the old heat-treated ALU 6061, despite it saying so. I also prepared the metals for cutting - we have cut about three so far until we realized our lengths might be slightly off.
This week, I will try to figure out why our material is not reacting according to Kevin's calculations despite the specs being the same as the previous year's material. The newly obtained thicker material are over-bending and the thinner material are under-bending. If we cannot figure out why, Kevin would need to create dies that are rough to the radius we need - therefore, they will not be precise and be a huge consumption of our time.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
2/8/2017 Blog #15
Hi,
during the break, I watched some SolidWorks tutorials and practiced it myself - about ten minutes a day for two weeks. I also submitted an updated Bill of Materials (that got approved) because the previous one was not good enough.
This week we returned from winter break and have already been given an urgent deadline of finishing our part of the project by the 22nd of March. I helped with establishing tentative deadlines for our team and followed up on a quote from CoastAluminum about the material we wanted to buy. Fortunately, the materials we purchased will be arriving as soon as February 8 - they also ship within the range of 1-5PM as we asked because nobody on the team can receive the shipment and thereafter transport it to the design center. I also helped take apart a piece of the track (was eventually going to be disassembled) so that we could see what we're working with.
In the coming week, I will be updating our Gantt Chart and solidifying deadlines with respect to other 12th scale teams as well.
during the break, I watched some SolidWorks tutorials and practiced it myself - about ten minutes a day for two weeks. I also submitted an updated Bill of Materials (that got approved) because the previous one was not good enough.
This week we returned from winter break and have already been given an urgent deadline of finishing our part of the project by the 22nd of March. I helped with establishing tentative deadlines for our team and followed up on a quote from CoastAluminum about the material we wanted to buy. Fortunately, the materials we purchased will be arriving as soon as February 8 - they also ship within the range of 1-5PM as we asked because nobody on the team can receive the shipment and thereafter transport it to the design center. I also helped take apart a piece of the track (was eventually going to be disassembled) so that we could see what we're working with.
In the coming week, I will be updating our Gantt Chart and solidifying deadlines with respect to other 12th scale teams as well.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
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.
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.
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