Spring 2018, Week 15: Completing the Final Presentation

May 9, 2018

On Wednesday, we came into the SSDC to adjust any sections that would cause the bogie to bind. We re-bent a curve section, as well as shaved the brackets, which seemed to alleviate any binding concerns. With our small scale track complete, all that was left for the rest of the semester is to finish the final report and presentation for our senior project. On Thursday, our team met up in the Student Union to complete the presentation. After our presentation on Friday, our team will come into the SDCC to break down the track for Maker Faire.

Spring 2018, Week 14: Completing the Track

May 2, 2018

Throughout the week, our team managed to complete all the sections of the track. Early in the week, I managed to assemble the rest of the straight sections because the brackets were all finally printed. In addition to completing the straights, I also bent the curves for the last curved section, all while Kevin completed the last switch section. On Wednesday, Bryan and I finished assembling a complete track, as seen in Figure 1. With the small scale track finally completed, our team can start focusing on the final presentation of the semester, as well as the final report. This as been a long, exhausting process, but it feels great finally seeing our track completed. All that is left is to ensure that the bogies have no problems binding around the track.

Figure 1: Completed Small Scale Track

Spring 2018, Week 13

April 25, 2018

This week, the team continued to manufacture the track. With the mounting sleeves deburred, our team can finally start assembling portions of the track. As can be seen in Figure 1, our team managed to mount a straight and switch section on the track. Our team is still waiting on brackets to be printed, so we have to wait till next week to complete our track. As of now, we still have to finish about 6 straights, one curve, and one switch.

Figure 1: Mounted Switch and Straight.

Spring 2018, Week 12: Correcting Mounting sleeves and Waiting on Brackets

April 18, 2018

This week, our team continued to work our way towards manufacturing the track. We ran into some issues with the mounting sleeves that Bryan was welding because the metal burrs were preventing the sleeves from sliding onto the L-shape square tubing. Thus, Bryan utilized the class period to shave them down.

Meanwhile, my workload slowed down this week because our team ran out of brackets to assemble the straights. With the mounting brackets and the 3-D printed brackets incomplete, our manufacturing has stalled slightly. However, I am still confident that my team will complete this in the coming weeks.

Spring 2018 Week 11: Presentation 2 and a Switch

April 11, 2018

This week, our team presented our second presentation of the semester. In this presentation, I reiterated the design requirements and specifications. Bryan went over the manufacturing progress and contingencies and dependencies. Lastly, Kevin went over the BOM and Gantt Chart for our team.

                     

On Friday of this week, our team put some extra time in the SDCC. I was able to drill and countersink the holes for 6 more straights. After Kevin prints out more brackets, our team will have successfully completed 13 of the 15 straights needed for the project.

While I was completing this, Bryan worked on welding the mounting components of our supports. However, Bryan ran into a slight setback because it seems that the shielding gas tank is empty; we have to purchase another tank to continue the project.

Lastly, after seeing the Bogie team's bogie fit in the curve section, Kevin worked on completing the switch section, shown Figure 1. Now that we have verified that the bogie will fit in the modular sections without binding, we can start completing all the components for the track.

Figure 1: Completed Switch Section

Spring 2018, Week 10: Making Straights

April 4, 2018

This week is the first week back from our Spring Break. Our team continues to manufacture parts for the small scale track. This week, I managed to assemble 5 straight sections. While I was doing this, Kevin continued working on the curve and switch sections. 

As of this week, we managed to create 2 curves and half a switch (Figure 1). We are currently waiting on the Small Scale Bogie team's design to determine if the bogie will fit in the curve section. When we can verify this, we will proceed with completing the switch section. 

Figure 1: Incomplete switch section

In addition to manufacturing parts for the track, our team is also preparing for the second presentation of the semester. 

Week 9: Attempting Curves and Assembling Straight Sections

March 21, 2018

This week, our team attempted to create curve sections with the bender Kevin manufactured. As shown Figure 1, it seems that we have created a curve that will keep the bogie from binding. Using calipers, we our gap stays within the tolerance of 2.5 + 0.5 inches. All we need to do now is wait for the bogie team's design, so we can test the rails.

Figure 1: Curve section Prototype

As well as creating a curve, our team completed 2 straight sections (Figure 2), and mounted the sections onto the supports, shown in Figure 3. In Figure 3, a view of the completed supports is also featured.

Figure 2: Straight Section Prototype

Figure 3: Straight Sections Mounted on Supports 

Going into Spring Break, we are making good progress into completing the entire track section by Maker Faire. To be honest, this break is much needed. The team has spent a lot of extra time in the shop to stay on track. Hopefully this break will rejuvenate the team, and we will be ready to hit the ground running in a couple weeks.