Week 10: individual writing assignment #2 and plotting 1:1 scaled drawing.

The second individual writing assignment is due this week on 11/9/2016. I worked on that as well as the plotting the actual curve onto multiple pieces of paper.

From previous week, i confirmed that the intended curve radius from last year was 20". After some research on how plot 1:1 drawing, I used Sketchup to make the drawing and export it as a PDF file. then use adobe PDF reader to print the drawing as a poster in Sketchup does not allow me to print with multiple paper.

Result was successful:

Week 9 - measurement of previous team's product

I measured the curved aluminum of the 3 corners of the track. the forth corner is missing so theres no data from it. I measured it using a compass and a ruler. I took 3 measurements from each bent aluminum and averaged them. Aluminum#2 and 3 is somewhat consistent but aluminum number 1 had a reading of 22.625" radius that is not acceptable. I assumed that the previous team did not have a consistent machine that do the bending.

Week 8 : Presentation #2

This week we prepared our second presentation.

The presentation includes a new design of aluminum bender.

We calculated several numbers towards the design including force required and shear stress act on the bolts, and spring back effect of the aluminum.

If this bender design works out well, we should expect fabrication to start early next semester.

Week 7: Gathering numbers

This week I looked into the measurements from previous year's design and tried to compare it with the actual tracks they made. We wanted to see what challenges they faced so we will get an idea of what needs to be focused while fabricating.

We are yet to get access to the school machine shop E123, hopefully it will come down during the following days.


measurements :

week 6

This week we decided that our original bender design will be thrown out, and we will use a Hossfeld bender instead which is available in the local tech shop. However i was informed that the tech shop will only be available for one month so that is not going to work. we also contacted Lilly, and she said that the door code for E123 should arrive in a week. I hope that it will get us started on fabricating, otherwise, we will pay for the tech shop membership or classes or whatever is needed in order for us to get into the techshop.

On the otherside, since designing a bender is not a concern anymore, we will start getting informations and numbers about the tracks and bend radius, etc. The main method for us to ben the aluminum strips will be having a 1:1 CAD drawing printed out and ben the aluminum by hand accordingly.

week 5

This week's meeting is the first presentation of the half scale group. I had a good understanding of what they are doing although it is almost completely different from our 12th scale model.

Door request code is still pending. So we couldn't have access to E123 and play around with the machines. 

week 4

This week we worked on our first presentation. We gathered information about bending aluminum strips including different methods and different machines. the machines are around $1000 so we desided to use existing tools to create a method. we took pictures of the current track issue and put it on the presentation. We also requested for the E123 door code and are waiting for Lilly's respond.