Week 14 Update

For this week I focused on gathering up all the materials that were going to be needed to start the building of the track. With the help of Patrick and his SUV, we were able to transport all of the wood needed as well as the third rail. We are very grateful for his help! Below are images of the materials as well as the components we have been able to make.

Week 13 Update

For this week, we focused on getting all the materials that would be needed to help us start building the track. We went to pick up some of the parts from Master Metal on Wednesday (5/1). We still need to pick up some wood in order to start building the track. All the screws and bolts needed were ordered and we were able to also find extra ones in the court house building. As of this week, we have finally started building. We have lost a lot of valuable building time due to the move this semester and we are very behind schedule. As of this moment, we predict that we won't be able to finish in time before the final presentation on May 10th.

Week 12 Update

For this week, David and I were able to secure the manufacturing of the third rail. Since this is now being crossed off our list, we also needed to ensure that we had the rest of the materials. Since we still need more wood in order to properly build the track, we are hoping to go to Home Depot this coming Thursday (4/25). This will be the plan for the week. Although we are not going to Maker Faire, we still wanted to ensure that something would be done. Our plan is to build what we can.

Week 11 Update

For this week David and I were finally able to finalize the move of the track! Below I attached some images that we were able to capture during the move.

I also focused my attention on getting a new third rail design. After some discussion with the bogie team, we decided to make a new third rail design that would resemble a pipe in order to lower the cost and make manufacturing more likely. Below is the new design I was able to come up with. The pipe had a diameter of 2.25". Meanwhile, David focused his attention on talking to manufacturers in order to get some quotes as well as find the feasibility of manufacturing.

Week 10 Update

For this week, I focused my attention of the moving of the tracks for full and half scale. With the help of enough people, we were able to move half. However, we were not able to get the track inside the building and we had to leave the parts outside. We are hoping that there is no more rain in order to prevent further rusting. We also had to present this week.

For the next week I will be focusing on designing a new third rail as we are running out of time.

Week 8 Update

For this week, I focused my attention on moving the track so that David and I can start building something. However, because it was raining and the truck with the bed was not available, we were not able to move the track. We are deciding to move the track some other day.
There is not much to update on since our design is finished and we just need to build our track now. We are also looking for manufacturers to get the third rail finished as soon as possible. David and I plan to do so during/after spring break.

Week 7 Update

For this week, I decided to finish up the straight section of the third rail. David had pointed out that I needed to include this section to ensure that the bogie could safely pass over the gap presented at our junction. The straight third rail is the last addition to the third rail that I plan to be making. Below is the design. We will be getting a 2x2 bar

For the rest of the week, I focused my attention on finding out where and when we can start building our guideway. We know that we have some extra metal scraps lying around for the supports, but we still need the third rail made. We will be talking with other teams in order to find a manufacturer ASAP.

Week 6 Update

For this week, I focused my attention on adding any updates that were needed to our presentation. We didn't get to present last week, so we were able to add a little more work. I updated the images of the third rail and made sure that our assembly was properly working. After our presentation, we will be talking to other teams about their progress and what we can do to help them. We will also be looking into a manufacturer to be able to bend our third rail in the near future.
I will not be attaching any images to this week's blog as I have done nothing other than research and updates for my team this week.

Week 5 Update

For this week, I focused my attention on getting all the images necessary for the team presentation as well as mounting the third rail onto our track. Although I am having a bit of trouble centering my third rail design, I did at least want to test the height by mounting the bogie with what we have. I also wanted to have the concept of the third rail ready before the first presentation of the semester. Below is the design we will be presenting.

Weeks 1-4 Update

For these past three weeks, I have focused my attention to updating our design. Our ideas will still be implemented into the newer track, but our old design has been scrapped. We added a new track to an older design provided to us by Dan and we have also updated our third rail to fit into this new design.
I was tasked with updating the third rail as well as coming up with an idea for supporting our junction. Below are the two designs I have contributed. We will continue to move forward as long as we get approval. We are hoping to build this track as soon as we get space to do so as well as supplies.
 Image: Third rail design 

 Image 2: New possible design for junction support