Week 5: Redesign Details, Bender Rework?

As of the writing of this post, access to on-campus labs has not yet been granted. Work with the track improvement, bogie design, and other teams continue, and final dimensions of the bender have not yet been determined. Initial information from the track improvement team suggests that the radius used will be similar to the largest radius of the track developed last year, which may ease production as having a larger radius will mean that the material may require less force to manipulate. There’s been no new information yet on the radius required for the section of track that constitutes the station, more specifically about whether the dimensions are different or the same compared to what was used previously.

An initial idea for a bender setup was detailed in last week’s post, but evaluation of that design yet continues. Unbalanced forces may prove troublesome over time, so the current thought is to replace the arm with a proper Y-shaped arm, resulting in a design much more similar to a Hossfeld than the original. The base plate may remain the same, unless the bolts/cylinders affixed to it cannot be kept strictly vertical. In either case, the Hossfeld design appears to be much more simple than the DiAcro design, in large part due to the acceptable tolerances on the arms when compared to the circular shape and chain/gear utilized by the DiAcro design. Expect more definite information next week, as prototyping is scheduled to start in short order.