Week 30: Paseo Approaches

The Paseo Public Prototyping Challenge is coming soon, in approximately 1.5 weeks. There is still work to be done at this point. This includes testing on the new loop sections that have been built, testing the new code on the new 3-D printed bogies, and the build of the solar panels.

There are not many updates to provide this week. No other teams have requested aid to date, so the assumption is that things are proceeding smoothly towards completion in time for the Paseo challenge. Investigation has been made into the state of some tools around the shop, but many of them appear to be broken beyond repair or are missing parts that cannot be found.

Week 29: Issues At Large

The Paseo Public Prototyping Challenge is coming soon, in approximately 2.5 weeks. There is still work to be done at this point. This includes testing on the new loop sections that have been built, testing the new code on the new 3-D printed bogies, and the build of the solar panels.

I am personally dealing with the loss of a family member who passed away a few days ago. Fortunately, I have thus far ensured any work required of me and the track fabrication team has been completed as early as possible, so the hope is that there are no issues that crop up that require my immediate attention. Unfortunately, with the timing as things are, problems showing up would not be unexpected, but the ideal is that things go smoothly.

Week 28: Looking Forward

The Paseo Public Prototyping Challenge is coming soon, in approximately 3.5 weeks. There is still work to be done, but until other teams share their concerns and estimates, knowing how much there is still to do will be difficult to determine.

In the meantime, several tasks beyond the original scope of the track fabrication and process development will be investigated, but the degree of investigation will depend mainly upon time and material availability. Any results or conclusions found will be documented, but there are no guarantees for the production of any devices or processes theorized.

Some things that may be investigated are:
・Variable-radius bender
・Variable-radius measuring tool
・Spartan Superway Shop machine restoration

See this week's post for more general information.

Week 27: Immediate Fabrication Requests Complete, On To Future Actions

As per the name of this week's post, the immediate fabrication request submitted to the track fabrication and process development team by the solar team and track improvement team has been completed. The corners were completed and delivered two weeks ago, on February 22nd, and the solar panel ribs and tabs were completed March 06th, to be delivered on March 08th.

There have been no other requests for fabrication or support at this point. The details on the plan moving forward are explained more explicitly in this week's group post.

Fabrication of the bends required on the solar panel ribs and tabs appeared straightforward at first, but required precision for decent replication. Specifically, bending the edges of the rib inward to allow for flush attachment to the frame required a sharp bend, which placed great stress at one point on the material. The application of heat to the material via propane torch prior to bending appeared to ease the process and allow the material to deflect more without cracking, but was ultimately found to be unnecessary. Testing found that the bends could be made while the material was cold, but with a very small amount of error tolerable; over-bending the edge by even three or four degrees would crack the material, rendering the rib useless. However, honing in on the specific angle permitted by the material allowed fabrication to proceed quickly and in a mostly reliable fashion. Much of the bending process relied on the user's ability to identify when the material was about to be bent too far, which may present a hazard when attempting to hand off the task.

The first test bend, with a wooden block placed in a vise.

The wooden block showing insufficient strength to bend the aluminum.

Fabrication of an aluminum block to bend the material.

The aluminum block placed in the vise.

An example of stress fracture in the bend section of the aluminum rib.

A completed rib.

Tabs followed the same process, but did not include the center section like a rib.

Week 26: Ribs Remain

Work on the ribs for the solar panel racks began this past week with the finalization of the details by the solar teams. Test bends on the small stock (0.125" x 0.750") resulted in predictable high stress concentrations at the bend points, and risked breaking off the tabs required by the ribs. Solutions may include pre-bend heat treatment via butane or propane torch, scoring at the bend location prior to bending, or creating larger bend radii to reduce the stress concentration. The goal is to reuse material that was tested upon with the initial bender for these ribs, in order to reduce the amount of overall waste material. Additionally, all ribs will be ideally completed by next Wednesday.

A test bend block made out of 3/4" plywood.

Needless to say, the metal was more resilient than the plywood.

Making a new bending block from an aluminum block.

Drilling holes in the block to retain support rails.

All holes drilled and the parts separated.

The new bend blocks with support rails to hold them atop the vise.

Underside view of the blocks.

A cracked-off tab from making too intense a bend.