Week 34: Solar Panel Rack & Half-Scale Backstop Progress, Final Report

The build for the solar panel rack is moving along. The end pieces have been completed thus far, consisting of cutting material, drilling through-holes, and mounting corner brackets. The sides need holes drilled for the ribs and tabs, the ribs and tabs need holes drilled for through bolts, and angle stock needs to be purchased to make the post and support.

A section of 7.5" by 16.5" diamondplate has been cut and had holes drilled, which will be used to assess the original plans for the half-scale bogie backstop. Depending on how the test fit later today goes, changes may have to be made to the design to accommodate.

May 12th is the Senior Design Conference, and is when all of Spartan Superway will be presenting at the university to an open crowd. Work needs to be done on the final report, and much of the information present therein will also be shown during the conference. Still waiting on information about what the format of the final report will be.

Holes being drilled for the end pieces.

End pieces with corner brackets mounted with through-bolts.

Post for the post support.

Section of diamondplate cut from a larger square via jigsaw.

Holes drilled in diamondplate for through-bolts, to be tested today.

Week 33: Solar Panel Rack & Half-Scale Team Request

Short post this week. Refer to the group blog this week for general information on what's being done.

More details on the solar panel build will be posted next week, after work has taken place.

The half-scale team approached me to help create a physical barrier affixed to each end of the track to prevent the bogie from driving off the track in case anything happens. The plan is to use spare diamondplate and bolt it to the frame at the end of each track. This will require drills, plenty of screws and nuts and washers, and plenty of time as well.

Week 32: Past Paseo

Paseo Public Prototyping was a relative success. This week's group post contains all relevant information.

Click here to go to this week's group post.

Below is the same presentation as the one in the group post, but with additional slides appended.

Week 31: Crunch Time

The Paseo Public Prototyping Challenge is almost here, with only several days left. According to the other teams, there is still work to be done at this point. Testing of the bogie on the new track appears to have been successful, which indicates that additional new pieces of track may not be needed. The build of the solar panels appears to be proceeding well, with the ribs and tabs fitting well enough.

There have not been any requests for extra hands or aid from any of the other teams, but with reports of recent progress, I feel that there is no need to worry. What will be shown at the Paseo challenge will not be the most refined version that the small scale team has to offer, but it should be serviceable and provide a base from which to move forward towards MakerFaire.

More detailed investigation will need to be made into the state of the aged and donated tools around the shop, but many of them appear to be broken beyond repair, are missing parts that cannot be found, do not have the requisite associated items, need new parts, or just do not work well.

Click here to go to the track improvement week 3 post for some basic investigation into shop tool issues.