11/30/16

On November 18th, we met with Scott Bryant at Vander-Bend to discuss our prototype for next semester. Here is what we learned (which is mentioned in our team blog as well):

• Our model will be laser cut, since we want a thickness of around 3 mm which is about 1/8 inch steel. Their laser cutters can cut up to 3/8 thickness, if thicker, water-cutting is utilized.
• The laser cutters accomodate up to 60x120 inches of material. This is more than the typical standard of 48x120.
• Vander-Bend doesn't handle casting painting, injection molding, etc. -type services.
• They manufacture a lot for the hospital industry, fuel cells, fruit industry, etc.
• We will make a model of what we need constructed on SolidWorks. We will construct the 3D model of it so that they can assemble as portrayed. They will need the step file and drawing.
• Our model will be cold-rolled steel, either 10-10 or 10-08. Bend radius of 1/32 inch.
• Claude will talk with Andres.
• Manufacture time will be at least 3 weeks, so we need to plan around that.

It seems that Claude is handling much of the prototype, as far as CAD modeling goes. I am working more on these blog posts, but we will focus on the Bill of Materials in the next coming days, as well as the rough draft of our Final Report. Our end-of-semester prototype will hopefully be to create a model of how the column connects to the guideway and the footings.

Furthermore, I've been in contact with Professor Al-Manaseer of the CE department to see if we could gain access to the concrete for fabricating our simple footings for now. This would hopefully imitate how the footings would react when placed into the ground for support. We aren't 100% sure yet if our model should utilize one column/footing or two, since there isn't much time left, but we will know in the next few days.