3/21/17

Since most of our project is dependent on Claude's designs and his ability to finalize decisions, we're moving at a slow pace currently. He's still hung up on the original T design and finalizing SolidWorks issues, so Kevin and I decided to get started with the "cat's eye" design. We found a board of wood in the Superway shop and figured it would be easiest to use a tool such as the bandsaw to cut out the intricate beam design of the cat's eye. We couldn't figure out how to work any of the equipment in the Superway shop, so we went to the ME shop on campus on Thursday evening. Their equipment wasn't much better.

This is one of the "cat's eye" versions that we went with in the shop. We figure the guideway method of attaching beams could be used to connect the cat's eye to the guideway. The black blocks are where the guideway would go if this were fully developed, but we have no input on what goes in that area, according to the scope of our subteam, "Supports and Railings." We used a bandsaw and drill press to saw the general shape of the design, then sanded the edges to the best of our ability using the belt sander and hand files. I later painted the black boxes.

We are still waiting on Claude's father to manufacture the interlocking columns for the project. We expect it'll be a quick process, because his father owns equipment that is much better quality than the school's. Claude is still finalizing the dimensions, but once the columns are completed, we will leave room for it to fit where the slit in the wooden design above is.

3/15/17

This week, there wasn't much happening. As I thought before, I figured I would be fabricating the wood beams to create the architectural model. As it turns out, Claude is going to have his dad make them so they're "more precise" using his equipment, which is much better than the ME lab's equipment or the machines in the Spartan Superway shop (which we're not sure if it works or not). Claude is still working on his designs.

To be honest, I feel like my hands are tied. We (the rest of the team) can't progress until we have these designs to fabricate, but Claude insists on making the designs the way he sees fit. So it's been a couple months now that we've been in this designing phase but I don't see anything coming together yet. I need to begin fabrication or we are not going to finish in time. Claude mentioned just making one architectural prototype and laser-cutting the other designs (cat's eye) but I think this would look tacky and simplistic compared to what the other subteams of Spartan Superway are working on.

3/8/2017

We gave our Presentation 1 on 3/1/2017. This is the link to the presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17jWUimgnZD5Ax67Z1MixaxjqK4BDnnuSh3bH8uC3pDk/edit?usp=sharing

I worked on the section including the Gantt Chart and Bill of Materials. Our schedule depends on our contacts Andries, Vander-Bend, Youssefi, and Claude for finishing the dimensions.

This week I had planned on machining the wooden columns for our architectural model, but Claude wasn't able to finalize the size that he wanted for them. I can't continue until he does so, because he's already planned to design the clamps. He said that if I manufacture them, he may decide that he wanted them to be a different size and I'd have to redo them. Seeing as the wooden prototype I made last semester took 6 hours to get halfway through, I will be waiting until he decides what he wants. Until then, there are wooden beams waiting to be manufactured in my bedroom.