Update #4

Capstone II Blog Post #2

Over the work period of January 31 - February 14, the MMI team has been working on ordering the parts and materials needed for the braking system. Tilton offers a discount to all FSAE teams so we had to fill out their parts request form for the master cylinders and balance bar that we need. Once the form was submitted, it only took a week for us to receive the parts. There was some extra ⅛” angle iron in the shop that we were able to use for the side rails. The MMI team spent several hours in the shop this past Saturday learning how to use an angle grinder and cutting and shaping the angle iron to match the dimensions specified in our design. Carrie found a vendor willing to donate time and materials for the pedal pads. She was able to observe the plasma cutter as it cut the ⅛” steel flat plates for the pedal pads and also observed them being cold rolled to match the needed radial curve.

The entire team is being challenged by time. The delay in receiving the chassis parts delays every team from working on the car. The main obstacle the MMI team is currently facing is making contact with the lab supervisor so we can begin preparations for the force test required on the brake pedal of the pedal box. Several attempts have been made to contact the lab supervisor with no response as of yet. Our project advisor instructed us to notify him if we are still unable to contact the lab supervisor after this week.

For the work period from February 14 - February 28, the MMI team plans to continue to purchase parts and materials for the braking system. As parts are received, we will begin assembly and machine any modifications as needed. At the moment, we are waiting for our project supervisor to send the DXF files to be laser-cut. G&H Diversified Manufacturing has volunteered to do any laser-cutting for free as well as provide the raw materials for all the Capstone FSAE teams. Assuming we get the laser-cut parts between February 14 - February 28, potential issues that can be encountered will likely be in welding the materials together. Lining up the rounded tabs precisely so that they remain normal to a plate could be challenging. So far we have not had any issue contacting vendors and ordering parts. If we were to encounter issues ordering parts at this stage, fabrication could be delayed.

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Figure 1. Steel Pedal Pads.

Since the previous update, these pedal pads were manufactured by a machinist Carrie contacted. The pads are made of ⅛ “ steel that was plasma cut and cold rolled to a 5” radius. The pedals are long so the team will need to cut them down to the appropriate size. These pads are an essential ergonomic component as they will provide a good surface area for our driver to press on. Holes will likely be drilled into them later on during fabrication to reduce their overall weight.

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Figure 2. Pedal Box Side Rails.

These rails were made of ⅛” angle iron that was found in the shop. The entire team contributed to cutting these with an angle grinder with Carrie being the lead due to her experience with an angle grinder. The edges were smoothed out using a different disc on the angle grinder in order to get the rails down to the correct dimensions. These rails will be the main parts that will attach the pedal box to the chassis so it is crucial that they are made to the correct dimensions.

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Figure 3. Bias Bar and Master Cylinders.

As described before, these parts were obtained from Tilton who give discounts to all FSAE teams. The master cylinders and bias bar are some of the most important components for our braking system and it will be beneficial to us to have them early in order to ensure they fit within the master cylinder brace and brake pedal once those parts are cut by machinists.