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March Report
The month of March has been crazy for the Lyons Decatur Powerdrive team. We spent the first week figuring out how we would make the mount for the front wheels, and building it. Due to some technical error it was slightly off center when we welded it on. When attempting to fix it we just bent it, so we had to cut it off and fix it. Luckily we were able to in a short amount of time and got it put on the right way. This whole process took us about a week and a half. The next day we were able to weld on the plates for the back wheel and get them completely straight. After that we started designing our steering. The car features a push pull steering system, somewhat like a zero turn mower. Designing and building the steering system took up the rest of the month of March. We are now ready to begin work on the body, and progress should increase exponentially over the next month. We anticipate being ready to race within the next month.
January Report
In this year's Power drive class we have five people and two returning from the previous year. We began by drawing sketches for a new car. We decided to go with the car that would work best for the amount of time and the people that we have. Our first task was to make a wire model and a wooden model of the car. The wire model showed the chassis, and the wood model showed the outside aerodynamics of the car.
The wire model we made was used to help identify how the frame of the car would fit together. We used the wire model to get an estimate on how much the frame of the car would weigh. We then made a scale model of our tallest person in our class to see if he could fit into the car. The model was made out of wire and clay. We also made a seat out of cardboard, and little batteries. The scale on all dimensions of the models was one foot equals two inches.
After that we began the construction of the prototype. First we put together the base of the prototype. Then we built a jig for the vertical pieces that go on the sides of the car. After that we completed the sides of the car. The front of the car is unique to any cars we've built before so we spent a lot of time trying to figure exactly how big it needed to be, or how small it could be. Also a large amount of time was spent finding the exact shape for the front. At first the corners on the design were a little too sharp. We redid them to make them a little more rounded and hopefully more aerodynamic.
After that was the roll bar of the car. We called on many aspects for the roll bar. For multiple reasons, but mostly because we had different heights of drivers for the car, we decided to use a circular shape, similar to a bucket. We made a template to bend the conduit for the angle. The roll bar is another piece on the car that got redone multiple times, we ended up having to make it slightly bigger to allow enough room between it and the drivers head.
We also ended up making an actual size seat to put in the prototype. We had to keep redoing the angle on the seat in order to make it to fit in the car and also in order to make it comfortable for the driver, and at the same time at an angle in which the driver can see.
After the seat was completed we started on building the back wheel mount. We began with a y-shaped design, but decided that it would make the entire process harder than it needed to be. In the end we settled on a more conventional design for the back wheel mount. The goal in choosing a new mount is for the design to be simpler, yet sturdier.
After we finished the prototype we discussed possible design changes for certain parts of the car like the front end, roll bar, and overall size. This pretty much concluded the first semester after we spent an additional week updating all our documentation.
Second semester began very well. We finished building jigs needed for the frame of the car and began construction.
The chassis to this point is about one third done. Our plans for February include continuing work on the chassis and hopefully having it rolling and steering before March.
February Report
The month of February has been a busy one here at Lyons-Decatur Northeast. We began the month with the frame of our car about half done. As the month progressed we had to overcome several obstacles like frequent snow days preventing constant work on the car. We used the month of February to finish work on the frame of the car. We also made a couple minor changes to the design, but nothing noteworthy. We finished work on the body of the car about half way through February and started working on the mount for the back wheel. Right now we are working on a template for part of the back wheel mount that we will send to a local company to have cut out. With the completion of the mount for the back wheel we will begin work on the front wheels and the steering. Our goal is to have begun on those by March 1. Also this month we had our picture taken for a “got milk” poster. To prepare for this we spent a couple days fixing the car from last year and repainting it. All in all February was a very productive month, and we look for our progress to continue into March as we continue to put our car together.
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