Week 7: Finishing the Car's Assembly

Greetings once again,

This week's objective was to get the new car up and running, which was a goal that had been originally due by March 15, but due to a number of unforeseen technical difficulties was delayed until just this past Saturday. Considering the new car was only a frame when I first began my internship, it has been exciting to seen the finished product come to fruition in just a few short weeks. With that having been said, without further ado, let's get in to what I was up to this week.

On Tuesday, I was assigned the construction of the foot box, the piece of metal that goes underneath the brake and gas pedals and provides a rest when either foot is disengaged from its pedal. I used Gold's foot box as a model for the current one, but took a few additional considerations when attempting to replicate it. First, it was requested that I use a thicker grade of sheet metal for this car's foot box, as a problem with the previous car's was that it became dented with repetitive use. In addition, the slightly different frame necessitated slight measurement changes that had to be incorporated into the dimensions of the new foot box. When all was done, I gave the flat foot box metal to a team member so that it could be bent at precise angles using off-site equipment. Since I did not know how much room to leave between the foremost edge of the foot box and the front panel of the car, when I came in on Thursday, I learned that I overestimated it by about an inch and had to cut it down once again. Thankfully, by leaving myself a little extra margin, there was room for error in case the piece happened to be the wrong length. Also that day, I took off the uprights from Gold and put them on the new car so that we could get it up and running. I then fabricated some brass weights for the mechanical CVT.

On Thursday, I helped Louis, the chassis lead, weld on the tabs to the car for the paneling and gas tank cover, which turned out to be quite challenging as the tabs were very thin and it was easy to burn right through them. We ended up cannibalizing the better, thicker tabs from the "test chassis." I also took off various parts from that car and grinded the welds off them. Finally, I deconstructed Gold and organized the parts to be used as spares when the team goes to competition.

On Saturday, first I found the percent difference in weight between the stainless steel uprights and brackets and their cast iron counterparts, which weighed significantly less, it turns out. Then, I helped Stephen screw the flex line for the brake's into the T cross with plumber's tape and generally replaced the old flex line with the new. There were a variety of hobshobble, miscellaneous tasks that I partook in that day as well, but they were so small and insignificant I won't bother mentioning them. For my final act of the day, I helped precisely measure and model the panels on the car for the purposes of designing the vinyl decals that will go on them. Late that night I finally witnessed the car in its (almost) final form, and was amazed at how quickly things had come together.

Like always, thanks for reading,

Max

Week 6: I Have No Idea What I'm Doing

Greetings,

This week at Baja the team was working hard to get the car up and running by Saturday the 18th and finish the design reports. On an unrelated note, I got a half-inch metal shard stuck in my index finger. All in all a pretty normal week at Baja.

On Tuesday, I spent the entire day working on just one part (or multiple copies of the same part): the comcups. The comcups hold the uprights into the com bearing, and have to be precisely cut so that there is no play between the two elements. I started by taking the base material, a narrow pipe cut into cylindrical slices by another intern, and first filed down the edges to remove any burrs that would cause the part to not seat properly in the collet on the manual lathe. Next, I moved over to the manual lathe to bore a wider hole than the pipe already provided, and then faced one side down so that it would sit nicely in the CNC lathe. Then, naturally, I transitioned over to the CNC room to have a computer execute cuts at an angle that no human could cut on a manual lathe. During this process the front side was cut down to length and then chamfered. 

On Thursday, I continued the work of Tuesday, and completed all 23 comcups by CNC lathing the reverse face of the cup, thus finalizing the overall length and providing a smooth inner "ledge" for the com bearing to sit on. Also that day, I helped take the wheels off of the gold car, and attended the weekly Baja meeting, where we discussed designs & colors for the car and potential sponsorship. Many members were not in attendance because they were finishing the cost reports that were due that day.

And on Saturday, by directive from Nick, we attempted to bring this year's car to fully functional status. We did this by cannibalizing many parts from Gold, and overlooking some superfluous features, like the back brakes (which are largely redundant with the front brakes but important for obstacle courses and off-road conditions). It was my responsibility to put on the brake calipers for the car; at that junction I learned that it was impossible to attach the back brakes on account of a flaw in the design which caused the brakes to spatially overlap part of the transmission. I also rethreaded aforementioned brake calipers to the requisite 1/4" 28 thread specification, as the current threading did not go all the way through. My last act of the night was taking the throttle and brake lines out of Gold to be used in the new car. Sadly, we did not get the car up and running as we had hoped.

If you've remained interested up until this point, thank you for reading my blog and I hope I have informed you a little about the intricacies of building a car. These posts will in all likelihood get shorter as I am afforded more single, monolithic tasks to preoccupy the majority of my day. It may make for less interesting reading, but just know that it is more materially helpful to the club when economies of scale are utilized and everyone is doing a set function.

Tune in next week for more,

Max

Week 5: I Remember Nothing

Hello,

Another week, another... I don't know, car? Anyway, it's that time of week again when I post my update on the comings and goings of Sun Devil Racing, and it must have been an especially exhausting week, since I can't seem to recollect much at all from what happened. Fortunately, I took notes, and like the movie Memento, will use those to reconstruct what transpired in the grimy den of the Sim Building.

On Tuesday, the electrical lead instructed me on how Arduinos worked, how to use a stepper motor, and on the operation of the linear potentiometer and Hall Effect sensor present in the vehicle. He also introduced me to Arduino coding, and gave me a crash course in C++ as it relates to that specific microcontroller. I am already familiar with the language, so picking up the ropes wasn't the hardest thing to muster.

In an out-of-the-ordinary kind of way, I came in on Wednesday to collaborate with a fellow intern (Alan) whom I don't normally see in the lab, as our "shifts" hardly ever overlap. I spent the day CNCing a part, fabricating the hub caps on the manual lathe, and helping around in other small jobs here and there.

Thursday, I helped craft a specially designed parts list for the purposes of documenting the construction of this year's car for future Polytechnic Baja teams. By the end of the endeavor, every part of the car had been scrutinized for material content and construction technique. After that, I was taught how to use SolidWorks, 3D modeling software for solid mechanical parts, so that I could begin to design some of the parts on the car.

Saturday, I spent the whole day in the manual lab (9 hours) fabricating plastic buffers for the joint that holds the uprights. The difficulty in the task arose more from the quantity of pieces we had to produce and less from the actual fabrication.

That's all for now, readers.

Thanks,
Max

Week 4: Making Progress

Hi all,

Another week in the Sim Building working on Baja. A sizable amount of progress was made on the car this week, I would say, if only for the lull in the clerical work that followed the successful completion of the cost reports. I met a couple new faces as well, which surprised me a great deal considering that I've worked with nearly everyone in the club on some occasion and thought that I had seen the entire roster of Baja members just by attending the weekly general club meeting (and the leads meeting, which Nick (the club president) graciously lets us sit in on).

When I came in Tuesday, March 2, Nick and Coleman were still busy getting the cost report submitted, so I spent some time with a few members here and there that needed a hand with their individual contributions to the car. Coleman, when he had reached a hiatus in his personal work, gave us a mock-up for a hub cap and told us to fabricate x4 of them with the manual. This was the first time I had just been given a mock-up and directed to produce a physical copy from the paper description; all times prior I had been given comprehensive verbal instructions and given the correct tool to mount onto the machine. Later, the brakes lead instructed us to mill a part for the brake spatula. It was very satisfying seeing the parts we made welded into a cohesive unit. Early in the evening, when the garage was mostly empty, I observed the eCVT testing, which compromised mounting a GoPro to the chassis aimed at the transmission, and then driving it on the road to obtain footage of the eCVT working. Very cool.

Thursday, the other interns and I spent the whole day in the manual lab drilling holes in a brake component that needed to be bored precisely down the middle and at a 45 degree angle. The work required a lot of setup and double-checking, and took up a lot of time. So much so, in fact, that we were forced to miss the weekly Baja club meeting.

Also, I got whiff of a rumor that this year's Baja team was making a website to add formality to the club in the eyes of the sponsors, university, and other teams, and that they were looking for an intern to help out. As this is right up my alley, I hope that this is something I can become involved in.


That's all, folks.
Max

Week 3

Hello again,

Here's another weekly update on my progress in Baja. On Tuesday, I spent the day working at the manual fabricating the hubs for the car. This compromised the full five hours (3-8 p.m.) that I was there that day. The hubs later had to be put through further molding in the CNC lathe, work that was carried out by someone practiced with those (vastly more complicated) machines. In the course of my work, I learned how to use a tool I had never used before, and received training that I would not otherwise receive unless I was a student enrolled at ASU Polytechnic.

On Thursday, I helped remove the engine from the 2015-16 car, so-called "Gold" for its distinctive hue. The other previous years' cars we possess are "Red" and "Widow" (which is black). Gold is the vehicle we use to test the eCVT and gearbox, as well as the one we showed off to the public at Night of the Open Door. After the engine was removed, new holes were drilled into the engine mount to shift the center of gravity over. Here, I got to show off my physics knowledge briefly when I helped the CVT lead calculate how much the engine should be shifted over using the formula:

After that, I went to the club's weekly meeting and listened to all the items on the agenda. The biggest issue at this session was having the leads complete the expense reports in a timely manner. Since I had nothing better to do, I stayed late helping Stephen (the brakes lead) complete his expense report, as well as his cost presentation.

All in all, another fruitful week.

Thanks for reading,
Max

Day of the Open Door + New Developments

Hello readers,

Apologies for the belated post. The last few nights were increasingly hectic as the workload was gradually ramped-up in preparation for Night of the Open Door. Night of the Open Door, for those unfamiliar with the culture at ASU Polytechnic, is a designated day when all the clubs at Polytechnic showcase what they have been working on to impress onlookers and attract potential sponsors. But since quite a few workdays have passed since my last post, I will start off by mentioning what I else I have been doing aside from my preparation for Open Door.

For one, the other interns and I were introduced to TIG welding on Tuesday. Many of the club members spend time welding the different joints of the chassis together, so Coleman (the chief engineer) thought it would be an important skill for us to learn. Tungsten Inert Gas welding consists of aiming a tungsten electrode at the part you are looking to solder and, in our case, pressing down on the petal to cause the machine to arc and super-heat the aluminum. Once a small puddle of molten metal forms, you manually feed the aluminum filler rod into the pool to form the joint that will hold the two pieces together. The tungsten electrode must be refined to a point using a grinding wheel, a process that we also learned. In addition, we learned an alternative, more specialized form of welding in the campus laboratories, but I'll get to that later.

On Thursday, the shock absorbers were finally delivered, and I was tasked with attaching them between the uprights (specifically the upper control arm) and the frame. The shocks this year are unique because instead of the coil system used in previous years, this year's car features a compress-ed air damper. The advantages to an air system are that the elastic coefficient is not constant and increases under greater weight. The ride therefore feels less jolty when traversing rough terrain. Indeed, when I saw the vehicle glide over bowling ball sized crags in the Rock Garden during the Night of the Open Door, I was amazed at how stably the car was able to maneuver.

Friday was the long-awaited Night of the Open Door. The morning consisted of me putting on the panels on the car and attaching the skid-plate. In the afternoon, I helped greet incoming admirers as they came to examine the Mini Baja organization. The night also involved a lot of pushing previous years' cars around, which itself was rather exhausting. I had to leave for an hour in the middle of the event, which unfortunately led to me missing the break-down of the car mid test run. Apparently one of the uprights became deformed and tore off while the vehicle was being road-tested, leading to it "hovering" on three wheels for about 40 seconds before the driver realized it was broken. That led to an abrupt end to our live demonstration in front of an audience, which was too bad, since it was definitely the most action-packed and flashy spectacle in the entire Sim Building.

Saturday I also came in, marking my third day in a row helping out at Baja. It would have been a slower day, on account of there not being much to do following the heap of effort put in to make Open Door run smoothly, but one of the club members suggested we practice a different form of welding, MIG welding, which turned into an arduous task. MIG welding also uses a high-voltage machine to deliver ~60 amps of current to melt metal, but is used for welding steel instead of aluminum. It utilizes a wire-feeding gun that extends a line of steel for you, so one only has to concentrate on aiming the feeder. The gun also spits argon shielding gas to prevent the joint from atmospheric contamination. The argon gas tank became inoperative in the middle of our time there, and resulted in holey, splotchy patterns in the weld. Luckily we were able to get it to work before the day ended. Also that day, I myself was tasked with accessing the status of the communications equipment and determining if any new purchases needed to be made. I felt a little uncomfortable going through the walkies and other gear, because I didn't know at first what I was looking at and was given no initial guidance. After I realized that the person who was previously in charge of the communications equipment graduated, I ascertained that I was given so much autonomy because I was as good a person as any to rifle through the radio equipment. The only deficiency, which was told to me by the club president, was the push-to-talk button from last year that became dysfunctional and had to be thrown away.

I feel that this pas week was a success because I am slowly becoming more involved in the fabrication process and direct construction of the car. This week was an unusually high amount of work, I feel, because we were met with sharp, impersonal deadlines with which to cope.

Sorry for the long post, there was a lot I had to get out.

--Max

First Days of Internship

Hey y'all,

I'm on the heels of my first day of the Baja SAE internship with the team at ASU Polytechnic. So far, it has mostly been learning how to work the different machines, in preparation for when we can start to make proprietary parts for the car. The four other interns and I have been instructed in how to use the CNC machines, lathes, and manuals. In the future, we will learn to use the CAD program SolidWorks to begin modelling more complex structures on the computer.

The first day, I was humbled when it took me half an hour to screw the engine on to one of the test cars. In my defense, the washer I was given was the wrong size for the bolt, but it still took me an exorbitant amount of time to realize my error. My fingertips were raw and bleeding after trying to apply torque in hard-to-reach places. I also got to take the side panels off the test car to replace with newer ones, which proved much simpler than my previous task.

Most recently, I was present at the testing of the eCVT to be used on this year's car. Since I personally drive a Subaru Impreza 2015 that uses commercial eCVT technology in the transmission, I had an intuitive sense of how the car was supposed to handle. The team in charge of the gearbox and transmission are using Arduino microcontrollers to dynamically change the gear ratio between the primary and secondary sheaves, by using data reported from a Hall Effect sensor measuring engine RPM. This type of transmission is unique to the ASU Baja team and, in my opinion, the coolest aspect of the car.

There is plenty of work to be done to meet the March 30 assembly deadline. According to what I've heard, the primary obstacle to road-testing the car is the acquisition of the shock absorbers, which are one of the few parts being manufactured at a 3rd party facility. In fact, most of the parts for the car are made in-house with the equipment available to students at the ASU Polytechnic campus, which supposedly outshines other Polytechnic institutes for its plethora of fabrication tools.

Our next big event is the Open House on February 17, wherein middle and high school students and interested parties come to examine the car. The session is designed to be chiefly informative, and includes an event where young kids are taught how to make a rubber-band powered cardboard vehicle. However, many potential sponsors attend the outing, so all club members have to be at the top of their game in explaining the inner workings of the car and selling while they should donate to the cause. As an intern, my presence at the event will probably be peripheral, but the club president, Jason, made clear that this was an all-hands-on-deck type of event.

My busiest days will probably be ahead of me, so I will update this blog weekly with all the new stuff I am learning and getting involved in.

Until next time,
Max