Week #1 Progress

Hi,

The first week was productive for our team. I spent time modeling the straight portion of the track from last semester in SolidWorks. My team helped me to take measurements from the track. I tried to take more details from the physical model as possible to create the model. Dustin helped me with modeling the split portion of the track in SolidWorks. It came out pretty good and Eric was satisfied. A picture of the wooden SolidWorks track model is given below.

We encountered several challenges when it comes to designing the split portion of the track. I started off the track with 5 m curving radius, but after discussing with Eric and Burford, I changed the curving radius to 30 m. The idea behind increasing the curvature to 30 meters is to model more realistic full-scale track and it eases the other teams to install and run their bogie, Wayside, controls systems to the track.

I spent quite amount of time changing the track model to satisfy the requirements of the project. One big problem we faced was modeling the guide rail of the track. I spent time talking with Eric about this problem, he gave me good ideas on fabricating the track. Eric introduced us Dan who was part of Spartan Skyways team in the last semester. He gave me a good idea on fabricating the track. The idea was to use the material angle iron and kerf the L-angle iron to flex it and use it as the guide rail. Then mount it on the supports using bolted joints. It was a great and my team and Eric was happy about this new direction.

Next couple of day is going to be hectic for me and my team because I have to do a Thermal Analysis on the track in SolidWorks which requires a steel model in SolidWorks.

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