Week#4 Progress

In week 4, we built the subassemblies such as track supports, curved track, and column supports using wood. I was able to help the team to build the split portion of the track as well. In week four, we made a lot of progress towards finishing the full-scale track.

However, I had problems fabricating the guide rail out of mild steel. I used 90-degree angle mild steel angle iron to make the guide rail. I was able to kerf the angle iron using a chop saw following Dan's directions. With the help of Dr. Furman, I used the acetylene torch to bend the angle iron.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to bend the angle iron to the proper radius because the shop didn't have the resources to do the task. Roller bending machine requires to bend the angle iron correctly.

Fortunately, the same day I failed to make the guide rail our of mild steel, my team and I were able to come up with another solution to make the guide rail. Eric and I went to the Home Depot to buy 2 x 2 x 8 wood 3 pieces of wood stock. The idea was to chop off 20 of foot long pieces and clamped wood pieces next to each other in a 45-degree angle orientation to the arc wood mold we used to make the track and mount them using tie plates. In this way, we can build the guide rail and mount it to the column supports.

Despite all the difficulties we encountered in week 4, I was able to be optimistic and encouraged the team to finish the tasks.

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