2.810 Group Project for the Fall 2013
The 2.810 group project this term will consist of the fabrication of "N" radio controlled cars for each group of N students. You will start with the following list of materials per car.
• four foam rubber
tires (choice of 3 sizes)
• front steering
assembly components
• rear wheel
assembly components
• electric motor +
2 sets of batteries per group
• one radio
controller per group (including steering servo and speed control) and
one battery charger
• one transponder
for keeping track of laps and times
The group project will consist of the fabrication of the body shell, chassis and wheel hubs and the design and assembly of the car. The aluminum chassis will be cut on an Abrasive Water-Jet (AWJ) machine, with a maximum plate thickness of up to 0.25". Any sheet metal parts can be formed in Building 35. The shell and wheel hubs will be thermoformed and injection molded respectively, using tooling provided by Bill Buckley. The performance of the cars will be evaluated in a contest on the final day of class. The contest includes the driving of each car ( all group members participate in driving) around a designated loop (carpeted floor with speed bumps) and the disassembly and assembly of the radio controlled unit into each subsequent car. There are 7 complete laps and 7 pit stops involving 8 cars). Cars are limited in size to 11”X15”X11”. NO ONE IN ALLOWED TO TOUCH THEIR CAR WHILE RACING ON THE TRACK EXCEPT IN THE DESIGNATED AREA IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO THE PIT AREA. BOTH KNEES MUST BE IN THE GROUP PIT SPACE. Further details of this project are given below:
1. Design
Each group must design their cars for assembly and disassembly of the radio control unit during the race. No modification of the radio control is allowed. All assembly must be made by mechanical fastening only. Duct tape, Velcro or similar products are generally not allowed. All requests for clarification of the rules, and decisions will be made by email so that all results are made public instantly.
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Each team will receive one transponder, which will record lap times, and
must be switched between laps from car to car, along with the radio control
unit. The transponder must be mounted horizontally no higher than 15cm
or 6in (lower is better) from the track. It is recommended that no
metal or carbon fiber is between transponder and track, and that the
transponder is not directly mounted to the metal chassis. For more
information, please see the manufacturer’s website: You may also download an INSTALLATION MANUAL FOR TRANSPONDER. Transponders will be included with each kit along with the radio control components. The transponder and all radio control components must be returned after the race. |
3. CAD/CAM/CNC
A
special lecture will be given by Bill Buckley on the use of MasterCAM
software, including the drawing of the chassis, the generation of tool
paths and the downloading to the
Sheet forming of a prototype chassis may require using SolidWorks or some other CAD software. SolidWorks (a self-tutorial is provided for you) will convert your design to a flat drawing. The flat drawing can be loaded into the waterjet (as a dxf file) and cut. Bending and additional operations can be performed on the presses and other equipment in building 35.
4. Group Organization
An important aspect of this project is that you organize yourselves in groups and carry out the projects in a cooperative and productive manner. In fact, your first assignment will be to form into groups (which generally range from five to eight) to carry out this project. Your responsibilities in the group are to develop your car design, competitive strategy, and manufacturing tasks as a group. Your first assignment is to find a mutually agreeable one hour time period per week to work on this project. We are interested in knowing, how well your group functions, how the work load is distributed, and how you dealt with problems and conflicts. You will periodically be asked to self grade your group's performance. (Past experience has shown a very strong correlation between well functioning groups and a successful physical product.) The group should record important decisions and problems for the group progress reports. You will need to record your organizational structure, your design (using drawings, sketches and photos), the division of tasks etc. for your final report.
5. Physical Product
The most important aspect of this project is that your group successfully complete the assembled cars using the various manufacturing processes. You will be required to build N cars for a group of N people. After the contest one car will be left with the instructors for grading. The car will be returned in about one week. The car should demonstrate good design and manufacturing technique, with the aim of demonstrating a satisfactory performance in the final race and assembly contest. Each group will receive a letter designation i.e. “A”, “B” etc. which, along with the car number, must be prominently displayed on all cars during the race (i.e A1, A2...) By the way, the winners of this contest will win the coveted 2.810 CAD-CAM-"CAH" award ( as in “pahk yah cah in havahd yahd”).
6. Report
A short report is required to accompany your car on the day of the contest. The report should include;
1. A photo of your car
2. A list of group members and
photo
3. Design drawings for all
fabricated parts and an exploded view showing the assembly of the car
4. Tasks performed by each
group member.
5. Very brief discussion of the
key design and manufacturing features for your car.
Please try to acknowledge the sources of ideas your group used. The text of this report should be written in the spirit of an executive summary. Please use 12 point Font, adequate margins (at least 1") and 1 1/2 spaces. Do not exceed 6 pages of text (not counting photos, drawings, & tables). No appendices are allowed.
7. Grading
Each of the group projects will be graded as a group, that is, one grade will be assigned to the entire group with a small increment added or subtracted for notable individual initiatives. Therefore, it is the group's responsibility that each member contributes equally. The grade will depend primarily upon the physical cars and the effort demonstrated in producing it. Quality of manufactured parts, fit and finish and performance of the assembly and disassembly scheme as judged by the instructors will all be considered in the grading. In addition, performance in the contest on the final day of class will also be considered. The final report describing the cars and the group effort will contribute about 10% of the project grade. Overall the project will count for 40% of your grade and the two quizzes will count 30% each.
8. Project Schedule
Key dates for the 2.810 project for the Fall 2013 semester are:
|
September 23 |
Teams Finalized |
|
October 7 |
Machining |
|
Week of October 14 |
Preliminary
design concept review (schedule
a time for group to meet with Bill) |
|
Week of Oct 21 |
CAD chassis drawings due (waterjet file and dimensioned drawing) |
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Week of October 28 |
Production chassis’ cut on waterjet |
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November 13 |
Oral progress reports |
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December 9 |
Contest |
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December 11 |
Evaluation and clean-up |
9. Files for Downloading:
FRONT/REAR WHEEL ASSEMBLY & TRACK LAYOUT
PDF of PROJECT DESCRIPTION
INSTALLATION MANUAL FOR TRANSPONDER
Radio controller datasheet
*30 ton, 2 oz = 60 cm3
This information was last
updated
Copyright (C) by Timothy G. Gutowski, 1997