Week 4: 7/24/17 to 7/28/17

I spent a lot of time the beginning of this week trying to document as much information about the 1/12 scale mobile app and testing process, unfortunately there is still more clarifications I hope to get situated on Monday. I am also working on a build procedure for the wiring portion of the bogie, trying my best to capture any points that may confuse future teams. 

Aside from the documentation, I implemented some new designs for the bogie that will allow for a longer life span. A big thanks to Victor Mercola for help with modeling/designing the new components in SolidWorks and getting them 3D printed! Victor has placed all new design changes in the proper folder in Spartan Superway archives google drive. 

Figure 1: Previous Servo switch design using tape and a bent paperclip 

Figure 2: New servo switch design using bolts and nuts 

Figure 3: Image on left is a 3D printed attachment for the servo.
                          Image on right is the original attachment from manufacturer.

The bogie housing for the Arduino and wires has two versions from previous teams; the oldest version, shown in Figure 4 on the right, and the latest version on the left. The issue with the older version arises when you have to screw on the cover to the cabin, takes a lot of time to unscrew just to make minor adjustments.  To avoid wasting 3D printing supplies, instead of printing a new cabin, a simple bracket will be placed on the inside, shown in Figure 5 and 6.

Figure 4: New version on the left and Old version on the right, both designed by previous teams.

                                         

Figure 5: No longer need to screw on cover.

Figure 6: New design of bracket.

We implemented a new design for the hall effect sensor bracket that allows for adjustments. Also, no longer need to glue hall effect sensor to bracket, shown in Figure 8. This is a good first prototype for this design, I plan to make a few more adjustments.

Figure 7: New hall effect sensor bracket allows for adjustments.

Figure 8: The hall effect sensor no longer needs to be glued.

By the end of the day on Friday I finished building 2 more bogies for a total of 5, I did not have time to run them on the track, I will do so on Monday. My goal is to have a 6th "indestructible" bogie, using the CNC aluminum parts left by the previous teams. The "indestructible" bogie would be used for testing new software changes where there is a risk of the bogie potentially falling off the track.  

Figure 9: Total of 5 bogies fully assembled, far right 6th bogie using aluminum.