Week Three (Nov 14 - Nov 20)

Everyone on our team is getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving this Thursday! But before we can eat turkey and watch football for 12 straight hours, we have to get through this week, as milestone 7 and 8 are due on Monday and Wedsnesday, respectively.

For milestone 7, we had to complete 3 manufactured parts. While we have begun progress on almost every aspect of our driving module, we only have 6 parts fully completed. These 5 are the acrylic base, the right and left side tubing, the back side tubing, and the (2) wheels. We completed those early last week using a variety of processes, including the band saw, the laser cutter, the mill and a broaching tool.

Meanwhile, we have begun making the bushings and cutting and lathing the axles. However, we still have to finish each item by putting a knurl on the bushings and a mill for the axle set screws. Once all of this is done, we will be able to assemble everything by press fitting the axles through the bearings and into the wheels, and then our MCM will be complete!

Once we completely finish the MCM module, we are going to start building our front tray. Our first step in doing so will be to cut out the aluminum plate using the water jet. We're all pretty excited to use this machine, since we didn't get to see it operate during lab when the air pressure wasn't functioning. If we are efficient as a team, we can also drill the holes, bend the aluminum, and possibly even weld the parts together by the end of the week. This would give us a lot of time after break to finish the rest of our design, and make sure that we have the best machine by the ball tower competition!