Week 3

On the third week of the program, I was able to find spare wood the team could use for the assembly of the track expansion. With the spare wood in mind, I was able to cut down the cost of the track by around ~$200, which was necessary I felt. There was a lot of plywood in the back, a lot of 2x4 wooden pieces, and some 4x4 beams.

For the first half of the week was mostly finalizing and sending out the BoM as soon as possible, so there was a lot of spare time during those days. During the said free time, I thought and discussed about the manufacturing phase more intently with my other group members. I also used this time to do/redo some of my calculations to ensure they are correct.

The last half of the week, the team started manufacturing what we could during those days. I worked mostly on the mold to help the team kerf the wooden track on the upcoming Monday. I pretty much measured the arc by estimating the points using SolidWorks, and measured it on the wooden planks we had on the back. Once all the pieces were cut, I glued and clamped the pieces of planks together, and left it to dry over the weekend.

Week 2 Update

This week I discussed with the team on how the split track portion would be assembled, going into detail on how much screws and how each piece of wood would be fastened onto one or another. I wrote down some notes on how to assemble each part of the track, so it would be easier to refer when actually assembling. I also think that the discussion was important as it is good to think about assembly when finalizing a design.

I also looked up a lot of local vendors who would supply the materials necessary for the track expansion. I searched on Home Depot frequently because they are a local vendor, and the bulk of our materials is lumber.

Week #1

Week 1: Design Week

The first week focused on design so for most of the week I was jumping between SolidWorks and my notebook. I usually write down my thought process down when trying to design or conceptualize a part. I think this method also aligns on what the staff said about documenting your design problems for the final report. I spent a good portion of the week sketching and writing notes in my notebook, where the format usually looks like this:

After thinking about a part design and how it would function, I would CAD the part from looking at my sketches, and the dimensions from the wooden mock-up. One of the parts I designed this week was a support for the middle section of the split track. I had to think about where I could support the track section, with a lot of limitations/obstructions in mind. Eventually, I thought of a potential solution to the problems and I modeled it on SolidWorks: 

I was also responsible for modeling the split track to expand on the previous straight track. That modeling was less design and more calculations as the turn radius was stated to be 30 m by the staff, and the straight track determined the track width. I also organized the team's CAD files in a Google Drive, and discussed a lot about design for several parts. 

I asked the other full-scale teams about their design approach to ensure that there would be no colliding designs on the track. As far as I know, Wayside's and Bogie's team designs should have no interference when integrating our designs. 

Orientation Week #2

This orientation day was meant to be a training day where we would learn the basics of SolidWorks, 3D printing, and welding. Paul was giving a small tutorial on how to use SolidWorks, and I modeled a Lego part, while following his suggestions. I was already familiar on how to use SolidWorks, but Paul provided some helpful insights with SolidWorks. After I modeled the Lego part, I saved the part file into a .STL file and put it into Cura. Though I did not print the part, I was familiar with the 3D printing process. I also learned the basics on how to weld with the help of Eric. I also discussed with the team about the Lightning Talk, and some preliminary design concepts.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Dustin Lien and I am going to graduate San Jose State University in Spring 2019. My major is mechanical engineering, and my capstone is mechantronics. My interests outside of academics and engineering are video games, reading, and watching shows.

I hate traffic. I want to work in automated transit networks because I want to help contribute to a system that will reduce traffic. Conservation is also a topic of interest because I feel like we have a responsibility to take care of our environments. Also, days are getting way to hot.