- Team Meeting (3hrs)
- Worked on final presentation
- Discussed how we will combine the different components of the project
- Mandatory Meeting (4hr)
- Make design changes for the track
- Work on final paper
- Work on final presentation
- Independent Work (8hr)
- Work on final presentation
- Work on paper
- Make design changes for the track
This week, I worked on editing design changes to the track and carrier. The previous carrier had 1cm of space between magnets. We removed the space between the magnets to increase the magnetic field and make the carrier more stable. Also, the height of the carrier was increase to leave more room for levitation and the speed up coils. This design was printed along side our track with rectangular magnets. These were tested and we saw significantly more stability with this version. Also, since we are not using circle magnets for the track, the carrier does not get stuck in gaps along the track, something that previously made stability and levitation difficult.
I also worked on updating the final paper and final presentation. I used the feedback we received from the design review to edit sections that need more detail for the final paper. I worked with my teammates to complete the different sections of the presentation.
Next Week
Next week, I will work on the final paper, final poster, and prepare for the live demo.
Additional Guidance
In order to complete this project, I needed to relearn how to use CAD . I have used CAD in a Mini Course to complete a final project but have not used the software since. We needed to create 3D printed models that meet particular design requirements to meet our minimal viable product. This meant I had to spend a significant amount of time relearning the basics of CAD and learning how to implement the features we specifically needed.
To relearn CAD, I focused on looking over documentation, working through designs inclemently, and reaching out to an expert when I was confused. For this project, I decided to use Fusion360 for my CAD designs. Given that Fusion is used widely in engineering, I was able to find documentation online. It went over the basics of the software and showed how to inclemently combine features to make particular designs. This information allowed me to start testing my knowledge of the software through making parts of the track and carrier design. Working inclemently through particular designs like the rail or the magnet spacing allowed me to better understand features in CAD and how they can be used collectively. However, given I am still a beginner in the language, I often ran into problems. Luckily, I have a friend in the Mechanical Engineering that helped explain difficult features and debugged my CAD errors.