CapaciCar - Tomorrow's Technology Today

Once procurement had been achieved, the assembly started to take place. This was a very exciting part of the project where the team was let loose in the workshop and dreams were turned into a reality. We split ourselves into teams which were responsible for certain sections of the assembly and got to work!

 

The chassis was assembled and fitted together by Kelvin, with help from a few friends to file the aluminium so that a good fit was made with the nodes. The results from this were excellent and a solid chassis was manufactured allowing for the drive system to now be integrated. 

 

Philip and Andrew set to work attaching the rear axle along with the bearings and wheels. This was good fun and gave them the opportunity to use a lot of the power tools available. With advice from the technicians, they changed the design slightly by adding an extra bearing. This made the rear axle much more robust and capable of supporting the chassis weight.

 

Grant and Alastair worked on the power system, programming the control and making sure the super capacitors were working well as a unit. Dealing with electronics was definitely a steep learning curve for the two mechanical engineers, however, they thrived under the pressure and produced an excellent power and control system, ready to be hooked up to the two motors!

 

Cammeron was set to work assembling the front steering system. He came up with a novel concept which included 3D printed parts along with specially lathed bolts. After chasing up the technicians to get the specific parts manufactured to the correct dimensions, he managed to integrate it into the chassis, and as usual, it all fitted perfectly! 

 

Overall the assembly was efficient and good fun to take part in. There were a few stressful days but I think that each team member will agree that it was where we learnt the most and had the most enjoyment seeing our concept taking shape!