Making Bodywork, Part 3

So yeah, I guess I owe the team (and the readers) a part three to the bodywork fabrication.  Where we left off on part 2 was partway through sanding the first filler coat on the molds.  After all the molds had filler applied and been sanded smooth, we did it again to fill in the little divots and imperfections that remained.  The next step was to tape the molds with a layer of packing tape.  We do this to preserve the molds so that they can be reused - just in case the release coatings don't work as well as they should.

JP Taping the nose cone

Costi taping a sidepod

 Click through for the rest...

 Next, we spray 3 coats of PVA on the molds as a release agent.  PVA dissolves in water, so it's relatively easy to release the parts from the molds by apply water and force.

Finally, we can start layering the carbon fiber onto the molds.  The process is pretty standard, but we have to make sure to lay up the top layer in a cosmetically pleasing fashion.

Strategic cuts where you have small radii are important

final layer

Then, apply epoxy, peel ply, vacuum bag, and off we go.  We did 3 layers this time around for all the parts.

 

 Coming out of the vacuum bag, here's what the parts looked like:

 

Still some sanding to do at this point - that's the problem with vacuum bags - they will scrunch up any extra material you leave, creating ridges/bumps.  That's why you'd ideally have a female mold rather than the plugs we're using.  Still, these are some of the better parts we've done straight out of our molds.

We also have to make all the cutouts in the pieces to make them fit over all the various things sticking out of our car.  We have front wing cutouts, radiator support cutout, and the muffler support cutout.  Finally, we can paint the pieces.

Hard at work priming the bodywork

Finally, Duke blue bodywork.

Of course, we have to attach the bodywork to the car too.  We use Dzus fasteners most of the way around - and this year we've made use of industrial strength velcro to attach bodywork.  The side panels are attached with Dzus fasteners across the top and velcro around bottom, the side pods attach to the side panels via Dzus fasteners on top and velcro around the bottom to the diffuser, and the nose cone attaches to the frame with one Dzus fastener on top and velcro to the front wing on the bottom (see the trend?).  All those tabs had to be welded to the frame (I think right around here is when our TIG welder broke...)

And finally, the finished product before all those stickers go on.

 

3D printed car

So at the end of the year last year we decided to print a model of our car with the 3D printer.  Here is the result:

The 10" printed FSAE car

Because of the size of the model, things had to be beefed up so that they wouldn't snap.  This was a really annoying and time consuming process honestly, but it was worth it.

The STL version of our car- beefed up for scale

Jan-Mid February Update

We have been very busy at the Duke Motorsports garage, both on and off the car. Duke University recently had their spring semester TechConnect and Career Fair events, and we were lucky enough to have GM IT department come to the event. After lunch with some of the recruiters, we brought them down to the garage to show them last year's car and the progress we've made on this year's car. And of course, when given the opportunity to sit in a race car, who could resist? We want to thank them for their hospitality, and that we really enjoyed having them visit us!

We recently finished the engine mounts for the new frame, and everything is starting to come together for the car.

Engine mounts on the new frame

With the engine mounts in place, we can mount the new engine in the frame, and begin assembling all of the subsystems around it. We've also been working hard at getting the suspension A-arms made. So far, we're at 6 of 8, and they're looking great!

Xavier has been leading the way with the electrics for the new car, and they have not only been looking at the PCB boards for the car, but also machining a lot of the mounting panels for the ECU, dash, and master switches. It's very easy to forget all of the small details that are needed to assemble a subsystem properly.

Under the magnifying glass

But wait, he's an ECE...???

David has been busy machining away and making it rain aluminum, and everything is turning out beautifully. So far, he's successfully made the front two uprights along with all of the drivetrain parts, and he is going to be trying to tackle the rear uprights shortly.

So happy for something so shiny

We also tried our luck with the first round of making the carbon fiber aero package for the new car. We thought everything was going smoothly, but we soon realized that excessive vacuum causes the airfoils to crinkle and harden that way. We're currently researching different methods of applying the carbon fiber, epoxy, and vacuum to the foam airfoils, but we also want to focus on getting all of the other parts of the car done before worrying about the aero package.

Cutting the carbon fiber sections for the airfoils

Laying up the carbon fiber

We also made some progress on the new radiator for this year's car. After my personal independent study research, I believe I have enough data to feel confident in utilizing a smaller radiator for the competition car in order to reduce the overall weight of the cooling system and allow for a better packaged system. I needed to make some small modifications to the heat exchanger, but we're happy with how it turned out.

New heat exchanger

In other news, Xavier decided to try his luck at the Chai's Torture Challenge, where he had to consume 12 of the spiciest chicken wings known to mankind in under 15 minutes. Unfortunately, he only made it through 4 wings, but we all gave him an A for effort. The sauce is miserably spicy though.

Duke Motorsports is also hosting the SAE Carolinas event at a local highschool, Research Triangle Highschool, this Tuesday. Some of the universities that will be attending are USC, UNC-Charlotte, NC A&T, and Clemson, and these teams will be bringing their Formula SAE and Baja SAE cars to showcase. We will all have the opportunity to talk with the other teams, with engineers working in industry, and then have the opportunity to present the progress our teams have made so far this year. It should be a great event, and we're looking forward to it!


And finally, since the Duke-UNC game is this coming Wednesday, GO TO HELL CAROLINA, GO TO HELL!