HellooooO!

So far, we have learned how to sew, laser cut, plasma cutting, and various post processing techniques for the different materials. So for this project, I had to combine everything I had learned (besides sewing) to create a mechanical model! I decided to make a side view of a F1 car where if you turned the steering wheel, you turn a set of gears that would then turn the two wheels.

Step 1) I had to do some drawings to conceptually see how everything would fit together, then lay it all out on adobe illustrator.

Step 2) Next, in order to make sure that it actually works somewhat, I proceeded with a low-fidelity prototype by cutting the gears out of wood, but then cutting everything else out of cardboard. I did this by using the laser cutter.

Step 3) After getting everything cut and grabbing some bearings to ensure smooth rotation, I hot glued the cardboard and roughly put the gears in place with dowels to ensure they were properly spaced and they rotated smoothly. Which they did! However, I realized that I made it so that each gear had a bearing in it, but I don’t want each gear to spin independently of the dowel since I want the gear with the steering wheel and the gears with the tires to spin with the dowel. I recut them, reassembled, and it was successful!

Step 4) With the low-fidelity working, I proceeded forward to the high-fidelity prototype. I needed to create all my parts before assembling them. I already have the gears from my low-fidelity, but I need at least one metal part, so I decided to make the steering wheel out of metal! I made the steering wheel using the plasma cutter, then I angle grinded it to remove the dross, used a metal file to remove the interior sharp edges, then sandblasted to remove the outer layer and make the surface consistent.

Step 5) Since I have the gears and the metal piece, the last parts I need are the large wooden pieces that were originally made of cardboard. So I laser cut them again, but this time with wood. And now I have all my parts!

Step 6) Since I double stacked the wood for the base, car, gears, and tires. I used wood glue to connect them. And I wanted to spray paint the surfaces to make the car a realistic color and give all the pieces a clear coat. And it would be difficult to do after everything was assembled, so I proceeded with post processing steps. I first sanded the wooden parts, then used painters tape to cover and create a design on the car so I could spray paint it orange. Let it dry. Then covered the orange with tape and spray paint the rest black to get a cool, semi-realistic “McLaren” inspired F1 car! Then I gave the car, wheels, base, and metal  a coat of semi-clear gloss, then let it all dry overnight.

Step 7) As everything was drying, I used the vinyl cutter to cut some stickers of F1 tires. Using a matte black color, I cut the tire out, and using a silver, I cut out the rim of the tire. Then using the transfer paper, I moved the stickers onto the wooden wheels.

Step 8) The next day with everything fully dry, I realized that the surfaces of the wood was not smooth after the gloss coating, it was still rough. This is probably because the wood is very porous and absorbed much of the gloss. So I lightly sanded the surfaces of the wooden pieces and then gave them a second coat of the semi-clear gloss. I also gave the top of the gears and the back side of the wood a light coating of the gloss because why not. Then I let those dry fully again overnight.

Step 9) With all my pieces cut and post-processed, I used epoxy to attach the bearings to the gears and dowels. Then I used wood glue to connect the fully wooden gears to their dowels, and let them all dry.

Step 10) Using wood glue, I then assembled everything and added supports to ensure everything stays properly. And once everything dried, I tested it, and it worked! It is slightly more difficult to turn than expected and I think this is because one of my gears dried a little crooked on the dowel…. But overall, it works and my F1 car works and intended!!!!!!!

And of course, we keep our work spaces clean since it is a shared space!

Cost Analysis:

• Tools
  • Due to the nature of the tools used such as the laser cutter and plasma cutter, I will be omitting these costs.
• Material
  • Cardboard – $2.78
  • Wood – $26
  • Metal Sheet – $15.93
  • Dowels – $2.18
  • Bearings – $25.21
  • Epoxy – $5.98
  • Wood Glue – $3.98
  • Orange Spray Paint – $6.78
  • Black Spray Paint – $6.78
  • Semi-Clear Gloss Spray Paint – $6.78
  • Black Sticker Paper – $5.35
  • Silver Sticker Paper – $4.97
• Labor
  • 14 hours at $10 per hour – $140

So the Total Cost for my Mechanical Model is $252.72!