Week 3

Week 3
To start off week 3, the group sat down together and learned Solidworks, a 3D modeling program, in which the group had no prior knowledge with. Learning the new program brought some challenges to the group but before the end of the week the group had a decent understanding of how the program worked. After learning Solidworks, members redesigned and improved drawings by taking them from Inventor and redesigning them in Solidworks. During the meeting with Dr. Tan, the group showed him drawings and received a suggestion. That suggestion was to begin finite element analysis of each part to assist in the removal of weight by ensuring that the overall structural integrity of the part will not be harmed.  

Week 2

Week 2
For the second week, the group continued their research by evaluating off-the-shelf assemblies for full-size racecars (shown below in Figure 1). Brainstorming for different ideas and concepts to make the pedal box as cheap as possible while having it still be durable and lightweight was also done this week. After this week's meeting with Dr. Tan, the group was able to establish the overall design for the final pedal box. The design entailed an underfoot master cylinder location with a false floor covering the assemblies below. As for the brake pedal, it has a mechanical advantage of three to one. After creating a final design, the group of four created the discussed design in Inventor to show Dr. Tan the following week (shown below in Figure 2).

Figure 1: Tilton Racing 600 Series Underfoot Pedal Assembly 

Figure 2: Initial Inventor Drawing of Pedal Assembly

Week 1

Week 1
In the first week of the pedal box project the group defined the constraints and began research. Before defining the constraints, the group met with the current president of the Formula SAE club, Rob Gibbons. At the meeting, they took measurements of the pre-existing chassis in order to plan for the next weeks. Also defined was the style of brake master cylinders that will be used as well as their mounting style. Research in the first week consisted of looking up other teams and communicating with them in order to gain knowledge. The 2016 rulebook was also read through to find all of the rules pertaining to the pedal box.

Tilton 77 Series Master Cylinder