Tuesday Blog

Today is the last blog before Thanksgiving break.  Today we are still working on our presentations and we also have a special assignment to fix a trampoline.  We will need to put a new weld on it to fix it.

Fixing the trampoline.

Getting ready to weld the trampoline.

Monday Blog

This week is only two days so the blogs will be short and simple. Today, we have to unload SK3 and remove the top.  We also have to finish up our powerpoint presentations.  The rough drafts are do tomorrow and they will be counted as our midterms.

Zach works diligently on his presentation.

SK3 put perfectly back into place.

It's a Parade.

This week we accomplished our goals of cleaning at least half the metal pieces and we also replaced the brake pads on SK3.  The battery rack is almost done.  The holes have all been drilled in the steel pieces and now we just need to put them all together.  We may have broken a few bits drilling, but it was well worth it.
This week was also the week leading up to the Holiday Parade.  Since Solar Knights is part of the parade, we helped by loading SK3 on to the flatbed trailer on Matt's car.

Battery rack almost complete.

Jasen steers SK3 onto the flatbed.

Cleaning metal time

This week our plan is to continue cleaning the metal pieces so they can be ready or welding.  Jack and Zach are working on building the battery rack for SK2, and the brake pads are being replaced on SK3.  We have found that if the cleaned metal pieces are left out for too long they begin to rust again, so Matt suggests we use WD-40 to prevent that from happening.  Our goals for this week are . . .

A) Clean at least half of the metal

B) Finish replacing the brakes

C) Finish the battery rack

Zach cleans metal with the wire wheel.

Zach prepares to drill down pieces of the battery rack.

It's Welding Time!

This week we were able to cut up about 3/4 of the birdcage and clean a lot more of the parts.  We put on a second wire wheel so we could clean twice as much pieces.  On Friday we were finally far along enough on cutting and cleaning that we started welding.  We learned about the right angle to weld at and the slow circular motions necessary to create a clean weld.

We were also able to make progress on our presentations.  I would say that the majority of us are at least halfway done with the presentations.

Matt welds pieces of the birdcage together.

Matt uses the angle grinder to smooth out the weld.

First week with the plan

This week we plan on implementing our new schedule.  Hopefully, we will be able to divide and conquer in working on the welding project, our power point presentations and the solar car.  Our goals this week are to . . .

a) cut up most of the birdcage

b) clean more pieces

c) make progress on our presentation

d) start welding

Jaret and Peter finish off a section of the birdcage.

Jaret cuts off rods of the birdcage.

Super Solar Schedule!

On Wednesday this week we all sat down and decided on a weekly schedule to follow for the rest of the year.  We decided that no one wanted to do nothing but clean for a week, and then do nothing but metal works for another week.  Our new schedule allows us to do a little of everything each week.
Our new schedule is . . .

Monday-Metal works
Tuesday-Clean/Computer
Wednesday-Metal works
Thursday-Solar car
Friday-Clean/Computer

Another part of our decision was to start creating tutorials so that we can teach one another about the different technical aspects of engineering.  We also need to create a small multiple choice test to go along with each tutorial.

Mike works on his tutorial.

Peter sweeps on our first cleaning Friday.

Sweeping and Cleaning and Cutting! Oh My!

This week, we plan on cutting up the birdcage and preparing the metal pieces so we can work on our welding project.  We also want to clean our work area.  There is a lot of dust and shavings from the machines, so we will sweep the floors and machines clean.  Our goals this week our to . . .

A) Clean up the work area

B) Clean metal pieces and cut more pieces off the birdcage

C) Finish battery mount for solar car

Kirsten cleans off metal pieces with a wire wheel

Jack cuts up aluminum with an angle
 grinder for the battery mount