In ME 338: Machine Elements, students form teams to design, build, and race R/C race cars to supplement the lecture material covering the “modeling, design, integration, and best practices for use of machine elements such as
bearings, springs, gears, cams, and mechanism”.
Each team was a group of 7-8 students split into Design, CAD, and Build/Test sub-teams. I was the CAD sub-team lead for my team and I worked closely with the Design team lead to guide the car’s direction. Our team started by setting fundamental performance goals for the car such as maximum acceleration, top speed, and turn radius, and then using these goals to guide our design and rank design priorities. After the initial design and material selection, we also performed an FEA load calculation to ensure that our car could handle the expected race-day forces.
One of our design priorities for the car was to be as small as possible to reduce the weight of the chassis and keep the car light and nimble. While this made for a cramped car, our design decisions paid off and the team took second place overall on race day!
