Working Prototype II- 11/18

November 18, 2013

Deliverable: Working Prototype

Today we began by sharing with the class our progress since the last design review. One of our biggest pain points was how the angle iron had failed to stay attached to the tubing from last week. Epoxy has failed us! In response, Amy suggested that we bolt the angle iron onto the top surface of the base tubing. 

Katie and Alex drilling away...

... and TA DA! The base is complete.

For our working prototype, we decided to bolt the angle iron shut so that we can test the bike in our classroom and see if our prototype does what it is supposed to do -- withstand the weight of the bike, support the chainstays at the right location, and stay upright.

With the base complete, we epoxied the chainstay supports onto the top tubing.

Before we placed the bike onto our stand, we noticed that the chainstay supports were too far apart. We went back and re-adjusted the angle iron to the narrowest possible fixture (i.e., bolted the angle iron together at the innermost holes), but even after this change, the supports were too far apart. We could not make the bike stand any narrower without sanding off some of the angle iron -- it was the only way to make the angle iron slide along the base without it getting stuck at the intersection between the tubing. Alas, we went to Larry, who kindly agreed to help us. He used a machine similar to the drill press, which shaved away the unwanted chunk of angle iron; the machine could be adjusted along multiple directions.

Larry showing us how to sand off extra bits of the angle iron.

Thanks to Larry, we now have a working prototype that can be adjusted for width. Our goal for next class is (1) to use mini clamps to clamp the angle iron into place, (2) and to finally test our prototype. Before Thanksgiving, we hope to file a welding request.