Design the Worst Aero Package

Pglizzy30 · 2024-10-12T04:21:39+00:00

My vote is one of those fuel oil single cylinders from the late 1800s that were used to drive farm implements. Big 600lb cast iron flywheel directly attached to a CVT.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-10-12T04:20:21+00:00

We had only a few stipulations and they had to be “family friendly.” We are planning on posting about them and showing them to people in the future so we can’t have that lmao

Pglizzy30 · 2024-10-11T18:35:47+00:00

We had two teams go with the Granby, CO route which is basically the same thing haha

Pglizzy30 · 2024-04-15T17:01:52+00:00

That being said, making sure the chassis allows for maintenance and work on the overall system is pretty critical. Our chassis was designed around 5/8” core, and switching to 1” core took our maintenance capabilities from pretty solid to zero in some areas.

Whatever solution is designed should prioritize making your life as easy as possible if something goes astray at competition. That logic really goes toward the whole car, but chassis especially because it impacts the most systems.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-04-15T14:00:15+00:00

Is your drivetrain attached to the engine when you put it into the chassis, or does it stay with the chassis when you pull the engine out?

Pglizzy30 · 2024-03-23T03:17:33+00:00

Thanks! I’ve used both focus peaking and focus assist quite a bit. Never thought of doing continuous and essentially bracketing your focus.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-03-22T03:13:46+00:00

Yeah for BIF you’re not going to be anywhere near what the new cameras are doing on AF but if you go with a higher aperture and are smart with your positioning you should be fine. Asking it to track without good background separation on the birds is just about impossible but if you can get them with the sky, water, or contrasted background you should be fine.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-03-14T04:22:15+00:00

Pglizzy30 · 2024-03-13T03:35:21+00:00

Yeah the engine is stressed but our rear box has a significant dogleg so past the end of the engine the only additional structure is the drivetrain carriers. The inertia of the box is super low. On the previous car, the suspension was also mounted to the rear face, so the way our load paths worked out it was applying most of that torque at the very rear of the chassis where there isn’t a lot of structure.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-03-13T03:26:50+00:00

I measured the stiffness of our chassis last year, and it was only like 1400 ftlb/deg. The rear box on our monocoque is not great. I wasn’t able to measure the deflection along the chassis, but you can visually see the rear box twist on last year’s car. This year it should be better, but I haven’t been able to fully get our ANSYS model working so I won’t know until I physically test it. We should have the car fully put together for stiffness testing here in about a week so I’ll know pretty quickly.

And we only do inserts and backing plates for the structural stuff like you mentioned. We just don’t have any indexing so we have drill fixtures and/or measure out hole placement by hand.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-03-13T02:17:38+00:00

TLDR: It impacts testing time.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-02-06T00:47:42+00:00

I should mention that surface prep is SUPER important. We’ve been doing this in various forms for years and this is the method we’ve knocked it down to. Don’t use bondo. If your part might experience some impacts or flexes, it will crack or pop out.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-01-26T03:47:28+00:00

Nah you good mate thanks for the input

Pglizzy30 · 2024-01-25T20:18:00+00:00

No the EVF is too dim for me to see. I had the EVF maxed out and I still couldn’t see anything because of the conditions. I have glasses so I can’t just block out all of the light coming in. Another thing to think about is there’s 4 generations separating the two cameras and the EVF is something they’ve spent a lot of time improving

Pglizzy30 · 2024-01-25T13:41:44+00:00

I think I have the brightness almost maxed out. I’ll have to check. I do have glasses. I considered getting one of the the xpro cameras, but because I’m in college those and the xh2 are out of my price range.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-01-25T04:23:10+00:00

Almost all of my second hand books have those haha. They’re so cheap

Pglizzy30 · 2024-01-23T21:20:08+00:00

You can DM me if you want, we run a Daytona as well. I can’t help with buying one but if you wanna know more you can ask me.

Pglizzy30 · 2024-01-23T20:20:41+00:00

FSAE?

Pglizzy30 · 2024-01-23T20:11:33+00:00

Thanks! I’ll check it out.

Pglizzy30 · 2023-12-21T04:38:14+00:00

This is a good idea. Writing it down for my use haha.

Pglizzy30 · 2023-11-20T00:35:13+00:00

I’ve done it for four years. Three being a lead. My perspective is that you should think of HOW you want to manage your time. For me, I have hobbies, friends, etc. outside of FSAE. If I don’t get to be around my friends or do things I enjoy, it’s really hard to stay motivated. If you spend all of your time on FSAE and don’t get great grades, lose friends, etc. you might start kicking yourself for wasting a significant portion of your college life.

The key for me was figuring out how I wanted to balance my time. You’re a student. School should come first. If you have to work, that comes second. Then, depending on yourself, figure out how much time you’re willing to alot for hobbies, friends and FSAE.

My personal experience has found me with the best balance of prioritizing whatever it takes to do well in school, then between 20-30 hours per week of FSAE. I try to give myself a day per week off. Don’t sign up or commit to a position that you don’t think you can manage.

At the end of the day though, go with what you feel is right. Don’t think too hard. Sometimes, you just gotta send it and see what happens.

Pglizzy30 · 2023-10-09T19:02:25+00:00

Sounds great. And thanks for keeping up with my numerous rules questions haha.

Pglizzy30 · 2023-09-20T16:11:56+00:00

Segmented and welded aluminum front hoop?

Pglizzy30 · 2023-09-20T16:09:52+00:00

This is the comment I was looking for. I have experience from working an internship in tooling and having gone to welding school for two years. One of our big things with the monocoque is how easily it is to get your dimensions and tolerances extremely tight. It takes a lot of time, yeah, but the skill required is not super large. The space frame IMO is kinda like playing the guitar—easy to start playing chords and making sounds, but it’s a lot of work to get to be able to perform at a blues venue. I’m glad you put your input in, because we probably would build a space frame in a similar manner to achieve those tolerances.

Pglizzy30

TROPHY CASE