- Visit to Intalco / Alcoa, and Conoco Phillips
- Fundraising progress -- To date we have raised or have committed over $4500.00
- We presented at the Bellingham AutoCAD Users Group (B.A.U.G)
Just to clarify BAUG stands for Bellingham AutoCad User Group. But that's too long to mention which is why it goes by BAUG. I think that's a cute nickname. Anyways, the BAUG meeting was scheduled for our InvenTeam to show everyone our presentation and prototype. It went great. We had more then 2 hours for our presentation time. Yeah. 2 hours. This was easily one of the longest presentations that we have ever given as an InvenTeam. I know every one of our team members could feel the pressure but we all stuck together and pulled it all off! Our team looked snazzy with our outfits and our professional attitude. I think we did a great job covering the technical details during the question and answer part from the community members. We learned a lot of things during our presentation. We learned about communication skills and how to handle questions effectively. I would also like to add that Elli and I also learned a lot about wearing heels for two hours. If it ain't hurting, it ain't helping. So yeah. Presentation was successful and I'm pretty sure we impressed quite a few people!
We redesigned the kingpin and steering components as a result of our conversation with Bob Mighill of Tilting Motor Works. He has spent several years studying leaning motorcycles. He does not have to worry about weight but many of the concepts follow through. We were right on with several ideas. These are improvements he is looking into incorporating into his next designs. Lean on the traverse of a hill – the trike should lean to be plumb not perpendicular to the surface under the trike. King pins need to center on the tire patch not angle as the traditional trike designs. When you add leaning this makes the geometry extremely difficult and the steering unpredictable. We think this will be a huge benefit to our design. BJ fiberglass has agreed to spray the gel-coat as we do not have any spray equipment.
We CNC machined foundation foam for plugs to develop molds for the carbon fiber parts. We then covered the foam with fiberglass and epoxy resign. Next, we covered the epoxy with the vinyl ester resign. Now we sand and cover the materials with gel-coat and fiberglass to make the actual mold.
We have been working on answer questions – unfortunately each question brings up more questions than answers. Do we use Linear Activators, Hydraulics, Pneumatics, to control the lean? Several iteration of pros / cons with little or no distinct winner. We will need to test each to see. Perhaps a hybrid of two?
Lynden InvenTeam 2012
Blog Editor
- Harmeen Kaur
- Lynden, Washington, United States
- I loved documenting this entire experience of the Lynden InvenTeam. It was one crazy experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to record each and almost every single one of our memorable moments!
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