Thursday, May 1, 2014

Symposium

Today is the day.  Although we are missing our design team, things should run smooth.  



Thursday, April 24, 2014

Pre-Symposium

After a long year of researching, building, and waiting, within this past week, the final pieces of our solar puzzle have been put together successfully.  This week consisted of painting the car, making the battery box, mounting our solar panel, creating a new seat, mounting our motor and test driving our car.


Monday, April 21, 2014

Preparing to paint!

At this point, we're going to remove the electronics that have been tentatively placed atop our Solar Templar.
Why, you ask?....Well, to paint the chassis!
It's exciting to see our hard work develop, and now it will look all the more official in black.


Thursday, April 17, 2014

Minor Welding Preps

Fernando is photographed here as he prepares the bottom portion of our chassis for welding.
We have to insert crossbars similar to the one perpendicular to his forearm in this photo.
Chase will most likely do the welding, as he seems to be our go-to guy for good welds. 

Monday, April 14, 2014

Magnet Presentation/Electrical progress

1. The end of this week marked the successful completion of our magnet presentation in order to get approved for symposium.
2. Our shell is nearly complete with the electrical team adding more components to the vehicle.    


Friday, April 11, 2014

Wiring

Fernando and Emily are hard at work on some simple wiring on the bottom portion of the chassis. 
Our goal here is to make sure the wiring both looks good and is well executed, both inside and out.
We don't want a pretty shell and tangled web of wiring on the inside—a minor mistake made under the hood of the otherwise commendable SK3. 
It's nice to learn from the work of predecessors in the program! 

Monday, April 7, 2014

Smile for the Camera

Today, we took a few pictures behind our (work in progress) solar car, Solar Templar.
We are planning on placing the chosen photo on a prezi for Principle Henschel to view.

Here is one of the front-running photographs of the Solar Knights team:


Friday, April 4, 2014

Welding

This week, since our primary welder was re-assigned, Jeffrey stepped in to fill the gap.
We finished the roll cage designed and are ready to create our panel mounts.





Monday, March 31, 2014

Measuring and Bending

Currently, we are measuring out and bending conduit with our conduit bender.
This conduit will be used to comprise the roll cage of the solar car.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Break is approaching, along with deadlines.

With spring break encroaching on our involved operation, the team must make sure that no focus is lost. 
We put in much work during this third quarter, and have almost completed the skeleton of our Templar. 
Just a couple two-foot i-beam cuts need to be made and then the final welding will ensue. 

Friday, March 14, 2014

beamin' 2

The I-Beams have been measured out, and the sawing has gone underway.
The attached picture shows the length of our solar panel supports, along with the main I-Beam we're cutting them from.
Once we're done cutting, we will begin to look into how many panels can fit atop the Templar.


Thursday, March 13, 2014

beamin' 1

This week our main goal is to create the motor plate so we can mount the motor.
We also have to cut the I-beams in order to mount our solar panels.

Friday, March 7, 2014

And the chassis continues to grow...!

Piece by piece, we are carefully cutting our conduit and welding together the skeleton of our solar car.
It is exciting to witness, because it seems like each day we're getting closer to the real deal.
May next week bring some progression into further stages of the process!

A picture of Arthur cutting conduit:

Monday, March 3, 2014

Pending Plate Preparations

1.  We need to finish drilling the next plate.
2. We need to mount the brakes after fixing the plates.
3. We also need to continue answering the Motorola Solutions grant

Friday, February 28, 2014

This Week's Accomplishments!....

After cutting the space out to fit the caliper, we added a metal piece to help mount it better.
We are also working on a very serious grant writing operation involving Motorolla and a possible $50,000 in grants.... It will be something Chris, Matt, and I dissect over the next week and then we must pump out a handful of short essays...
Shouldn't be a challenge for us Knights :)


Monday, February 24, 2014

Further measurements

We end this week on a good note, as the brake plates are finally in place.
Now that we've drilled the two holes, it's time for the calipers to be attached. 
This is what we're working on today, to top of a productive week. 

Here is a photograph of one of the calipers:



Friday, February 21, 2014

After drilling the two holes for mounting the calipers, more space was required for the caliper to go through the plate.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Plate update

After discovering the need for brake mounts on the plates we already have we need to drill two holes in each plate to be able to mount our calipers.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Weekly goals.

This week, we finally managed to mount the plates.
Now is the time to begin the climax of our project, finishing the car.


Monday, February 10, 2014

We got em.

THE PLATES ARE IN!
They are sharp, and there are some "lead in, lead out" problems with them, but nothing serious.
They look great.
This week, we hope to:
1. Get everything tacked out / measured regarding wheel to plate
2. Then weld/attach it all



Friday, February 7, 2014

Accomplishments!

1. Disassembled the entire solar panel (including a successful cleanup)!
2. Finished testing all solar cells!
3. Plates have been cut!

This means it's finally time for things to start falling into place as far as the Templar goes. We were waiting for those plates for too long, but the wait is over.

Monday, February 3, 2014

On going "PROGRESS"

1. This week, our plates have still not yet been cut.  Turns out, the machine Josh was planning on using broke.  Currently, Jason is scanning for an alternative with one suggestion to take it to his guy who has a plasma cutter.
2. Design for the car is continuously being updated.  Our Solar mounts are being designed as we speak.
3. Deciding a potential lowering of the car, we are currently at an 8" clearance level and the minimum requirement is 7".

Monday, January 27, 2014

Big Week Ahead

So, the much-awaited plates will be coming in this Wednesday.
Our goals for this week:
1. Mount plates
2. Work on supports for solar panels

Note: Arthur is taking charge of the solar panel support initiative.
We must find a means of mounting panels of this size, and this width, atop our solar vehicle.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Accomplishments

This week started with the expectation of our bearing plates which we never received.
Also procrastinated research was finally done with the discovery of a torque converter which may play a role when we get a possible transmission.  
This week, we got a feel for the driver area and where he/she will be placed.  

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

New week.....

Same hangups.
As of now we're:
1. Still waiting for plates, and will get those put in action upon their arrival
2. Taking measurements for the driver's seat, with battery space and all that in mind
3. Welding a top bar in the place of the back of the driver's seat. This gives us a good spacial grasp.

Friday, January 17, 2014

We are rolling....

1. Did not receive plates yet, sent them to be cut yesterday, hoping to get them by Tuesday.
2. Cut conduit to weld seat frame
3. After seat is made, battery box will be added.
4. Currently researching transmission and planning to visit transmission shops next week.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

We need to get going here.



We are currently waiting on two plates. As of now, we plan to:
1. Work on battery box
2. Work driver's seat

And once the much-anticipated plates arrive, we will:
3. Mount plates

On a side note, we have recently finished a draft timeline for the predicted progression of the rest of the school year regarding the Templar. Martin plans to review it and we will probably need to make some additions and edits.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Accomplishments.

1. Steering wheel has been configured. Check.
2. Tie rods have been mounted to wheels. Check.
3. The plates we need have been identified, and are due to come in Wednesday of next week. Check.
4. New goal: Create solar car timeline. Underway.
 

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Plans for the new year

1. Acquire wheel plates to mount rear wheel
2. Connect tie rods to steering wheel
3. Create battery box
4. Develop driver seat
5. Connect brake/gas pedal