Work Summary [9/16 - 9/21]

This past week was pretty busy to say the least. I wanted to be more involved so I was able help with the 43rd annual Electric Vehicle Rally at DeAnza College. Although I am part of the cabin team, I wanted to learn a little more about the small scale model and I felt this is a good way to do so.

Friday, 9/18/2015
I was able to meet Bill James, the founder of JPods; it is very similar to the Spartan Superway. He gave us a brief tour of his progress and showed his website. The videos he showed us helped me realize how big this project is and what it could do to the community. He showed us their version of their bogie and cabin. After that, the disassembly team managed to get the small scale running and soon disassembled it and packed it in Kenny's car.

Saturday, 9/19/2015
The disassembly team met at DeAnza College at around 9:00 am to set up the small scale at the Rally. We managed to assemble the track just after the rally started. We were able to get the small scale to run. However, we had problems when the bogie would switch stations. Every time we had the bogie switch to a station, the cabin would get stuck, or it would completely fall off the track. One problem we noticed was the bogie was using a piano wire that was slipping off the servo and this prevented the switching on the bogie. At the end of the day, we stopped showcasing the switch mechanism and we ended up getting an award for student project and received  a volt meter as a prize.

Also, as part of the cabin team, we kept in touch with Caleb to see what days we can start working on the full scale cabin. Once we get things organized, we will start finishing the full scale cabin.