Go-Kart NK Dalton Jannie
Problem: Our group has from now (2/13/17) until the end of the year to create a go-kart from a sheet of .75'' plywood, a variety of hardware, wood glue, and our source of power, an 18 V drill. We will additionally have $25 in which we can spend on whatever we find most useful and necessary.
Research:
We will have a gear train in which the drill is connected to a smaller gear which spins the bigger gear connected to the wheel. This will allow for a very fast spinning smaller gear which in turn spins the bigger gear much quicker producing better speed. (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/af/72/41/af72411408e5a99b3c6360897b4b513a.jpg)
This was the basic design we saw used most often online. We took this idea and used it as our starting point; some of the first adjustments we made were things such as size and also extra/wider support beams because the kart pictured above would be extremely unstable for people of our size. (http://motortorque.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/This-dad-made-his-son-a-go-kart-powered-by-a-drill.png)
Design:
This is the frame of our kart, it's basically the same design as most karts except enlarged and inspired by a F1 car, hence the front wing.
These are the more precise measurements we made, the 32'' displays the width of the entire kart while the 12'' merely shows the length of the front wing which is only a visual aesthetic.
This is our detailed sketch that includes the exact dimensions of the total width of the kart, the width and length of the front axel, and the length of the "nose" piece.
This is our detailed sketch of the frame of our kart after changing a few dimensions. It will be 72 inches long, 29 inches long, and the front axel will be 32 inches long.
Build:
This picture displays us roughly fitting things into place after cutting the frame out on the shopbot, checking to see if all our measurements were correct or at least fixable.
Here Brandon is simply chiseling out the leftover holes (steering wheel and axels). The frame still looks very rough as we've yet to sand it.
We sanded all of our pieces and our main frame, cut out the mortis and tenon joints to the proper size, and began securing the joints by using a mallet.
This is our seat with one of the arm rests secured. There is a mortis and tenon joint on the both the frame as well as the seat. Both joints provided very tight fitting and ensured the frame will be very strong.
This displays our axle, placed inside of a PVC pipe, with the wheels connected on the end. The axle being inside of the PVC was the only way we could figure out how to connect the axle but we're also hoping it could add some sort of suspension for our kart when it hits bumps.
Here is the underside of our kart. You can see the PVC pipe again, the hole for the steering mechanism, and the support beam we attached from bumper to bumper. We plan to attach more support beams but hopefully this beam will be the first step to making our base stable enough to hold our body weights while speeding around.