Pink Sally

Alexandra S. (6th), Sophie L.(6th), David M.(6th)

Pine Crest School

Solar Car Notes:

Day 1: Yesterday, David and I brainstormed the shape of the car and our gears. We went over the guidelines and started to work on ours

Day 2:

Today, David wasn’t here so I started to build a prototype of what our car will look like. I thought that we should remove a lot of plastic that isn’t needed. If we have too much excess plastic, it will slow down the car. I also started to brainstorm what the best placement of the solar panel would be, It has to be equal on all sides of the car. We have to make sure our car is light and aerodynamic so it can be fast, but also powerful.

Day 3: I looked at some solar cars and tried to figure out a good design for a car. Since David wasn’t here, I did more design by myself. I started researching and learning how to connect wires to solar panels and wires. The car is starting to come together and i’m figuring out how to connect the wires

Day 4:

David is here, so we started on a more final design so we can get to printing, We started to research the best way to make our car aerodynamic

According to quora.com. an elliptical car shape is the best for aerodynamics.The way that the hood is shaped helps it increase in speed and would be a better idea for the solar panel to go on.

David has a new design for the car. It is an arched top with a empty space in the middle bottom for wires

Day 5: Today I was on zoom along with David, while waiting for him, I started to work more on design and documentation. I looked at the guidelines we need to follow. David hasn’t shown up, so I’m researching multiple guidelines. I did research and I learned the solar panel should. be at an exact 180 degree angle. if its uneven it could drag the car or tip it over, or disrupt momentum

Day 6: After coming back from break, We put our first print into the printer. We forgot the motor holes and are adding them back. We canceled the printing. Today, we researched more guidelines about the sizing needs of the car

Day 7: We are about to submit our first prototype to the printer, we put in the drill holes and figured out where the motor will be. We decided to wait on printing because we found a design flaw, The wheels were too high and the car wouldn’t have worked. We are fixing that. To conclude, our day was productive and we should be able to print next class.

Day 8: Today we’re working to get the first print in. The project is over by winter break.This our first model that we are going to print. This model has lots of parts cut out to make the model lighter and faster. We are planning to test out the function of our model next class.

Day 9: We sent our first print to the printer and are trying to see what we can improve for our next prototypeWe are trying to see what can be improved from our first prototype.

Day 10: We have a new addition to our group, Sophie Leidner. We have our first print in and we are seeing what we can improve and what already works.We realized that our drill holes are way too small,and we need to use a drill. We are trying to assemble our car anyway to see what we need to add.Today we worked on sanding the car and fitting our drill holes.

Day 11: Our axel holes are not gonna go all the way through and they also wont fit, our drill holes aren’t in the right places,they are too far apart and too small for the screws.

Day 12: Today we got our second print out of the printer and took off all the scaffolding. We are now attaching the wheels, moter, and solar panel. We are confused about what we are doing. The screw holes are looking too small to equip the screws.

Day 13: We are redesigning the car because we ran into some difficulties. The car inst shaped correctly to equip the motor.

Day 14: Today we are working on our new car design! We have also decided on a color and a name.

Color: NEON pink

Name: Pink Sally

On our new car it is more aerodynamic now! It will be hollow. here is our first prototype: →

Now we are measuring the axle holes and the drill holes to put into tinkercad to make sure it fits. We are hoping to reprint soon!

Day 15: We are preparing and making final touches to our next print. We are hoping to start a print to be ready soon. We just sent it to the printer.

Day 16: we are getting ready to print our car, and we’re waiting for an available printer.

Day 17: Our car has printed and we are starting the assembly process. Currently, we are screwing in our motor! We found a problem with our car, we fixed it, and know we are reprinting our car.

Day 18: Today we assembled the printed car! We are realizing that we may have an issue with the axle size. We are debating on reprinting or drilling holes.

Day 19: Today we are assembling our car. We needed to move our axle hole a little. We are going to drill our axle hole and hopefully, our car will then be functional.

Day 20: Today we are redesigning our car so the new gears will fit! Our goal is to get it printed by the end of class!

Day 21: We are putting the pieces of our car together. We had to cut off part of the car to get the gear to fit. We are now assembling the car.

Day 22: Today we are assembling our car. Right now we are putting on things that will hold our gears in place. Currently, we are printing wheels that will fit the car despite the bigger gears.

Day 23: We are cutting out our wheels to put on our car. We are going to attach our wheels to our car and then attach the solar panel.

Day 24: Today we are perfecting our car and testing it. We are planning to put our string line on the car soon. We have decided to make a wedge so our solar panel wont grind on the gear!

Day 25: We have fixed our car. Our wheels no longer mesh with the solar panel! We tested our car and explained it to a photographer and a lady!

Day 26: We missed an entry week so last week we worked on our documentation submissions and made sure we could enter everything in.

Day 27: Today we are getting ready for Friday’s practice race. David is getting the documentation on the google doc. Alexandra is making the string for our car. She is attaching it right now! Our car is going to be ready for Friday! 😀

Final Design