There will be one primary type of manufacturing method used for the steering and suspension systems, although there will be a significant portion of parts purchased as per competition rules and to narrow the scope of developing two separate systems.

 

            The primary method will be three dimensionally printing parts for the driving and steering components. The parts will be printed from ABS plastic. This will be completed in the CWU rapid prototyping lab on campus. The rapid prototyping lab is especially useful for the all mounts (front and rea) due to their complex geometry they would be especially difficult to machine.The secondary method of manufacture and modification will be machining. The front All Mount had a 3”x .875”x .375” groove milled out of the bottom to fit in a strip of aluminum.  The aluminum strip was also milled from a 1”x 1”x .375” to the approximate dimensions of 1”x.875”x.375”.

             

The Steering system and the suspension system (including the steering servo) will all mount to a single part and that will attach to the chassis pan, there will be one for the front and one for the rear. This will allow the systems to be taken on and off the vehicle in a modular fashion.

 

The rear end will also be put together in such a fashion, that the drive housing will mount to the rear suspension assembly. This will allow the back end to be modular as well as the front end, and the drive train as well. Making the different systems on the vehicle modular allows future students to easily narrow there scope on what they want to accomplish for future projects.