Toy Designed for Manufacture & Assembly
Reproducible Remote-Controlled Race Car
To instill and exercise design for manufacture and design for assembly practices, I designed and fabricated several identical radio-controlled cars with a single shared, interchangeable control box in a team of 6 graduate engineering students.
Parts and the processes to make them included:
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Chassis – cut from aluminum sheet on an abrasive waterjet machine
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Shell – thermoformed with vinyl cut embellishments
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Wheels – injection molded & 3D-printed
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Tires – cut from neoprene on a waterjet
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Control box – sheet metal cut by waterjet and formed with sheet bending
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Drivetrain, steering, suspension, bumpers, etc. –machined (including mill, lathe, and waterjet) from sheet metal, plastic, or other available materials
In addition to scrutinizing quality checks, performance of the cars was evaluated in a relay race contest through an obstacle course, during which the control box was transferred from each car into the next; after winning our qualification round, my team finished 3rd overall, demonstrating the strength and design and fabrication quality.
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