“Make it work, make it happen, and make it right. Once you create something, your name is on it"
PUSH BAR
The primary purpose of this project was to design a push bar help push the car during the competitions and events. The car itself is heavy to push directly by hand and in order to properly push it, one must push the car from a place such that the parts do not get damaged. So, the bottom of the rear of the chassis is the only place which is safe to push the car, however this spot is hard to reach for humans. Therefore, it calls for a mechanism or tool to help reach the spot and helps to translate the force applied by the user onto the specified spot.
A secondary purpose of this push bar is that it should be able to carry a fire extinguisher and toolbox as well to comply with competition safety rules and regulations.
Other considerations
The aforementioned factors weren't the only things that needed to be considered when designing the push bar. The rear of the chassis contained mounts and tabs for many different elements such as suspensions, rear wing spoilers, drive train, accumulator, etc. However, at the time, since the new design of the chassis has not yet been fully developed, I worked with people in each mechanical subsystem to figure out an appropriate placement for the push bar.
Another challenge for this project became to design a push bar that was long enough to reach the average human height and maintain a proper distance away from the car, while also ensuring it was lower that the rear spoiler of the car as to not cause interference with it in any manner. As a team, we did not want to spend too much money on the push bar, so I had to work with a limited supply of tubing and other materials.
Initial Ideation Sketch
Final CAD Design
During the design phase of this project, the push bar underwent a series of iterations and changes until I reached one that complied with all of the competition rules and aligned properly with all the different components mounted on the chassis. This final CAD design was made on SolidWorks.
Manufacturing
Eventually, once the chassis itself was made, I got to fabricate the push bar with the remaining tubes. After that, I learnt how to accurately profile tubes through the process of creating DFX models of my tubes. Then after printing out those models, I created marks on the tubes and used various shop tools (grinder, cutter, etc.) to shape the tube to its appropriate markings. After that, the tubes of the push bar were to be welded together and attach fixings for a fire extinguisher and toolbox.
Push Bar Assembled
Push Bar During Competition