Pat's Column

[JamesWolak]

Pat,

Are you going to continue to write articles for the formula student site? I have been waiting for a new one since May. I really do enjoy them and find them useful, specially the design error of the month.

[JamesWolak]

Pat,

Are you going to continue to write articles for the formula student site? I have been waiting for a new one since May. I really do enjoy them and find them useful, specially the design error of the month.

[Saleem Merkt]

+1. I really enjoy reading them

[oz_olly]

+1 for me too. They are good to give to new guys and always remind the older guys of something and often give something new. Pat has been writing advice for FSAE for some time. It is worthwhile digging back through the FSAE-A newsletters where he used to do the same thing he now does for FSG.

Cheers

Olly

[PatClarke]

Hi Guys,
Sorry if you are having withdrawal symptoms.
When I got back from FSG in August, I found that a workmate was seriously ill. I have been picking up his workload and have hardly had time to scratch, let alone write a column.
Of the last 9 weeks I have spent 7 interstate!

Now that the Solar Challenge is over (something that had me in the Northern Territory and Adelaide over the last couple of weeks) my workload is again under control so I will scratch my head and find something else to write about.

Cheers

Pat

[MalcolmG]

Pat, I don't know if you do requests, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the testing/tuning/development/validation stage if you're stuck for something to write about. It tends to be an area that doesn't receive anywhere near the same level of attention as the design/build phase in most discussions

[PatClarke]

Thanks for the idea Malcolm. I will see what I can do.

One of the challenges is to write an advice column that is useful to all, especially the beginners, without boring the socks off the experienced teams.

Cheers

Pat

[JamesWolak]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by oz_olly:
+ It is worthwhile digging back through the FSAE-A newsletters where he used to do the same thing he now does for FSG.

Cheers

Olly </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Just went on the the site and it looks like they only have the current news letters available

[oz_olly]

I'll get our webmaster to post them on our website and then post the link back up here. Hopefully sort it out by the weekend.

Cheers

Olly

[JamesWolak]

http://www.formulastudent.de/a...s-column-car-set-up/ (http://www.formulastudent.de/academy/pats-corner/advice-details/article/pats-column-car-set-up/)



Thanks Pat!

[Luniz]

Thanks Pat for this new article!

There is one thing which I don't quite understand in the Design error of the month though. You are saying that "Having the rod ends in line with the arms means they cannot be adjusted(for camber adjustment) without having to strain or even bend the wishbone arms when refitting them to the chassis."
You are undoubtedly right about that but, who would want to adjust camber via the rod ends? And even more important, if you don't have the rod ends in line with the whishbone arms, wouldn't that necessarily result in REIB once there is load on the whishbone??

[PatClarke]

Lutz,
It doesn't show in the pic (hidden by the tyre cover) but there is an encapsulated spherical bearing at the upper outer end.
This means the only way to adjust the length of the upper wishbone is by adjusting the rod ends at the inner end.
Any adjustment here changes the longitudinal distance between the rod end centres. If the camber is adjusted in this way, then the wishbone will no longer fit the chassis without being sprung or bent.

This is not good design and so is a Design Error.

Cheers

Pat

[Luniz]

If the upper whishbone is directly attached to the upright, then I agree. But usually there is some kind of bracket to hold the outer spherical and you can put shims or something like that between the upright and that bracket to adjust camber. At least this is the way it works on our '09 car.

[js10coastr]

Not all teams will do it that way. CNC'ed uprights beg to not use this setup and use a pocket instead to capture the bearing/provide for double shear. Putting a single spherical bearing on the outboard end would allow for adjustment of camber.

[oz_olly]

Hey Guys,

I said a while back I would upload the FSAE-A articles with Pat's older columns. They are finally up at the following link:

http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/ac...hicle/references.htm (http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/acme/studentactivities/saevehicle/references.htm)

Cheers

Olly

[JamesWolak]

Thanks Olly.