school room for development question

[Fred R.]

Hi guys,

my school is having an addition to the engineering center and to make our pitch on what sort of this we need I was wondering if you could help me out.

-how much space does your school give for fsae development?
-What sort of facilities?
-And any additional comments.

We just need to know what other facilities we will need.

thanks

[Fred R.]

Hi guys,

my school is having an addition to the engineering center and to make our pitch on what sort of this we need I was wondering if you could help me out.

-how much space does your school give for fsae development?
-What sort of facilities?
-And any additional comments.

We just need to know what other facilities we will need.

thanks

[Jersey Tom]

I think the following comparison is good (and the CSU guys will hate me for it)

http://durning.colorado.edu/sae/images/2003/constructio...%20+%20crushzone.JPG (http://durning.colorado.edu/sae/images/2003/construction/CU%20Body%20+%20crushzone.JPG)

Take that visible area and multiply it by 3 and that's about what we got to work with. Barely have enough room to store 2 cars and work on a 3rd. Up until last year our 24/7 fabrication stuff included a TIG welder, a rickity old drill press, chop saw, tube notcher, and assorted air/hand tools. Last year we got a rickity belt-drive manual mill that doesn't even have a brake on it (makes changing collets real fun).

That is what is dedicated to our FSAE team. Beyond that we got a couple student machine shops with some limited CNC capability. We also recently got a chassis dyno, which isnt working yet. Nor do we really have a place to test it.

Colorado State (CSU) on the other hand, has (and they can correct me if I'm wrong) an old aircraft hangar which is retrofitted for their motorsport engineering program. They have a machine shop, aluminum foundry, injection molding machines, engine and brake dynos, composities layup labs, fuel research labs, some sort of carbon nanofiber research thing, shock and damper testing, room to store a dozen cars easily, etc. They have a graduate level motorsports engineering program.

In the past 3-4(?) years, or at least as long as anyone on the team has been around, they haven't beaten us. Though I'm sure they'll hand us our ass soon enough.

Moral of the story is you can do a lot with a little.

The 3 things I'd want above all would be
(a) plenty of space
(b) as much access to a machine shop as possible
(c) as much access to a welding bay as possible

I don't know much about welding, but this is what I'd want access to for an instrument shop.. doesnt need to be a large quantity of machines, but GOOD ONES.

(1) Good toolroom lathe. Hardinge HLV is a great one. Quick-change toolpost, indexable carbide tooling. DROs to .0005"
(1) Medium/large, stone grinding wheel
(1) Small, diamond grinding wheel
(1) Vertical bandsaw w/ welder. Grob makes nice ones.
(1) Good manual mill. Lotta companies make em. Bridgeport is the standard. Geared head, NONE OF THIS BELT-DRIVE CRAP. Anyone who buys one of those is out of their mind. Powerfeed, DRO to .0005"
(1) Beltsander
(1) Buffing wheel
(1) FULLY ENCLOSED CNC mill, 3 axis if not 4. 7500rpm min. Fadal, Hurco, and Haas all make good midrange stuff.
Standard machine shop stuff.. tools, good calipers, good micrometers, dial and test indicators, sine plates, Jo blocks, etc.

A horizontal bandsaw is nice for thick stock but not totally necessary. CNC lathes also very cool

People who know what theyre doing and don't destroy machines - VITAL.

Instrument shop doesn't need to be huge, just a good variety of machines in good shape. Doesn't even need to be Hardinge or Bridgeport. Could be JET brand machines. Keep your machine tools in good shape, keep your tools sharp, and have a good machinist around. You can do some amazing work.

[RiNaZ]

Maybe a small room where you can do your spraying would be good. I dont know about other teams, but we've been spraying inside our shop with the door open. Probably not a healthly environment if you're not wearing mask.

Honestly, i think the more equipment you have in the shop, the more dangerous the place will be, IMO. Maybe have different equipment in different rooms, if you're shop is big enough that is.

[Dave M]

Get as much space as you can. Think of anything that would be a benifit to the team. Computer stations with internet access would be nice, plenty of space to work on the cars, a big piece of flat concrete to do alignment, chassis/engine dyno, plenty of machines (cnc/manual), storage space, and 24/7 access, etc.

[Fred R.]

thanks guys, do you have dimensions too? A rough estimate in square footage would do fine.

[Bryan Hagenauer]

Having a rollup door to the outside is pretty vital as well. Nothing worse than having to hold your car on its side to fit it through the doorway. This is pretty much a requirement if you are going to have mills and lathes for the forklift to get in and out.

[WSU_Al]

We are a first year team. Our school has a well established Baja team, so we went to them when no one in the school seemed to want to give up space. Now the "baja shed" has become the "sae shed".

As far as physical space, we have an area thats about maybe 30x100? and one corner, say 20x20 is enclosed as an office. We have 3 computers with internet access in there, a small fridge, a coffe pot, and some room for tool storage, filing cabinates, and a phone.
Some of the 30x100 space is taken up as storage (for a cnc unit, a huge planer, and a bridgeport) for the IE department.

As far as tools, in a connecting room we have access to 4 mills, 4 lathes, 2 mig welders, and some other stuff like bandsaws and a hydraulic press some drill presses, 2 grinders, a wire wheel and sheetmetal brakes. The grad students are kind of weary of us though I think.

In our actual space, we have a big flat metal table, lincoln weld 255 squarewave tig, tool boxes (but we need a lot more hand tools), old rickety manual tube bender, and some tables/counters. We also have a 1-car wide roll up door.

[BeaverGuy]

I would reccomend having a seperate room with lots of counter and storage space for the engine team. Being able to have an engine torn apart and spread out without worrying about the people grinding on the chassis is great. It also makes for a way to keep extra parts organized without taking over the whole shop. And when you get an engine dyno having the area to put it is essential and makes for a great show piece to alumni and new students.