Buggy - The Buggy is a university first year project. We were briefed to design a vehicle which can move down a track with walls either side. The track had various obstacles including a sand pit, inclines, drops, egg boxes and a water trap!
Buggy - The key to the Buggy's succes was its build quality.
The body was 50mmx50mm box section aluminium, the 2 sections were TIG welded together, using a mitre joint.
I milled out the holes to reduce weight and improve access to the moving parts.
I used mild steel drive shafts for their rigidity, which were mounted in oil impregnated cintered bronze bushes (Oil-Lite bushes).
The huge wheels were Polyurethane foam, which i laminated together and cut out on a band saw.
The Buggy's primary gear gear box - The motor was mounted on the block, with its spindle pointing down onto the large reduction gear. This created a great deal of torque. The bevel gears then direct the drive to the front and back axels, where there are similar gear boxes. This created a very powerful 4 wheel drive machine!
The drive shafts were positioned within 'Oil-lite' bushes.
Buggy bashing down the track! - This image shows the buggy on the final stretch of the track. It is about to overcome the final obstacle- the water trap! Due to the buggy's width it just rolled straight over the water trap (which had sent many of the buggies to a watery grave!) and took the fastest time in my year group!
gLike
Buggy