Mold completed

The past few days have been very inspiring for the team. On Friday night, AJ, Mitch, Joel, Nathan, Byron, and myself worked on completing the mold. The plywood supports were attached to the mold. We then proceeded to add the final layer of fiberglass to the mold. The work continued until 4am and a heartfelt thanks goes out to those who stayed to help.

Tonight the team made another great advance. The mold was taken down from the table, and inverted. We then began attempting to separate the edge of the mold from the foam. Once the edge was loosened, we attached air lines to the plug and it separated from the mold. The mold needs a little work, but it definitely exceeds our expectations. I finished the night by trimming the outside edge of the mold to give us a good edge to seal to when we begin building the body next week.


Bronco Pride,
Joshua

Another Week, Another Layer

Not to much to report for this past week but progress on the car is being made. Tonight, we applied a third layer of fiberglass after Byron and myself sanded the previous layer to remove imperfections. While the sanding was under way, the rest of the team members discussed design ideas for parts of the car that are yet to be made.

Bronco Pride,
Joshua

 

 

 

Building the Mold

The team has been busy building the fiberglass mold for the lower body. We began by applying a few thin layers of a surface resin. Once a base layer was created, sheets of fine fiberglass were laid down and worked into the resin. By Monday, the first layer of fiberglass was fulled cured. Tonight, we continued the work by applying a heavier layer of fiberglass. This layer, and the one that will soon follow it, will give the mold added strength. Both lay-up sessions took many hours but luckily many people were willing to help with the work. A huge thanks to all the team members that helped in building this mold! This project couldn't be completed without their help!


Bronco Pride,
Joshua

 

 

 

 

Step #1, check

Since last Wednesday, the team has continued dry sanding the plug. We used 150, 220, and eventually 300 grit sand paper to smooth the surface. Once we completed the 300 grit sanding, we moved on to a wet sanding process using 400 and then 600 grit paper. The resulting surface is extremely smooth. A layer of mold release compound was then added on top of the surface so that the mold can be easily removed from the plug once it is complete.

Tonight, Abe and several team members traveled to Vicksburg to give a presentation about the car to the local grade school. It is part of the team's mission to educate the public about alternative energy vehicles and we are thankful that we were given this opportunity.

Back in the lab, we discussed the week ahead of us. The current plan is to have the fiberglass mold completed by Monday. The only work that could be done tonight was to apply a few more coats of the mold release. Once Megan and myself applied the compound, the rest of the team jumped in and helped buff the surface by hand.


Bronco Pride,
Joshua

Spring Break

This week is Spring Break here at WMU. Many students have gone home for the week, but a few of us have stayed behind to help with the car. Unfortunately, we have not seen the turn out we hoped for. Nick, Megan, AJ, Dr. Engelmann, and myself have been in the lab as often as possible to keep the project moving forward. Over the weekend, we sanded out as many imperfections as we could, and filled others with icing. Then, a light coat of primer was applied to the plug by Dr. Engelmann on Monday. This coat gave us a smooth enough surface to begin the final sanding process. Early mornings and late afternoons have seen much of the plug sanded down to a fairly smooth surface. Once the entire surface is free of most imperfection, we will begin using progressively finer sand papers until the plug is perfectly smooth.

Bronco Pride,
Joshua