NUsolar

Paint Scheme Ideas

Alex Zhu — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:21:26 +0000

Do you have a vision for what our upcoming solar car should look like?

Use the template of our car here: http://i.imgur.com/tUlpE.jpg, and draw it out! Or, just describe it in text. Either way, send it to team@nusolar.org and we’ll take a look.

Thanks, we look forward to seeing your ideas!

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Thanks to Porteous Fastener Co!

Alex Zhu — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:31:30 +0000

The team would like to thank Porteous Fastener Company for their contribution of bolts! These will come in handy as we continue assembling our new car. Porteous Fastener Company is a leading … [visit site to read more]

We have a shell!

Alex Zhu — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:01:52 +0000

We have completed both the top shell and bottom shell of our upcoming car! The process of doing carbon fiber layups on our molds and taking our molds to Precision Quincy to be cured in their industrial oven took 6 days. We did the very first layups on the top shell Thursday night, and the bottom shell was cured at Precision Quincy yesterday, but we brought it back this morning. Throughout the last 6 days, the team spent over 65 hours completing the carbon fiber layups, transporting them between … [visit site to read more]

Carbon Fiber Layup Prep

Alex Zhu — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:46:21 +0000

Tonight, we did a simulated carbon fiber layup on our mold (with everything but the carbon fiber) to see if everything was working as it should, and so everyone on the team understands how the process works.

We … [visit site to read more]

Thanks to The Young Engineers

Alex Zhu — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:43:59 +0000

NUsolar would like to thank The Young Engineers for providing us with grommets! These pieces will protect the bolt holes in the Nomex and carbon fiber panels in our car, by spreading force and preventing the bolts from crushing the Nomex … [visit site to read more]

Support from Aurora Bearings — Thanks Aurora!

Alex Zhu — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:26:56 +0000

We’d like to thank Aurora Bearing Company for their generous support in helping us obtain bearings and rod ends to be used in our new suspension system.

Founded in 1971, Aurora Bearings has grown to become a world leader in the rod end and spherical bearing industry. They carry a complete line of standard rod ends and spherical bearings, and can also create custom units, … [visit site to read more]

Thanks to Fastener Mart

Alex Zhu — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:09:34 +0000

NUsolar would like to thank Fastener Mart for their generous donation of flex-loc nuts, which will ensure that the components of our car can stay tight together, even under rough road … [visit site to read more]

Baking Our Mold

Matthew Filak — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 04:31:19 +0000

Nothing like waking up early to the smell of some fresh baked goods, huh? Well instead, we woke up super early yesterday to drive our mold out to Woodstock, IL, home of Precision Quincy, who manufactures ovens and communications shelters. They’ve got an oven big enough for our mold to fit in, so we threw it in for a post-cure so it can sustain 350ºF temperatures for the carbon fiber cure. We also threw in the bubble mold to prepare it for thermoforming, which will … [visit site to read more]

Mold Progress

Alex Zhu — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 06:54:58 +0000

We got all the foam off the mold earlier this week and applied another surface coat to it. This was the first time we saw the mold, and although there are a couple small areas that will definitely need some fixing, overall it turned out pretty well.

Team members removing the last of the foam from the mold

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Timelapse – Now with sound and labels!

Alex Zhu — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 07:05:14 +0000

We’ve re-uploaded the timelapse video of our bottom shell fiberglass mold process with added sound and labels. I hope that makes it a little easier to digest!

It’s difficult to find great music to put in YouTube videos without infringing copyrights, so thanks SGX for letting us use your awesome … [visit site to read more]