Fabrication Process

The machining process is a slow one when it comes to steel. The facilities at the famu/fsu college of engineering can machine steel but they aren't the best prepared for material. This, however, was a problem that had to be worked around. Initial designs had rounded ends for the side arm, side arm collar, and side arm baseplate. The CNC machine at the college however couldn't machine steel. The design was then changed to use the 3.5x3.5 tubing and cutting off an end. This lead to another problem, however; when the tubing was cut it “kinked” in. It was thought that the tubes should have moved out when they were cut but the tubing was loaded in compression and not tension. This became quite a problem because of the strength of the material. A bolt was sewn through the holes and a cable attached, the cable however broke. The solution that was used was to use a scrap piece of tubing and use a press to press it into the “U” shaped cut pieces. By using the press to press the wider diameter tube into the “kinked” pieces it widened them out. Some were widened too much and were pressed back. This consisted of the only true problem during machining.