Welcome to the Fabrication Floor!

This isn't just a driving club—it's the home of DKMS Engineering and hands-on metalworking. We teach students in Grades 7, 8, and 9 how to design, cut, weld, and machine real metal parts to build working go-karts. No experience? We'll teach you how to safely use the MIG welders, chop saws, drill presses, and the new milling machine (when we get it).

Ready to Get Your Hands Dirty? Join Us Anytime!

You don't need to wait for the next semester to start building. We welcome new members at any point in the year!

We understand that you might have missed the initial training sessions, but our goal is to get every student involved as quickly as possible. New members will be immediately partnered with an experienced student or mentor to get caught up on safety training and core skills.

The earlier you join, the more time you'll have to contribute to our major builds and compete in the May Rodeo.

Ready to start? Just show up at the DKMS Metal Shop on a Tuesday or Thursday at 3:00 PM, or click here to access the Sign-Up forms!

GoKarts Construction - Three Tiers 

The ultimate goal of the DKMS Go-Kart Club is to apply everything we learn about precision fabrication and teamwork to build functional, reliable vehicles. This year, we're tackling a progression that moves from basic fabrication to advanced mechanical, electrical, and now software engineering.

See Our Progress: You can track our specific goals, weekly tasks, and milestone deadlines on our official Project Timelines page, or view the latest build photos in the Club Photo Gallery!

Tier 1: The Off-Road Fabrication Base (Gas)

We'll start by taking the basic frame design and upgrading it. Teams will fabricate a single-seat, off-road style chassis using 1” mild steel square tubing. This build introduces the complexities of motion and durability.

• Engine & Drivetrain: 212cc Gas Engine, Torque Converter, and unified drive axle.

• Key Challenge: Designing and fabricating the pivot points, control arms, and shock mounts for a working front suspension system. This is where our foundational welding skills meet mechanical design.

Tier 2: The Electric Conversion & Safety Engineering (Roll Cage)

Once the fundamental off-road gas chassis is complete, the club will shift focus to modern vehicle technology. We will use our two electric go-kart kits to build an off-road electric chassis. This tier heavily focuses on structural integrity and safety design.

• Drivetrain: Electric Motors and Gearboxes.

• Electronics: Installing and wiring the Digital Speedometers, Analog Actuators, Electronic Speed Controllers (ESC), and massive battery packs.

• Fabrication Focus: Designing and welding a robust structural roll cage. This requires advanced tube bending and complex joint fabrication to ensure high structural strength—a vital engineering skill!

The Advanced Path: Autonomous Kart Development 

This dedicated pathway leverages the electric kart platform to focus entirely on robotics, programming, and sensor integration. It is ideal for students passionate about software and electrical engineering.

• The Mission: Utilizing a small electric kart chassis, teams will retrofit the vehicle with a computing platform (like Raspberry Pi or Arduino) and various sensors (LiDAR, cameras, ultrasonic).

• Coding Focus: Students will work on writing, adapting, and explaining the Python/C++ code and algorithms required for the kart to navigate a course autonomously, detect obstacles, and complete pre-programmed challenges without human input.

• Skills Applied: Robotics, electrical engineering, logic, and software development.

Tier 3: Advanced Engineering (4-Wheel Independent Suspension)

Tier 3 is the culmination of our year's work, challenging the most experienced club members to tackle a true engineering project. Using the knowledge and components from the electric kits, we will design and fabricate a custom chassis capable of supporting 4-Wheel Independent Suspension.

• The Ultimate Goal: Designing a chassis and all four custom suspension corners that allow each wheel to move independently.

• Skills Applied: This project demands mastery of the Milling Machine for custom, high-precision axle spacers and bushings, and advanced joint fabrication for the dozens of required control arms.

• Outcome: The final result is a complex, high-performance vehicle—the ultimate test of fabrication, mechanical design, and electrical system integration.

Prepare for the Go-Kart Rodeo! 

The roll cage design and the autonomous programming are essential elements for our end-of-year showcase. We will be testing the karts' maneuverability, durability, and computational intelligence in a Go-Kart Rodeo/Competition event planned for May.

This progression ensures every member contributes to increasingly challenging, high-value builds, culminating in the mastery of fabrication, mechanical engineering, electrical systems, or robotics.