Work on swerve drive for next year, and work on other off-season projects like the exhaust pipe for the laser cutter. This will help me achieve my CAD/mechanical goal.
We only had one meeting where we were able to work on swerve drive, but I believe it was pretty successful
We got most of the wheels built, and only need to attach encoders and add spacers now.
I also finished working on my CAD for the exhaust pipe on the laser cutter, and hopefully, that will be printed soon.
I believe we made a lot of progress and hope we can keep working on the drive in May
In the last week of the month reflect on your progress.
I think I achieved the goal of working on Swerve drive, but we weren't able to get too much work done because we missed a lot of meetings this month
Despite the missed meetings, I was able to work on the CAD for the laser cutter at home, and I finished it with some time to spare. I had to make sure the clearance and the measurements for it were correct, and I'm pretty sure I did a good job, but I won't know until it's printed.
The upperclassmen taught me many things about mechanical, and I learned how to mount a wheel to a motor. I also learned how to assemble a swerve drive, but I hope to learn how to do it without a kit in the future.
I think understanding how things work mechanically in real life is a big step toward learning how to design and make things in CAD more efficiently, so I think this month's work has helped me to become a better CADer and I'm a step closer to reaching my goal.