Formula Student 

In my third year of university I joined the Chassis team of Formula Student at Edinburgh University. Formula Student is a society where the students design and manufacture custom race cars that are then raced against each other at different events.

I learnt many new skills including the use of SolidWorks CAD design, FEA (Finite Element Analysis), metal fabrication and chassis design.

I helped design and manufacture a jig for the fabrication of the chassis and helped to create the fibreglass bodywork for the car.

Being part of the Formula Student team was a fun and rewarding experience in applying my engineering skills to new and innovative designs. I enjoyed the problem-solving and engineering challenge of designing and manufacturing a custom race car and the time management skills required to balance Formula Student with my university studies.

The competition was a fantastic learning experience both in terms of the dynamics of working in a race car team and learning the key elements of a racing car. 

Although there were many highlights one in particular was when I used my initiative and built a makeshift exhaust baffle from scrap metal. This was to silence the exhaust which was too loud to pass the noise test. The baffle I created was able to silence the car to allow it to pass the noise test yet still maintain engine performance. This taught me the key aspects of problem-solving and teamwork. Ultimately the car was successful in competing against the other competitors in a series of events.

Following the competition I worked on the suspension design for the next new car. This included designing both steel and carbon fibre A-arms and then modelling them in CAD. 

I also helped to design and manufacture a steel chassis welding jig. This involved remodelling the jig from the previous years chassis to fit the new chassis design as well as fit it to a new welding table.

I 3D modelled the jig with the chassis in SolidWorks CAD then ordered the materials required. The picture below shows the CAD assembly of the chassis and jig mounted to the welding table.

I then build the jig and worked with the rest of the team to assemble and weld the chassis. The involved a large amount of problem solving as this was the first chassis jig I had ever desinged and built. I worked with my team members to resolve any issues that arrose during manufacture and ultimately we were able to successfully manufacture the chassis. 

During the manufacturing process I also learned how to TIG weld for the welding of the chassis.

The pictures below show some of the manufacturing process of the chassis welding jig.