The Drill Powered Vehicle component design project applies the theory and application of mechanical components. Our team, 4 Wheel Drive, was tasked with the challenge of competing our drill powered vehicle in the endurance challenge, a 30 minute race in Kittredge at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Throughout the project, our team, 4 Wheel Drive, got the opportunity to apply what we have learned in our mechanical engineering degree and to create a bike that is motored solely by a cordless drill. In this project, our vehicle was manufactured with custom parts, following a budget and time, and working as a team with specified engineering roles. We followed design requirements that included: actuation, driving, weight, budget, frame, bike frames, manufacturing, and were aesthetically pleasing. By these requirements we created our dill powered vehicle that resembles a bike. 

The most important specifications were weight requirements, power requirements and the ability to complete the endurance challenge course. The power to weight ratio was very important to consider because if it were too low, the vehicle would not be able to complete the course. Drill power was calculated using torque and RPM measurements based on the drill we were allowed to use. We measured the weight of the vehicle using the scale in the machine shop. This allowed us to calculate the power to weight ratio. As we assembled the vehicle, we also tested critical components and found out if they meet the criteria to be able to race. Most importantly, the vehicle would have to be tested on the 1100 ft. race course to see if it would function as designed and meet time requirements.

Test: We weighed the completed vehicle in the idea forge. We will also measure the exact torque and RPM of the drill we will use. Then we will calculate if the ratio is acceptable to meet the challenges of the endurance course

Goal: Adequate power to weight ratio

Criteria: Vehicle exceeds ratio needed for course = pass; Vehicle does not exceed ratio = fail 

Result: Pass. Our vehicle weighed in at 35.6 pounds. This meets our weight to power requirement and passes the test.

We learned many lessons during this project and would make many changes in the next iteration. The most important lesson would be to create a design that we know has plenty of tolerance for when we actually manufacture and assemble everything. We found that our design had many instances where assembled parts didn’t fit quite as planned in the CAD design. We could have also done more second checking on one another’s work to make sure they didn’t miss anything while designing. Another factor was that our team had little to no experience with building bikes, which showed when we designed to have the drive shaft on the left side of the bike. We also were crunched for time when it came to testing the fully assembled bike, which affected our performance at runoff. This was not because of doing things last minute, but more so because of how many major issues we encountered with assembly. Some days we spent 9 hours trying to fix one or two issues with the bike. With the knowledge we have now about bikes and experience in the design process, I know that we would build a much better bike and we would encounter a lot less setbacks.