Week 17: The beginning of the final sprint
Week 17 was the official beginning of the assembly of the DUT12. It was a week where the team has been looking forward to the return of the monocoque, because everybody knew that; as soon as the monocoque would come in, the assembly needed to go full throttle.
On Monday the first preparations for the assembly have been made by taking a close look on the status of the parts that have to get in the car first, namely: the wiring harness and the steering system. We did not want the assembly to get behind of schedule before it would even start.
It seems that the assembly of the wiring harness was going prosperous. Electronic engineers Jente and Remco started on Monday with cutting and splicing the first wires. Did you know that all the wires in the DUT12 were sponsored by Fokker ELMO? This is a good thing because we want our car to be just as reliable as the airplanes where the wires are normally used for.
Also, all the parts of the steering system came in this week. Yes, you read it correctly! We are designing our own steering system this year, saving us 700 grams in comparison to the steering system we normally used. Many thanks again, go to Hankamp Gears, who made us the rack and pinion in time.
The drivetrain department focussed on Thursday’s appointment at AMK, in Germany, to test the motors. We had to have the motors prepared for testing and this resulted in three days of hard work to get the job finished in time. We were able to validate the DUT12 concept by measuring the power output of the motors. Our four wheel drive concept was based completely on the prediction of the motor specifications, happily these were met.
Thursday after lunch, the time was there: the monocoque returned from Custom Painting Holland in Amerongen. We are very happy with the result and for this reason we would like to share a preview with everyone.
We can say that this was a week of hard work, and many more will come. On the 25th of May we want to be ready for the first meters of the DUT12. Then we have only one month left to practice for the roll out.