Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design

Clean Sheet Snowmobile Design - Tube Chassis

     Milestones - Note red color indicates LAB 3 Milestone

• Measurements of current sled  (9/20/05)

Take measurements of current snowmobile, including attachment point locations for the engine, driveline, and other major components necessary.

• Preliminary webpage design done (10/4/05)

• Basic Chassis Design criteria and improvements  (10/18/05)
• Baseline the current chassis.
• Determine design aspects needed for the competition sled. 
• Determine what improvements will be made over the stock chassis using House of Quality.
• Justification for needed improvements to help sled compete

• Complete Chassis design Sketches (11/01/05)

Create four basic design sketches for the chassis incorporating the improvements we have deemed necessary over stock chassis.  Basic line drawing showing frame and MAJOR pickup points

• Completed solid model of chassis design  (01/24/05)

      Create a three dimensional chassis model using SolidWorks.

• Determine idealized loading for competition sled  (11/30/05)

Analyze usage of sled in competition, determine dynamic and static loading of the snowmobile including separate forces exerted on the chassis by the engine suspension and other major components

• Presentation of first semester results  (12/06/05)

• Determine design loading   (01/24/06)

Using the idealized loading data, determine a safe design loading matrix

• Proposal and milestones for Mechanical Lab 3 experiment (01/25/06)

• Apply design loads to chassis   (02/01/06)

Utilizing the finite element method, apply loads and determine appropriate building materials and final chassis design, ie diameter and structure of tubing, bracing, and joint structure.

•  Complete disassembly of existing Polaris snowmobile chassis (02/01/06)

•  Design load frame and tunnel constraints (02/15/06)

• Refine and reiterate design to maximize performance described by design criteria  (03/01/06)

• Detailed drawing of all attachment points and components  (03/15/05)

                        Create a final drawing package for the fabrication of the chassis.

•   Completed load frame and chassis fixture (03/15/06)

•   Completed tunnel testing (03/29/06)

• Final report outline complete  (04/01/06)

• Final report completed  (04/18/06)
•  Conclusions and final report completed (04/18/06)

• Open house, operational review of project:   (05/04/06)

• Final Project Report due  (05/10/06)