Oct
27
2014
0
By Mason Bowman
Below is a note received from Virginia Tech Motorsports thanking the Build LAB for its collaboration with the building of their open-weeled race car.
Virginia Tech Motorsports would like to thank you for allowing us to use your equipment in the Bishop Favroa shop. We are an undergraduate design team that designs and manufactures an open-wheeled race car, which competes in the Formula SAE competition at Michigan International speed way. This year the team plans to change our steel tube chassis to a carbon fiber half-monocoque, which utilizes structural composites in the front half of the car.
Today the team cut blocks of renshape, to create a plug to mold our mold. Renshape is a dense machinable foam with a similar consistency to wood. Composite tub needs to cure at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, which would melt the renshape. Our plan is to make a renshape plug, sized to the outer dimensions of the plug and cure fiberglass over the top to make a female mold. We plan to do the fiber glass work in house, but the plug is being shipped to the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center in South Boston, VA. This vocational school has a five axis mill where we can fully machine the renshape we cut today.
