Last night, the team met to complete all engineering on our most critical module, in order to be prepared for today's meeting with Davor. The meeting was productive and enlightening, but the team encountered some obstacles along the way:
While composing the bill of materials, we realized that, though using a solid aluminum plate would certainly be the most robust design for our slot brackets, the supplies required are far beyond our budget. Unless we wanted to be $200 in the red, violating the rules, and draining our bank accounts, we had to change something. We could either change the design or the materials used in the bracket. Unfortunately, plastics, the cheapest option for what we need, are typically not very good for structural purposes. Therefore, we changed the design of the bracket, keeping only the members which were absolutely necessary to the design. In order to be efficient with our use of materials, we also had to change the design to be composed of several small parts. This increases manufacturing time, but is not a significant issue.
On a better note, after a helpful and successful meeting with Davor, we are fully on track to begin production of the slot module next week, directly after the production of the wedge. This weekend will be spent finalizing the engineering for the top bot and the wedge launcher.
We are staying busy... which means we're on schedule!
Until next time,
-Team MA
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