Last year's structure (which was still intact) looked fairly bulky, and I made an attempt to reduce the mass while still combatting fatigue. While I eventually realized there was no way that 1 piece of tubing could withstand the weight of the car, I learned a lot about bending strength. I iterated on the tube wall thickness and some aspects of the lower geometry using ansys workbench.

Calculations for hardpoints to hit

Initial CAD

After some iterative FEA, it was determined that the frame from last year's design could be reused, with some small modifications to make the design more modular and usable.

• lots of hand calcs and FEA with Ansys to spec the wheels
• lighter and faster to use fire extinguisher holder
• removable handle for easier transportation (also specced with FEA)
• more robust mounting of the wheels due to concerns from last year
• modular claw design to ensure compatibility with future cars

First revision of final design

Hours of removing paint from the old frame

Validated the old geometry

Finally diving into the manufacturing — this meant modifying the old frame and creating the new parts to be added.

Claw welds (done by me!)

Jig to drill the holes

Final manufactured product!

With the push bar now functional, some finishing touches were all that remained. It was painted to improve appearance, and the fire extinguisher was repositioned so the bar could stand on its own without compromising accessibility.

Painting

Fire extinguisher placement modification

In use at comp!