To ensure consistency across mechanical team projects, please read over this page and follow the practices when you are working with the mechanical team!
1. Coordinate Convention
The origin of the car is placed on the floor where the centre axis intersects the absolute front of the car
Use the Default Solidworks Coordinate Conventions
This means
Origin on the floor, intersecting the centre axis at the front plane of the vehicle (circled below in the occupant space definition diagram)
positive z-axis pointing to the front of the car
positive y-axis pointing to the top of the car
positive x-axis pointing to the left of the car
Please abide by the mentioned coordinate system for assembly or parts that use the entire vehicle as a datum (the position is directly related to the origin mentioned above)
Of course, for parts that are not directly related to positions inside the occupant space - the origin does not have to be positioned as mentioned above.
If you are unsure/need clarification - ask a lead to confirm!
If your design is symmetric on both halves of the car - design on the “left” side of the car (where x is positive). Keeping more things consistent across teams is always beneficial.
2. Design Units
Design the car in metric, the only exception being critical fasteners in imperial. Normal fasteners can be metric or imperial, but consult your team lead and keep it consistent.
Follow standardized units to maintain consistency between components. Design in Metric due to alignment with ASC regulations and ease for force loading calculations in Newtons. Critical Fasteners in Imperial due to significantly better availability and price in McMaster-Carr.
Critical Fasteners: Fasteners for critical areas, which is defined to include: steering, braking, suspension, seat mounts, safety harness, drive train, battery box, ballast carrier, and parking brake.
3. Hole Wizard
Use Hole Wizard when placing holes in your components.
Using hole wizard is an efficient way to place holes in your parts while making sure that hole sizes remain consistent across the whole team.
4. Design Library and Templates
All mechanical components (ex. fasteners, nuts, washers) models should be taken from McMaster-Carr, NOT the Solidworks design library.
When using off-the-shelf (OTS) mechanical components, these are usually purchased through McMaster-Carr Website: https://www.mcmaster.com/
Check the Bild PDM if the component is in our design library and import the model into your assembly.
If the model is not available, download the CAD from the McMaster-Carr website, and add the part in our bild PDM in the appropriate directory under a consistent naming convention (see bild page for details).
MMC basically has all the mechanical components you need for your design - once you find the appropriate component, click on the part number, and select 3-D Solidworks to download the CAD file for your component.
5. Bild PDM (Project Data Management)
Review the link above on how to use Bild as our PDM system to store all our CAD
All MS16 CAD should be stored in the Bild PDM to be accessible to everyone on the team and for version control.
Do not make changes to the top-level assembly of each subteam unless instructed!
6. Master Bill of Materials (BOM)
Please add new parts in the Master BOM, and follow the naming convention mentioned in the document when creating new parts
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uBZa5XVN-_YSPniYI78SJZ-Yk6ftAoi1EmrmTWDiEEU/edit?usp=sharing
if you do not have access to the Google Drive - message a lead!
7. Jira: Project Management
Track project progress in Jira for clarity across mechanical teams and task accountability
https://uwmidsun.atlassian.net/wiki/x/EgCr3w
