The decided method of welding the entire Chassis involved welding the tubes in stages.
Weld simple groups of tubes, e.g. flat planes
Create a general jig to weld the large group together
Create jigs for additional attachments afterwards
Winter 2020
Welding the Flat Planes using MDF Scraps
Flat planes can be identified on the Chassis near the front, middle, and back section (relating to the A pillar, B pillar, and C pillar). The design of this jig involved assembling MDF scraps to mimic the arrangement of the tubes within these flat planes. This sheet is then placed on a CNC Machine (located in E5 Wood Shop and accessed through Brian from E5 Machine Shop) in order to create the cavity that would hold the tubes in place during welding.
Front Plane Jig
Middle Plane MDF Jig
Back Plane MDF Jig
Completing the Welding on the Front Section
Front Plane Section Diagram
The front section of the Chassis needed further welding in order to be completed as a group. The highlighted green areas have been welded using the MDF and CNC Machine method described above. The highlighted orange areas were welded together as another independent group using the same MDF and CNC Machine. The highlighted pink areas were welded onto the highlighted green front section using 3D printed jigs. 3D print jigs allowed for ease of manufacturing complicated structures to hold the tubes.
Overall Jig Assembly
After the large groups of tubes were welded,