On Monday of week 2, we built the framing that would be going around the formwork out of 2x6 and plywood. This would be so that the form was strong enough to be lifted at an angle by the structures lab crane for the pour. Since the slab is thin, has the 'W' shaped cross section with a bullnose front, it was decided that tilting the slab upwards and making the top half of the mould in modular sections would be the best bet to reduce the chance of honeycombing on the bottom of the slab or large gaps on the top. As the pour progressed, the slab was lowered until it was horizontal. The pour went well, though a bit of 1/4" bulge happened in the centre due to the angle pushing the concrete towards the nose.
On that Friday, we took the slab out of the mould, which we were all anxious about. We were not able to keep the top sections of the mould intact because the threaded rod that suspended the rebar in place with the epoxy around it was kinda messy. Once we opened up the top, we saw fine honeycombing, so were were happy it worked but a little concern about the bottom of the slab. Luckily, the bottom popped out almost all too easy and it smooth! all of the bubbles moved towards the upper surface. That evening, Doug helped us cut off a bit of the back section of the slab that we had made for ease of pouring. Kristen and I got to take the sled behind the structures lab and grind the top surface. We we were still deciding if the bottom of the sled should be ground to make it super smooth (there was even pebbling from the CNC machining) and to fix the bulge, but in the end, only the top was ground since we didn't want to risk wrecking the bottom.
Week 3
In week 3 continued the frame assembly. There had been a problem that a machine shop account needed to be opened for materials and I was running around trying to find the appropriate people to talk to for an ID number to give the machine shop. Jeff and Tim then got to order their aluminum parts for the frame, the giant plate with teeth for the brakes, and the parts for the hockey puck-style steering system. During this week was also the time I was able to snag a design room for the concrete toboggan team. Oddly enough, concrete toboggan is really not present in Engineering 5, a building largely devoted to student teams. Since it was one of the few rooms available and had a bay door, we got it temporarily for our build. It would have been nice to keep it because now in week 5 they need us out of there. I would like to secure a room for the 2014's with space to store out materials and have room to work. The 2013 team has a space with many work desks shared for different teams, but is not conducive to storing concrete materials. This week was much less hands-on for me other than the cylinder testing at 7 days. Work on the technical display and the crate had begun when I got the room available, but I hadn't seen anything yet. Kristen and Misha put on the Sika FRP wrap and it looked great. It should help our strong and brittle slab survive the weekend (courtesy of Dr. Soudki).
Week 4
Week 4 got interesting, we had to ship by the end of the week. An email from the shipping company early in the week asking to pick it up Wednesday or Thursday got me really worried (more than I let on), and when I asked Kristen, it was just a flat out no from her. Over that previous weekend, the team was really devoted and got a lot done on the technical display and the crate. I knew it was a complicated 2-storey design that was supposed to look like a 'Crash test dummies' workshop, I was just never available when I knew who had the key or someone was working in there. This is also the week for me when I started to get quite concerned about our money status. After reimbursing Matt for the tech exhibit and costumes, we were super low, and had yet to pay for the shipping and hotel (kinda essential). I put the application for funding from the Dean of Engineering into high gear and got the team to seek out more sponsors so that I wasn't left with a +$2000 bill.
Thursday night was our test and pack up night. Due to the lack of snow this entire time, I had been calling ski hills and tube parks to test our toboggan the entire week to no avail. Whatever snow they had they wanted to keep for their business. So late on Thursday, we do the finishing touches for decorating our toboggan like a safety vehicle. I hope it's actually safe, I'm sure it is, because that spring-loaded brake is pretty fierce. In justification though, it is a 300 lb sled plus 5 people. Next was trying to get everyone on the toboggan. Originally, Kristen had designed it for the members that were involved back in August/September, which were a few women about 5'-4" to 5'-7" plus a few guys. What do we have now? two 6'-6" guys (one pushing in the back), two guys about 6'-0", and me at 5'-4". To get everyone on the sled was a ridiculous and hilarious challenge. We found a configuration, almost all of the possibilities ended up with me in the front. This should be interesting! Fun and interesting. I had to go for another meeting, but they slaved away into the night packing up the crate, ready for shipping the next day. At 9 pm, we wheeled the toboggan on a dolly to CIF where we heard there was snow from the rink that we could test it on. Nothing on the CIF hill, we placed the toboggan on a horizontal patch of snow and tried the break out. Ok, so we still don't really know how the brake will work, but we can blame that on the lack of snow. Still, in the snow/rain drizzle that night, there was a sense of victory that the toboggan was built. Many silly pictures happened and that's awesome.
And then came Friday the shipping day. We were told that it'd be picked up in the afternoon, so when I got a call at around 11, I was surprised but the crate was ready anyways. I met the shipping guy but then he asks about a forklift, something we hadn't prepared. While Kristen and I ran around campus for a forklift for about a total of 5 minutes, I get a call from the driver saying he's busy and can't wait and also that it's not the weight or dimensions that we specified. This was totally untrue because I emailed everything to the shipping company ahead of time…so he left! Then I really started to panic because the shipping company said if it doesn't leave on Friday, it's not getting to Calgary. So I call the shipping guy I had been emailing saying 'Hey dude, your driver just left without taking out sled, what the heck!'. Surprised, he called his driver and the dispatcher and apparently the driver left because the crate wasn't oriented in the right position even with a forklift since would need it to be loaded in end-wise and the arms of the forklift extend out 4', not 8'. But, the shipping company got him to come back if we used the East Campus Hall loading dock and just pushed the crate into his truck. Trust me, it was really funny to see Richard (the structures lab tech) going full speed in the slush in his forklift through the E5 parking lot so that the old, 1/2 charged battery on the forklift wouldn't die.
Week 5 rolls around. I'm a lot less stressed now, the toboggan is off the Calgary. Everyone takes a bit of a breather after the panic the frame being too low and a lot more welding ensued, the crate being too heavy, and the brakes not being certain. Yesterday was the pickup to the airport, luggage, final details on spirit wear meeting. It went well, and we all know what we have to do between now and Wednesday morning. This includes a video presentation, packing our stuff and pre-packing the cars (understandably since trying to think at 3 am is tough). Seems like we're in the final stretch and most of the tough work is done. Now all we gotta do is present our toboggan like it's the best ever, race it, and have fun. :)
A giant thank you to the team (Kristen, Misha, Matt, Fraser, Brendon, Andrew, Tim, Jeff, Liz (originally spirit captain)), Richard, Doug, and Terry (lab techs), Dr. Soudki, Dr. West and Dr. Thomson (technical advisors and sponsors), the sponsors, and anyone who put up with any of the team members in their times of stress.
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