Home Stretch

MS 9 was due to today. Our grade didn't exactly live up to our name. Even though we have spent a minimum of two hours in the shop every day for the last four weeks, we just weren't ready to display a functioning machine. A lesson we learned is that the assembly process is never flawless, even when using parts that were machined within specified tolerances. The most disconcerting example of this involved our pinion and rack from the kit. They didn't mesh well together and the result was a stationary rack. In summary, a positive from all of this end of the term craziness is that we've learned some of the basics of machining. However, we wish we had more instruction initially and more time in the shop would've helped with the deadlines at the end of the term. Let's just hope we can get our robot functioning by Wednesday!