Steering Design, Prototypes, and Optimization

While Rusty was cutting and welding the Tank frame, Jason was busy fabricating his first prototype steering configuration for the Tank rolling chassis. His set-up was similar to go-kart style steering, using a custom assembly of M20 bolts (cut and drilled for axles), water-jetted steering arms, and custom turned kingping tubes:

David running the waterjet at DieCraft Engineering, one of our team sponsors

After having prototyped the steering assemblies, and verifying our component layout, Jason entered the next phase of his design: optimization. He also used COSMOS to weight-save his steering configurations.

After having fabricated the first set of steering components, Jason suggested and we all agreed that a change in the design would offer a number of design improvements. Rather than having spindle brackets (the c-channel) welded to the frame, and the axle and control arms welded to the kingpin tube, he decided to weld the kingpin tube to the frame, and attach the axle to to the spindle bracket. I know, sounds confusing, but the pictures should explain.

Using COSMOS, Jason analyzed an aluminum and steel versions of his newest design. He found that by using 1/8" steel plate and small gussets, the new configuration could be within 0.25lbs of its aluminum counterpart--which will be much easier to weld and manufacture than the aluminum version. The following are pictures of the latest configuration with bearing loads and braking loads applied to the brake brackets.

Jason is currently underway making the newest steering design a reality.