Fourth week of remodelling!
Time is getting short…
…and our car for “iglidur® on tour” entered the last phase of remodelling! The windscreen wiper mechanism bearings still needed to be replaced! Sliding blocks for the convertible top had to be manufactured! There was still a lot of work ahead but on the 20th of January the journey begins. The flight to India was booked. Time was running out!
Work that was involved at this stage:
1.) The sliding blocks that are guiding the convertible top have been redesigned with CAD and the 3D drafts have been printed. Now comes the time to investigate whether the drafts of the new sliding blocks are fitting accurately or not. If not then the convertible top will not move at all and further corrections would have had to have been made.
The part of the sliding blocks which enables clearance to the top was a real challenge for the university students as the redesigned and remanufactured piece was not flexible enough. Though, they came to the ingenious idea to use spring steel instead and to put a sliding layer on it.
2.) At the windscreen wiper mechanism bearings replaced originals to enable the windscreen wiper to move. The bolt where the wiper is located on is mounted in two bearings.
3.) The car is still “naked” and has to be cased again in its sexy, orange car body.
Although there was still a lot of work ahead and time was running out, it should be mentioned that a lot has been accomplished, to note:
The gear-module: At the gear-module, four bearings have been replaced. Two thick-walled metal bearings, which serve to lock the gear in place, have been substituted by igus® bearings. The bearings not only can move around the shaft but also endure the changing radial force. For the shaft they had to take low mechanical properties into account as it is made out of plastic and has for instance low strength and stiffness. Usually this plastic-to-plastic combination leads to a very high rate of attrition. A lot of heat is created that cannot be dissipated. In this case they used an igus® bearing P210 which can endure this hostile environment.
Furthermore two bearings at the upper part of the gear stick have also been replaced. The original “clip bearings”, that were lubricated, have been substituted by dry igus® plastic bearings. These bearings aim at balancing out forces that emerge at the swivel angle when shifting between forward gear and the reverse gear.
The brake pedal: Here they changed two bearings. While braking, the pedal slides along two igus® plastic bearings that are located on a bolt. This bolt connects the pedal with the module that is fitted to the car body.
The seat: Due to the fact that we were not allowed to change things that could affect the safety of the driver, we only changed a bearing at the unlocking mechanism which serves to adjust the seat. igus® bearings are guiding the bar that unlocks the seat in order to be able to move the seat forwards or backwards.
The window lifting mechanism: Before the remodelling, the pulley which is guiding the cable, was directly located on a bolt. Now, an igus® bearing is connecting the pulley and the bolt enabling frictionless Motion.
Hand-brake: It is the same with the hand-brake. Before the remodelling the lever was running directly on the bolt that connects the lever with the module that is fitted to the car body. Now the lever glides over an igus® bearing.
Throttle valve: Last but not least, the throttle valve is now on a moving bolt that is fitted within two igus® bearings.
The end is near!
