Suspension

The current focus of the team at this moment is the suspension. The importance of the suspension is high, the team must establish a design that allow the user of the mushing cart to maneuver the vehicle safely from a rear position while all the pivoting wheels are located on the front of the cart.

After searching for ideas, the team was able to find an off-road handcycle used for extreme sports by the handicap.

Inspired by the design, the team hope to use this for their mushing cart with steering being possible from a rear position. 

Solid modeling has begun on the suspension system, and the team hopes to have those completed in the near future.

Updated WBS

Decision Making

Over the Spring break, the team met to make further decisions on the urban mushing cart. The following are possible options that we have narrowed down for the use of our chassis.

• Square vs. Round Tubing
• Thickness of material
• 4130 Alloy Steel (Chromoly) vs. 606-T6 Aluminum

Pros:

• Easier to weld

Cons:

• Load concentration areas

Pros:

• Cheap
• Widely Available

Cons:

• Harder to weld/bend

Future tasks

• Budget
• The team also spoke about funding for the cost of the material. The budget is currently $1000, but in the case that budget will be exceeded the team has determine that fundraising will be a necessity. The team has contacted fundraising coordinators at Warner Brothers Studios to attend TV show tapings in the event that more funds are needed.
  
• CAD
• A few things that the team will be working on in the following weeks is create rough CAD designs in order to get an idea of what materials will be more advantages. This task will also assist in determining what material and shape we should use when our CAD designs undergo static analysis.