Many students here at Western Michigan University have been enjoying this past week as their spring break. But the Sunseeker project takes few breaks. We have been busy working everyday since last week's meeting in order to get ourselves back on schedule. Over the weekend, a few small projects saw some progress, but the fun stuff was going to begin on Monday.
During the installation of the ribs on the array, one of the front pieces became misaligned. On Monday, I removed the piece and replaced it with a new rib that was properly aligned. We also began working on sealing the wheel wells. Mitch and I prepared panels of Innegra on Monday, and on Tuesday I cut them to fit into the car. We also cut off the front of the array so that it would match with the part of the old array that had been attached to the lower body last year. Later Tuesday night, we began to prepare the car for painting. Paper was laid across the floor, plastic was draped over the machines, and a make-shift wall was erected.
Wednesday morning began early for the team. We arrived at the lab at 8am so that the final preparations could be made to the lower body before Dr. Engelmann sprayed a fresh coat of paint to cover our repairs. After several hours of detail sanding, taping, and polishing, Doc quickly went to work. After only an hour of work, the car was looking great. We cleaned up and called it a night so that the paint could finish curing.
Today we came into the lab so that we could do a light sand and polish on the new paint. After the long hours of tedious, careful work, we had the beautiful, glossy surface that we were after. The team is going to take today off, but it is a well deserved rest. The long haul is about to begin, and hopefully the Sunseeker will be out on the roads by the end of the month!
Bronco Pride,
Joshua
No comments:
Post a Comment