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TM-01
TM-01
Led the development of TM-01, a single-seater formula race car designed and manufactured in just 10 months to compete in the Formula Hybrid+Electric Competition. TM-01 features a pushrod-actuated, double wishbone suspension system, along with custom-designed wheel assemblies, seat, and steering components. It is powered by an inboard axial flux motor, delivering power to the wheels through a chain-driven limited-slip differential, interfacing with custom wheel hubs using Taylor Race Engineering CV joints and half-shaft axles.
My Involvement
My Involvement
President May 2024 - May 2025
Chief Mechanical Engineer, December 2023 - May 2025
As Chief MechE I am responsible for the full mechanical design of our car. I lead our mechanical onboarding efforts, teaching new members the fundamentals of mechanical engineering and manufacturing through lectures, workshops and projects. I am in charge of the clubs finances and various admin tasks.
Wheels Sub-team Lead, May 2022 - May 2023
As the wheels team lead I worked with my team to design the cars wheel assemblies, and manufacture them on manual and CNC machines. This included custom uprights, hubs and brake rotors, and off the shelf wheels and brake calipers. As a lead I was responsible for managing timelines and presenting on designs.
Wheels Sub-team Member, September 2021 - May 2022
As a wheels team member I learned the fundamentals of designing a wheel assembly - CAD, force analysis, and manufacturing.
Wheels System
Wheels System
This project began with the design of the rear wheel assemblies, including uprights, hubs, and brakes: all the components that connect the suspension to the ground, and transmit power from the axle to the ground.
The design was guided by critical dimensions, such as track width and wheel base, and the goal of reusing the wheels, tires and brake calipers from our old car.
After an initial design I made modifications to simplify the manufacturing and assembling to come. This included removing complex geometries and eliminating as many fasteners as possible, while maintaining strong and relatively lightweight parts. To validate my parts I used Solidworks Simulation to performe a finite element analysis (FEA) for the bump, cornering, acceleration and braking load cases. More on design validation here.
Upon completion of design, it was time to actually create the parts. I used a combination of manual and CNC mills and lathes to machine the uprights and attempt to machine the hubs, using Gibbscam to program toolpaths and generate gcode. With my machining strategy I was able to achieve bearing bore tolerances of +/-0.0001", in order to create an h6 interference fit.
To manufacture the brake rotors, I used the waterjet to get near net geometry, then finished the critical geometry on the CNC mill using a custom fixture plate that I also designed and machined, achieving +/-0.001' tolerances, as required for the chosen mounting hardware: brake rotor buttons.
Skills: CAD/CAM, FEA, Waterjet, CNC Mill, Tolerancing, Engineering Drawings
Rear wheel Assembly CAD models.
Rear hubs with steel sleeves for tripods.
Brake rotor.
Rear uprights.
Manufacturing Jigs/Fixtures
Manufacturing Jigs/Fixtures
A huge challenge when creating anything, is manufacturing. As part geometries become more complex, so do manufacturing steps and setups. To aid in alignment during multi step manufacturing processes, such as machining and welding, I've created many jigs and custom fixtures. Here are a few.
Differential and Motor Mount Welding Jigs
To aid in the placement of the differential and motor, I designed two jigs to be 3D printed. One jig locates the differential translationally in two directions, and rotationally in all directions. The thirds translational direction is taken care of, as the weight of the differential holds it down on the existing chassis. The motor jig is constrains the motor translationally n one direction and rotationally in all directions. A second translational direction is taken care of by the weight of the motor. One final translational direction, the direction along the axis of the motors rotation, is left unconstrained, allowing for fine adjustment of the chain alignment.
These jigs hold all of the necessary mounting tabs in place, allowing me to tack weld them in place, before removing the jigs and parts for final welding. 3D printing is an excellent material choice as I could characterize the jig shrinkage to adjust my models, creating accurate and cheap alignment jigs.
Skills: CAD, 3D Printing
Differential jig Installed with the differential and its mounting tabs.
CAD model of the motor and differential jigs (green).
CAD model of the rocker jigs (green).
Rear Suspension Rockers Mount Welding Jigs
The rear rockers are a critical component of the rear suspension system that locate a pivot point which allows for the pushrod suspension to transmit bump forces into the springs and dampeners. In order to place these rockers in the appropriate position and orientation, I designed a 3D printed rocker jig. This jig references existing chassis members, constraining two translational directions and all rotational directions. The third translational direction is taken care of by the weight of the assembly. To ensure stability, I used the mass properties tool in my CAD software to visualize the center of gravity, and make sure the parts would not topple upon setup.
Skills: CAD, 3D Printing
Welded and assembled rear suspension.
Brake Rotor CNC Mill Fixture Plate
The rear brake rotors are made of steel, and would require extremely long machining time if made entirely on the CNC mill. To optimize the manufacturing time, I opted to water jet a near net shape, and the machine critical dimensions. The cost of saving time was an added setup, leading to three setups for each part. However, the only critical dimensions for this part are the brake rotor button interfaces. The brake rotor buttons constrain our brake rotors radially on the wheel hub, and are thus crucial to get right in order to mitigate braking force loss and not avoid any unforeseen loads on the hubs.
After water jetting both rotors, I setup my aluminum stock for the fixture plate into the mill. I machined a pocket the rotor could fit in, along with 4 posts that interface with features on the post waterjet rotor. The rotors were sat into this plate, clamped down, and I could then machine the rotor button interfaces. This allows me to precisely machine the positional and nominal hole geometry, achieving the manufacturer's recommended +/- 0.001".
Because I did everything in one setup in the mill, I never had to locate the part to the jig, thus avoiding inaccuracies that could appear if the setup was broken down in between operations. However, I added a square reference (machined straight edge) and a zero reference (circular bore) in case these may be used again.
Skills: CAD/CAM, CNC Mill, Waterjet, Tolerancing
Brake rotor, post waterjet operation.
Fixture pate after being machined.
Brake rotor loaded into the fixture plate.
Competed brake rotor.
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