January Newsletter

Happy beginning-of-quarter to the UW Formula community! This month marks the beginning of manufacturing quarter where our teams can start transforming their models and ideas into physical designs. Over these next few months, we will see lots of machining, sanding, soldering, and wiring as everyone works on perfecting their project! We appreciate all the hard work and late nights that all of our talented and dedicated members have spent towards ensuring that their designs are safe and functional! Keep up the wonderful work teams!

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Silent Auction

UWFM is bringing back its in-person Silent Auction for the first time in three years! Please come support us on January 28th from 6-8pm in the HUB North Ballroom for a relaxed evening of food and activities. We would also like to thank your sponsors Electric Era, Brinc Drones, and Starbucks for coming to the event, as well as Blue Origin for catering!

The evening will be spent speaking about T34's goals and objectives, the progress that we've made, as well as concluding with the Silent Auction itself. The Silent Auction is live today with a variety of items available to bid on through the button below!

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Featured Teams Updates

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Chassis and Composites

Where are we in the Chassis Plug process?

Once we received the machined plugs from Janicki, we needed to prep the surface to be suitable for negative mold layup. We first sanded the surface to remove any grooves or imperfections. After that, we body-filled and added bushings to the various holes on the chassis in order to have increased strength at the hardpoints. Once the surface was smooth, we painted a layer of sealer and then multiple coats of lacquer onto the plugs. We continued to lacquer and sand until the plugs had nice surface finishes, and after that, we then promptly moved the plugs to the Composites shop. Later this week, we will then begin the resin infusion process to create the negative mold of the chassis!

Electronics

Where are we in the Circuit board manufacturing process?

Over the Fall quarter, our talented electronics team designed 16+ custom circuit boards in Altium! This quarter, the team will focus on assembling, testing, and revising the various boards to ensure that each is functional and up to competition standards. Additionally, our pick-and-place machine has been repaired! Compared to hand-soldering and using stencils to join components on the boards together, the pick-and-place machine can autonomously complete this process faster and more efficiently. Looking forward, once the PCBs are all assembled, they can then be integrated into the car so that power can be sent to the right places! Keep up the great work electronics team!

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