Week 6
This week, the Baja team was selling their oldest car. However, the car's throttle cable broke and the team didn't have a replacement, so we went to the bike shop to get a bike cable, which worked just the same.
A throttle cable works by using mechanical impulses. One end of the throttle cable is connected to the gas pedal and is fed through sheathing to the engine, where it is connected to the throttle lever. A push of the gas pedal pulls on the cable, which in turn pulls on the lever and causes the engine to make the car accelerate.
The old throttle cable had frayed ends, so Coleman taught me how to clean the ends using rosin soldering flux. The rosin flux is a kid of jelly that is applied to the cable and sticks to the residue on it. The soldering iron is then used to evaporate the jelly, which cleans the residue off of the cable. The solder (a metal with a lower melting point than the cable) is then melted onto the cable with the soldering iron and cooled to restrengthen the cable's ends.
This is the rosin soldering flux:
This is the soldering iron:
This is the solder metal that is melted onto the wires:
The practice car is still being tested while the new chassis is being built. The tie rods and toe rods, which connect the steering system and the back of the chassis to their respective wheels, are the parts breaking most during the testing. The team is trying stronger metals for the rods, at the expense of extra weight, in order to prevent them from breaking during the actual competition.
The old throttle cable had frayed ends, so Coleman taught me how to clean the ends using rosin soldering flux. The rosin flux is a kid of jelly that is applied to the cable and sticks to the residue on it. The soldering iron is then used to evaporate the jelly, which cleans the residue off of the cable. The solder (a metal with a lower melting point than the cable) is then melted onto the cable with the soldering iron and cooled to restrengthen the cable's ends.
This is the rosin soldering flux:
This is the soldering iron:
This is the solder metal that is melted onto the wires:
The practice car is still being tested while the new chassis is being built. The tie rods and toe rods, which connect the steering system and the back of the chassis to their respective wheels, are the parts breaking most during the testing. The team is trying stronger metals for the rods, at the expense of extra weight, in order to prevent them from breaking during the actual competition.
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