SAE International Baja Project

For my Mechanical Engineering Capstone Project at CU Boulder, I participated in a Society of Automotive Engineers, SAE International, Collegiate Competition. The objective of the SAE Baja series is to design and build a single-seater prototype off-road vehicle, culminating in a competition with 100 teams attending. Most top competing teams utilize a two-year design/build cycle incorporating top-tier knowledge transfer with teams of 20 plus. The challenges for the CU Boulder team are the lack of direct knowledge transfer, classes that aren't geared toward automotive design, and a shortened design/build cycle. The CU team sets out to design, manufacture, and test their prototype vehicle in only 8 months while taking a full course load.

For my project, one of our goals was to implement a 4-wheel-drive system, which was, at the time, a first for CU. It was a tall order with our small team of 8 senior mechanical engineers. I took advantage of this opportunity and designed, manufactured, and tested a gearbox with a 90-degree power transfer, also a first for CU Baja. I originally planned for the gearbox to last one season and it far surpassed this expectation performing its duty for two seasons. I attribute the success of my design to my attention to detail, the creation of accurate manufacturing drawings, and precise test planning. I had the support of many people along the way, especially the team advisor. During the design process, I reached out to several Application Engineers, most notably an SKF Application Engineer who guided me through my design process to ensure that alignment and retainment features would guarantee the longevity and performance of the design. Working closely with the head of the machine shop at the Idea Forge at CU built my ability to produce engineering drawings that were precise and actionable.