Completed: April 2020
This project was for my third year design course. The goal of the project was the design a product. The groups were given free reign on what to design, but an important aspect of the project was to make sure the design was justified using engineering calculations. The project was evaluated based on how well the calculations account for issues like buckling and bolt calculations.
My group decided to design a dropper seat post. Dropper seat posts are used in mountain biking to raise and lower the seat while the rider is on it, without having them get off the seat. Our goal was to make a lighter version of the seat post. My role of the project was to complete the outer shaft of the post. I calcuated the minimum diamater of the shaft required based on the forces and selected the optimal material for the use case.
This project put to scale how detailed engineering calculations can be. When it comes to engineering, its not sufficient to say “that looks like it will hold”, our job is to justify that the design will be able to withstand all the predictable and unpredictable situations.