Devon Tandberg
General Aviation Modular Electric Tow Bar
2019-2020 CWU Senior Project
Budget Discussion
Overall the budget for this project has stayed on track. The original goal for this project was to make a device that cost less than $1000.00 to make. The original design that was first introduced made that goal, but there were many problems that it would encounter, many of which that are talked about in the project report. So the project was redesigned. After the Re-design as seen in the Schedule / Gantt Chart, there was a large budget need increase, however this is cancelled out in the ease of manufacturing and building. There have also been more Analysis’s done and that has changed some of the required parts, mostly needing to get bigger parts instead of smaller, which usually requires more money to buy instead of the smaller parts. From the original design to the finalized design, the budget increased from $850.00 to $1050.00, which is an increase of $200.00.
The only thing that was not taken into consideration during the design portion of this project was that shipping costs and tax costs exist. This has been a surprisingly large amount that was the student did not realize would be there. So the actual price spent to get all the parts has been about an extra 10% increase on the subtotal of $1050.00. Luckily, the after talking to the Tandberg Family, they were expecting something like this to happen as the project is tough, and they want a product that will work, so the extra funding will not be a problem.
There has been many edits to the project in order to save money, such as taking out unneeded brackets, or searching the internet for different products or cheaper versions. Unfortunately, this hasn’t produced the results that the student was hoping for, but some of the redesigned budget has been reduced. The goal in future versions of this project is to come up with an even cheaper, and better solution.
There was no budget changes during the testing portion of this project, as all the testing materials required were provided for free by the Tandberg Family.
Schedule Discussion
The schedule for this project has been organized using an Excel Spread Sheet. This can be found in Appendix E. This project schedule is divided into three sections. Fall quarter includes “Design and Analysis”. Winter Quarter includes “Methods and Construction”. And Spring quarter includes “Testing”. During the fall, the proposal of this project was created. This Report is the embodiment of the entire project from start to finish including changes, modifications, manufacturing, construction, and testing.
The Gantt Chart outlines the entire schedule from start to finish and allows for documentation on the time spent on the scheduled activities. This could mean something could have taken longer or shorter, and that time can be kept track of. There are a few things that could go over time. While the student is confident in his machining skills, the amount of parts that need to be made could become an issue. Another issue is how long it could take for raw materials to be delivered to the student. Another thing that could take longer than what the schedule allots for is the amount of time it is going to take for the device to be assembled. The student has a lot of FIRST Robotics experience and fastening things together should not take longer than what is allotted on the schedule. There could also be a lot of documentation changes during the construction phase of this project because things might not work as originally planned in the beginning of the project.
