Team Ignite STEM Racing Car Wheel System

Hi my name is Tanai Mehta. I am the team captain and head engineer of Team Ignite. We are a group of students from SATEC @WA Porter Collegiate Institute participating in the global STEM Racing competition.

In stem racing, teams compete to make the fastest F1-style, CO2-powered miniature cars. The competition is backed by Formula One itself. There is a lot more to the competition, including fundraising, sponsorship, and enterprise.

Our Project:

Our goal this year is to build the fastest STEM Racing car in Canada, and the wheel systems are a significant component of the car's performance. For our regional event, we manufactured our wheels on our home printers using PLA. Though these wheels worked out in the end, they had many issues along the way. Such as the lack of a smooth surface and seams, causing an unbalanced weight. Ideally, for our national event, we want to use CNC-machined or 3D-printed PEEK for the wheels and another lighter plastic, such as PETG, for the wheel supports. We believe outsourcing our manufacturing can help us avoid the issues we face with our wheel design.

How our wheel systems work:

Our wheel systems use a clip system similar to LEGO pins. First, our bearings are friction-fit into the wheels. Our axles have a clip that allows the wheels to snap into place but prevents them from sliding back out.

Why we need your help:

As of right now, we have no way of affording all of the costs of manufacturing, especially when prototyping. It would be a huge help if PCBway could sponsor our team and help us compete at the highest level! We believe that with PCBway's support, we can achieve all of our goals this season.