UVic FSAE — Catch Can
Designed and aided in manufacturing the catch can assembly for UVic's Formula SAE race car.
Case study placeholder for the floorpan and catch can work.
Design constraints
The vehicle must have separate containers (catch cans) to retain fluids from any vents from the powertrain systems.
- must be able to hold boiling water without deformation.
- located rearwards of the Firewall below the driver's shoulder level (for locating the hoop through which I design it to fit up to)
- Positively retained, using no tie wraps or tape.
- In our case, must have a minimum capacity 900 ml.
Design Process
The first step is having a clear idea of what we wanted to do.
Pretty simple to me, it was a triangular container!
I hopped on SolidWorks in the office, opening the chassis assembly file was time consuming but worth the wait. It equipped me with the invaluable measurements I would use to make my catch can. After that making the profile in a sketch was straightforward. I initially had the thought to engineer two tabs.
One tab was slot shaped, and allowed for the slight thermal expansion that hot water might yield on a relatively small plastic part. Another tab was locating and a fixed mount.
I initially was excited to 3D print this part at my house. Using the very capable engineering thermoplastic known as Polycarbonate (PC). This plastic is renowned for its incredible impact resistance, high heat tolerance, and structural rigidity. The only thing I didn't know, it's notoriously difficult to print.
After an initial print that suffered from abysmal first layer adhesion, I realized quickly that I needed a few adjustments to dial in my process on the BambuLab P1S.
- Hardened Steel Nozzle is a safe upgrade as the temperatures it faces are on the limit of what's safe for the stock stainless steel nozzle.
- The Engineering Build Plate is preferred for PC.
- Active ventilation is preferred for PC so repeatedly printing over multiple trials would be a little sketchy in my parents basement.
Seemed like a lot to get settled in the timeline of the project. We decided since I did up the suitable CAD model we were going to print in PLA.
Of course it doesn't end there this was going to be the positive mold for a Carbon Fiber part.
Outcome
Coming soon.