FSAE Ergonomic Jig

The CU Boulder FSAE racing team wanted a jig that would be able to measure a driver’s racing position. The goal of the jig is to measure the distance of the seat away from the wheel and pedals, as well as the angle of their backs. I CAD designed on SOLIDWORKS a wooden jig that had a moving steering wheel and pedal, and an adjustable back seat.

Some notes I took into account was how thew firewall design is dictated by the FSAE rules. With the help from one other chassis member, we focused on the upper constraints to fit with the driver’s individual body and style of driving. All other measurements are customizable.

When I designed the customizable back first, I did not take into account the structural integrity up the wave-shaped grooves in the back. After some advice from employees at the wood shop, I decided it would be easier to manufacture squared grooves with thicker walls. I also used one slot-shaped peg with a rod at the end, since it was very secure and uses less material. Lastly, (not shown) I reinforced cross beams at the back to prevent bending on the back wooden slab.

For the customizable wheel, I designed it to be translational. Due to limited resources and time, I used duct tape to hold the steering wheel connection, while also being able to tilt it with given force from the driver. I got most of the hardware such as the wheels from Home Depot.

Lastly, the pedal can be moved anywhere along the beams of wood. We decided to not add any gliding mechanism due to limited resources. Next time, with more resources, I would design a glide and lock mechanism for the pedal, as well as the ability to change its angular position.

Overall, I was very proud of the effort and time I put into this project in a span of a 1.5 months. The biggest challenge I had to overcome was the manufacturability and resources in some aspects of the project. This taught me that sometimes simplifying things makes the process efficient while also maintaining the structural integrity.