Our Group
We are a group of three engineering students who aspire to use the skills we've learned towards improving the community!
Jaime Garcia
Jaime is currently in the Welding branch of the Engineering program at AACT. He is solely responsible for the physical fabrication of the new trail markers, having handled welding, CNC cutting, preparation, painting, and more!
|
Lloyd Gonzales
Lloyd is currently in the Manufacturing branch of the Engineering program at AACT. He handled the technical components of the project, handling installation logistics, organizing both technical and public documentation, and communicating with core people involved in the project.
|
Halak Patel
Halak is currently in the Manufacturing branch of the Engineering program at AACT. He aided in communication with community partners and organizations and helped develop many of the technical components of the project.
|
We would also like to give a special thank you to our awesome teacher, Mrs. Raker, for helping us manage this project and coordinating volunteer efforts and Ranger Nick Steuer for guiding us and making this project possible!
The Project
There are four distinct aspects of this project, two technical and two organizational: welding/fabrication, technical design, installation coordination, and general logistics.
While the below is a summary of this project, consider reading the project proposal, plan of action, and technical specifications for this project (which are also available in the Documents tab).
While the below is a summary of this project, consider reading the project proposal, plan of action, and technical specifications for this project (which are also available in the Documents tab).
Welding/Fabrication
A key component of this project was fabricating the markers. Throughout this project, we used a variety of machinery and processes in order to cut out and assemble each trail marker. This included a MIG welder, metal bandsaw, CNC machine, and more - all of which is detailed in the Media tab and our social media platforms. We learned new techniques for welding rebar to pipes, transferring SolidWorks sketches to use the CNC machine, and using the various machinery in the welding lab.
A key component of this project was fabricating the markers. Throughout this project, we used a variety of machinery and processes in order to cut out and assemble each trail marker. This included a MIG welder, metal bandsaw, CNC machine, and more - all of which is detailed in the Media tab and our social media platforms. We learned new techniques for welding rebar to pipes, transferring SolidWorks sketches to use the CNC machine, and using the various machinery in the welding lab.
Technical Design
A significant amount of CAD work was done for this project. The full trail marker was made in SolidWorks to allow for model drawings to be quickly distributed as necessary. These drawings were used to quickly express our ideas, demonstrating a proof-of-concept to potential sponsors and ensuring that our designs remained suitable through changes. More importantly, however, by having all components digitally dimensioned and modeled, we knew exactly how much sheet metal was required (at minimum) to complete this project. If at any point we needed to change our designs, we could quickly modify the digital sketches and create new drawings to ensure that these changes were accurate.
The pinecone and backing plate sketches were made from scratch in SolidWorks, then converted into a .DXF - the format accepted by the CNC machine software. This is how the consistent and precise designs were possible; plasma cutting all of these by hand would be incredibly difficult, and so a computer-assisted solution was used. We were fortunate enough to have access to all of the hardware and software necessary for this process to work, as well as an experienced teacher who could teach us how to properly handle our DXFs such that the CNC machine would take the proper path.
You can see many of the technical specifications and documents created in the Documents tab.
A significant amount of CAD work was done for this project. The full trail marker was made in SolidWorks to allow for model drawings to be quickly distributed as necessary. These drawings were used to quickly express our ideas, demonstrating a proof-of-concept to potential sponsors and ensuring that our designs remained suitable through changes. More importantly, however, by having all components digitally dimensioned and modeled, we knew exactly how much sheet metal was required (at minimum) to complete this project. If at any point we needed to change our designs, we could quickly modify the digital sketches and create new drawings to ensure that these changes were accurate.
The pinecone and backing plate sketches were made from scratch in SolidWorks, then converted into a .DXF - the format accepted by the CNC machine software. This is how the consistent and precise designs were possible; plasma cutting all of these by hand would be incredibly difficult, and so a computer-assisted solution was used. We were fortunate enough to have access to all of the hardware and software necessary for this process to work, as well as an experienced teacher who could teach us how to properly handle our DXFs such that the CNC machine would take the proper path.
You can see many of the technical specifications and documents created in the Documents tab.
Installation Coordination
Plans for installation day were made well in advance for this project. However, with the pandemic, many of these plans were eventually dropped in favor of a far smaller event. The original plans are detailed in the file below.
Plans for installation day were made well in advance for this project. However, with the pandemic, many of these plans were eventually dropped in favor of a far smaller event. The original plans are detailed in the file below.
![](http://www.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/pdf.png)
davis_creek_installation_day_logistics.pdf | |
File Size: | 199 kb |
File Type: |
General Logistics
Much of this project was dedicated to ensuring every part of the process was documented, reflected by the amount of project details recorded in the Documents tab.
Throughout the project, we devoted time to ensuring we made continuous communication and could reasonably complete this project on our timeline. Although we ultimately fell off of our timeline, we ensured that our community partner was always aware of any changes, issues, and updates that occurred on our end - and when COVID-19 hit, we ensured that there would be an installation at some point in the future.
Much of this project was dedicated to ensuring every part of the process was documented, reflected by the amount of project details recorded in the Documents tab.
Throughout the project, we devoted time to ensuring we made continuous communication and could reasonably complete this project on our timeline. Although we ultimately fell off of our timeline, we ensured that our community partner was always aware of any changes, issues, and updates that occurred on our end - and when COVID-19 hit, we ensured that there would be an installation at some point in the future.
AACT
The Academy of Arts, Careers, and Technology (AACT) is a career-technical education high school in Reno, Nevada in the Washoe County School District. It is focused on providing its students pathways for supporting post-secondary education and careers in the following fields:
The opportunities we have been given through AACT are innumerable, and while this may be a formality, we are immensely grateful for the wealth of experience AACT has provided us! To be able to gain career-ready experience out of high school is incredible, and knowing how to use the tools of our intended career fields is an immense advantage and comfort that we can attribute solely to the teachers and resources of AACT.
- Engineering
- Medical
- Business
- Culinary and Hospitality
- Communication Arts and Media
- Teaching and Training
- Natural Resources and Animal Sciences
The opportunities we have been given through AACT are innumerable, and while this may be a formality, we are immensely grateful for the wealth of experience AACT has provided us! To be able to gain career-ready experience out of high school is incredible, and knowing how to use the tools of our intended career fields is an immense advantage and comfort that we can attribute solely to the teachers and resources of AACT.