Construction
Each part for this project will be constructed from ABS plastic. The ABS plastic provides relative strength and will allow for the entire project to be light weight.
Potential Final Assembly of Mirror
The part above is the main mirror holder. This was the first print out of this part and it showed promise to how the final design will work. From this part it showed what things will need to be fixed such as the main mirror ball joint will need to either be more flexible or be redesigned to fit the main hole where the mirror sits. This part was not a complete success but it will help determine future endeavors of printing out other parts.
Mirror Holder
Second Attempt Mirror Holder
The inner piece that will connect to the mirror and the inner mountain mirror holder was found to unprinted. To compensate for this minor issue, another part was made that would securely fit into the mirror holder. This piece is located below.
Support Plate
This part was cut out in two different thickness. This was to determine what thickness would work better for mold-ability to the EV. The video above represents the a portion of the printing process of the support plate. The thickness of these two support plates are .125 inches. This resulted in a part that was both rigid but provided a enough give that the part should not break if attached to the EV. The finished part is located below.
Inner Mirror Mount
The two inner mirror mounts will help connect the mirrored surface to the actual mirror holder. The Square shaped bottom will connect to the middle of the mirrored surface. This will be done after the mount has been securely fitted into the mirror holder so the mirrored surface can be lined up correctly with the edges of the mirror holder.
Summary of Construction
The construction process of the project was more bumpy than originally expected. One of the main issues that came up was the printing process of the parts. Not all the parts printed out flawlessly, one of the main printing issues was that some parts were either too thin in places or required extra help because they would not stick to the platform that were on. At the end though all the parts got printed so testing could begin on the project.
One part that was optimized the most was the mirror holder. After initial printing, it was discovered the screw hole were too flimsy to support the screw and the support rod. The mirror holder was then changed to compensate for this and the new design was not only thinner in its overall shell but also slightly bigger so that there would be more mirror space. When the material was thinned out it, the holes for the screws were changed so that the holes would begin earlier into the mirror holder so the material wouldn't be as thin there as it was on the first try.