News Release| Department of Industrial Technology; Cal State L.A.

April 16, 2013

CSULA team takes third for hi-tech bike lift

AeroDef Manufacturing Challenge engages students in the real world of technology, manufacturing 

 

Los Angeles, CA—With a unique foot-activated release trigger, Cal State L.A.’s Eagle Lift (for motorcycles) won third place in the university division at the AeroDef Manufacturing Exhibition and Conference Manufacturing Challenge, a hands-on competition that engages future generations in technology and manufacturing.

Pictured: CSULA Manufacturing Challenge Team.
L-r: Ely Monterroso, Garrett Hamachi, Nhat-Huy Ton, Joseph Lee and Professor Jai Hong. (Not pictured: Veronica Ponce and Jacob Tucker)
 

Prevailing over 16 other colleges and universities with their innovative concept, engineering skills and problem-solving abilities, CSULA’s Manufacturing Challenge Team constructed the lift to easily hoist a bike weighing up to 400 lbs.

Lifting both motocross and off-road dirt bikes, it incorporates a wide range of manufacturing processes, including band saw cutting, drilling, grinding, tapping, counter boring, water-jet precision cutting, and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding.

Manufacturing the lift began with part design and then assembly with Computer- Aided Design (CAD) software using SolidWorks 2012.

Under the direction of faculty adviser Jai Hong (Fullerton resident), associate professor of industrial technology, Cal State L.A.’s winning team includes industrial technology majors Garrett Hamachi, Joseph Lee, Ely Monterroso, Veronica Ponce, Nhat-Huy That Ton, and Jacob Tucker. The event was held recently at the Long Beach Convention Center.

 

Pictured: Jacob Tucker.
Jacob Tucker
 

“The overall idea is to produce a lightweight, heavy duty lifting product to assist technicians and enthusiasts with common repair and maintenance tasks with dirt bikes,” said Tucker, the student team leader.

For the competition, each part and process was thoroughly documented, tested, and reviewed for quality assurance. The Eagle Lift project was developed to showcase its practical, lean manufacturing design, and its business model. 

According to Hong, “Since 2006, CSULA’s Manufacturing Challenge Team involved groups of students mainly from the Department of Technology. Most of them have graduated and secured jobs in aerospace, automotive, and other manufacturing sectors. Their knowledge and skills, acquired from teamwork, helped them to be in better position to get better jobs after graduation.”

AeroDef Manufacturing Exhibition and Conference is a new Society of Manufacturing Engineers event providing manufacturing solutions for the unique needs of aerospace and defense manufacturers. The conference also provides an opportunity for aerospace manufacturers to meet with manufacturing technology and process providers featuring innovative solutions to their industry challenges. The Manufacturing Challenge is a stimulating day for collegiate-level engineering and technology students to demonstrate the importance of connection between classroom lectures/labs and industrial applications.

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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 225,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu