This week the FLARE team encountered manufacturing delays due to equipment issues in the campus machine shop. The VF-3 CNC mill required for machining the top plate is currently out of service because of a broken spindle, temporarily halting final fabrication. To address this, the team began coordinating with the shop manager to explore alternative machining options, including using the VF-2 mill or gaining access to the IPPD CNC machine.

Despite the delay, progress continued on other fronts. The custom copper heat sinks and bottom aluminum plate have been fully machined, leaving only the top plate machining and heater cartridge hole reaming as the remaining fabrication steps. The team also planned a bench test to verify heating elements and PID control functionality before scheduling wind tunnel testing.