Centroids

This week we learned about centroids. A centroid is the geometric center of a figure. The centroid is important when considering how weight is destributed in an object. Here are some pictures of us finding the centroid of geometric objects in class.

Intro to Statics

Last week we were given a design build challenge in which we were given three feet of tape and three manila folders. The challenge was to build a bridge that would extend a gap of 18 inches and hold the most magazines. Andrew and I build the most effective bridge holding 28 magazines.

Heres a picture of our bridge pre magazine loaded.



heres a picture of our bridge with 20 magazines we were able to put on 8 more



Mouse Trap Race Car

Achievements:6
Design Stage:"Brainiac" - .provided above
"Visualize It!" - provided above
Iterate Stage:
"Game Changer" - only three wheels are allowed
"Name it" - long distance winner changes to Marathon Mouse
Clean Up Stage:
"Leave It Cleaner Than You Found It" - Chase and I put back all of our materials and cleaned up our areas.
Reflection Stage:
"Design/Build" - What is a "Design/Build" process? How did your experience with this challenge relate to that? Why might you experience this in a career related to technical innovation?
A design  build process is a process in which you are presented with a problem and you have to come up with a solution. In technical inovation we are presented with problems all the time and a cheap and efficient solution is often required to fit market demands.

Cardboard Canoes!!!!!!!!!

David, Wes, Chase and I(AKA the BROs) designed and built a canoe only using duct tape, cardboard, collaboration and the helpful insight of our teacher, Senor Olson(a.k.a. EL GRANDE JEFE). Our boat ended up being the best, winning all of the different competitions and also looking the best, with three different colors of duct tape used. I would like to thank 
Wes for documenting the completion of our journey using his handy dandy iPhone 5. I would also like to thank the pool staff at the BBMAC for allowing us to have our competition every year at their facility. Finaly I would like to say thank you to Mr. Olson for facilitating my favorite class project of all time 2 years in a row. Enjoy the post!

PS I am claiming 16 achievements.
Design Achievements: 
1. Define the Problem and Brainstorm Solutions -

• strong sidewalls
• multiple layers of duct tape
• v bottom
• flat bottom
• multiple layers of cardboard
• multiple colors of duct tape
•  skegs
• sail
• pushed by david and Israel
• Chase sits in boat(lightest)
• make it short(5 ft)
• have a wider bottom
• make it able to hold multiple people
• surfboard design
• have a kayak design
• extra reinforced corners
• tape slowly/carefully
• have a motor
• have a longer boat
• have a plain box design  

2. Big Brain- this achievement goes to the student with the most brainstorms. I don't know if that really is me but  I am claiming it anyway. 3. Criteria & Constraints - List or reference the specified Criteria and Constraints you're designing for. List at least one implied criteria. List at least three implied constraints.
4. Sketch Ideas -.

5. Prototype Ideas - Craft physical prototypes (models) of each of your three sketches. Use a note card or post it note to call out at least one key feature on each model. Post the images to your blog and describe the key feature that you've pointed out on each.

flat bottom with pointed nose

v bottom

d day style boat(flat bottom with nose rocker)

6. Select an Approach - Generate feedback (+, change, ?, !) and make a decision matrix regarding your sketches/prototypes. Specify the approach you've chosen and justify your selection.
7. Surface area! - We calculated that with an 85% efficiency we can use 85.05 feet squared of duct tape.


Build Achievements:
8. Build It! - Build your watercraft. Your build must meet the standards of construction (100% covered in Duct Tape). Document it with a presentable photo.

Test Achievements:
9. The Fastest - We made it across the pool in 24.07 seconds. The fastest time in the class.
10. The Farthest - We were able to travel more than 200 yards in our boat
11. The Longest - Our boat was so awesome that we were able to fit three people in it in the last couple minutes of the period
12. Balance Master - David Carrol and I were able to push Chase for over 100 yards while he was standing up


Reflection Achievements:
13. Feedback - Generate ten items of feedback for your effort (from the design/build process and/or the actual product). Make sure you include at least one item of feedback in each of our four feedback areas (+, change, ?, !)
+

• floated for a very long time
• very strong(multiple layers of duct tape)
• large surface area

change

• tape canoe better
• be neater in placement of cardboard
• have a skeg in the bottom

?

• why are there multiple duct tape colors?
• What is the advantage of the flat bottom?

!

• add a skeg to the bottom
• add a sail for windy conditions

14. How Low Did You Go? - Our canoe sat roughly 3 inches below the surface of the water.
15. Redesign -

To redesign our boat I would add skegs to the bottom of the boat. We would make the boat skinnier and longer. Likewise we would reinforce the bottom and corners to avoid water coming in the cracks. 16. (Make Your Own Achievement) - Multiple Ductape Colors- Our team used three different colors of duct tape

Activity 3.1.1

Design Elements/Principals: The dumpster diver

• The shape allows the surfboard to cut through the water a certain way
•  Color does nothing for the functionality but adds to the ascetic appeal, stickers allow rider to advertise the companys that employ him or her
• The smooth texture allows water to slide off of the board with little resistance
• 
  The offset balance of foam inside of the boardthat the board does not bog down when driving down the line
• The proportion allows for the rider to ride much smaller waves

Design elements: The Traction pad

• The shape allows a rider to prop his foot against the back of the track pad and aid in staying on the board
• The texture allows the riders foot to stay on the board
• the weight of the trackpad allows for little variation in how the board feels with out a trackpad
• color adds to the ascetic value making the track pad memorable

Design Elements: The leash

• Velcrow on the straps allows for the leash to stay on both the board and the rider
• lightweight flexible chord allows for the rider to stay in contact with his surfboard even if he or she falls but not slow the rider down to much
• color makes the leash memorable
• the evenness in the diameter of the chord causes there to not be an excess of stress in any one area of the leash.

Architecture Project



Here is the CAD model for our weight room/lap pool for Mr. Geiger.



Here is the inside of our minecraft version.

Here is the outdoor pool.

Here is an ariel view

Minecraft Architeture

Design Thinking

Here are some notes from
D. MODES

• Empathize
• Find out what the customer whants/needs
• Define
• Figure out how to solve that problem
• Ideate
• Brainstorm, remember there are no bad ideas
• Prototype
• Prototyping is getting ideas and explorations out of your head and into the physical world
• Test
• refine prototypes and solutions
• big iterative process, not necesarily the last step
• Use feedback capture grid(+,?,!,change)

CAD Train Model



I finally have the first part of my train! More to follow...





Train Body(Thank you Matt Bond for all of your help!)

  





Here is the Hitch Magnet(I demonstrated how to make this peice and earned some credit)

  



Linkage peg

linkage arm

No color for this one so you can see the texture

Final train, unfortunatly the color did not come out.

David, Sean, Chase and I won the marshmellow challenge, building a tower at 26 inches high! We built it in the last three minutes under pressure and came out on top. Overall, it was a fun experience and we learned a couple things about engineering and how we as a group work best. A good strategy in the future for us would be to test a bunch of designs.

Here's our first tower. Very simple but it filled the requirements.

Here is our final product. We finished it with very little time to go. The final measurement was 26 inches.

Here is a picture of David and I collaborating to build the first tower.

The Future of Trains

Unfortunatly I lost the body of my train due to my computer dying. This post is to remind me that the train is my #1 priority. That being said here is the future of trains...

An Interesting Idea

A friend of mine has recently started his own novelty board company called BenderBoards. They are finless foam blanks with a layer of plywood on each side. For more information click here.

Ted Project

1) What is the TED organization about?
TED is a nonprofit dedicated to spreading new ideas through presentations by interesting people.

2) What is the purpose of their website and how does the functionality of their site support that?
The purpose of the website is to display talks and provide a space for commenting and sharing thoughts inspired by presentations.

3) As Engineers and Problem Solvers, which topic areas (the choices from the "Show talks related to:" section on the sidebar) are of most interest to us? Justify your answer.
Design and technology are two very relevant topics to this class. As engineers we have to both be able to design products and create new solutions to problems using technology.

4) Based on your previous answer, what are 3 talks (videos) on the site that appear like they would be of most interest to you as an Engineer/Problem Solver? Justify your choices.
-Gaming to re-engage boys in learning- I am interested in both learning and gaming and if gamingcould help interest me in learning, which it does, then I am all for it.
-Math class needs a makeover- Traditional math classes does need a makeover, some of the classes that I have had are extremely dry and boring and a new format is necessary to keep peoples attention and keep people in a tight feedback loop.
-Tim Brown on creativity and play: makes a case that more play=more creativity, important because without creativity we have nothing.

5)

In my opinion everybody can learn a couple of things from William. He grew up in Africa in a place where energy meens needing batteries and bateries cost money. After being kicked out of school because he did not have enough money he hung out at the liberary and learned about electricity. He then built a fully functional windmill out of scrap parts that he found in a junkyard. Some key things that we can learn from this video are:

-money means nothing, you can be creative regaurdless of how much money you have

-formal education is important but in the end self teaching can be just as important

-you should always help other people if you are able to

-lastly as Winston Churchill said, "Never, never, never quit. "

6) How could you get involved in the field/technology/issue you chose to hear about? What experience/skills/training/education would you need to learn to get involved with this field?
I am already involved in the field described by William. Because of this video I was inspired begin building my own apparatus for harnessing the wind.

The Egg Drop...

Total Achievements: 23
Material Prep(2)

-Generate a list of materials required for build day.

2 dixie cups

one sponge

plastic bag for testing

Aluminium foil

4 tooth picks

-Document a plan to ensure materials are brought in on block day.

• chase: bring aluminium foil and sandwich bag
• Israel: bring sponge

Build Achievements

Material based Achievements:(3)

(your egg is not included in the material size)

(air is ubiquitous and not included in material size. "Rare" commodities like helium are.)

-Your materials fit inside a printer paper box

-Your materials fit inside a shoe box

-Your materials fit inside a cigar box

Material Weight:(7)

(your egg is not included in material weight)

-Your materials weigh less than 500 grams.

-Your materials weigh less than 300 grams.

-Your materials weigh less than 200 grams.

-Your materials weigh less than 150 grams.

-Your materials weigh less than 100 grams.

-Your materials weigh less than 50 grams.

-Your materials weigh less than 25 grams.( our materials were exactly 25 grams, olson approved)

Drop Achievements

Drop Accuracy:(5)

-You hit the butcher paper!

-You hit inside the third ring!

-You hit inside the second ring!

-You hit inside the first ring!

-You hit the Bullseye!( it only took us five tries)

Drop Time:(1)

-Your solution takes less than 1/2 second to hit the target!

Egg Resilience:(3)

-Your egg didn't break in any way!

-Your egg didn't break in any way!
-Your egg didn't break in any way!

Calculation Achievements(3)
-Describe an aspect of the event using arithmetic.: Our egg was 56.1 grams and our protection was 25 grams making the total weight 81.1 grams.
-Describe an aspect of the event using geometry.
-Describe an aspect of the event using algebra.
Given that the bullseye was 25pi square inches and that the circular target was 552.25pi square inches the bullseye makes up 4.52% of the target.

Mark I, sketchy original design

 Its now or never...

 It failed. But hey, fail earlier fail often!

 New design, SPONGES. They really added a lot to the protection, nothing to the weight. Wrapped in foil to keep it all contained.

 :) 25 grams. Light as a feather

No design is complete without a little propoganda. Were getting yolked, youre getting scrambled.

Modeling with cad software 2.1.5

Here are some of my latest with regaurds to CAD modeling. These are the first complex parts that I have made from scratch. Enjoy...