Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Thursday of Madess
Richard was nice enough to let Carissa and I skip Art Blocks so we could finish our project. Sarah and Sam had to go to track at that time.
Sam and Sarah were soldering monsters, nearly completing all but a few of the pinwheels. They had constructed a base out of chicken wire, mounting it on an old-school bike wheel. The wheel was already on the standard base Richard issued out. We finished up the grunt work, finishing the pinwheels and securing them to the chicken wire with zip-ties. Afraid that the wire would wobble in the wind (alliteration!) we (more alliteration!) took some of our MANY cut coat-hanger wires and used them to stable our wire. We were most successful.
Sam and Sarah came back around five and we put on the finishing touches. When Sarah and I were left, after cleaning up, we decided that because if everyone found our project silly why not make it sillier? We spray-painted our creation in rainbow…and that made it look a LOT better. And probably more efficient.
All and all, a productive day. I was at school from 8am-7pm.
Sam and Sarah were soldering monsters, nearly completing all but a few of the pinwheels. They had constructed a base out of chicken wire, mounting it on an old-school bike wheel. The wheel was already on the standard base Richard issued out. We finished up the grunt work, finishing the pinwheels and securing them to the chicken wire with zip-ties. Afraid that the wire would wobble in the wind (alliteration!) we (more alliteration!) took some of our MANY cut coat-hanger wires and used them to stable our wire. We were most successful.
Sam and Sarah came back around five and we put on the finishing touches. When Sarah and I were left, after cleaning up, we decided that because if everyone found our project silly why not make it sillier? We spray-painted our creation in rainbow…and that made it look a LOT better. And probably more efficient.
All and all, a productive day. I was at school from 8am-7pm.
Wednesday Before Doom
I did not end up going to the dump today as I did not want to go by myself and no one wanted to come with.
Ethan, Richard, and Max all pointed out a fatal flaw in our design: our pinwheels did NOT line up directly. It was inefficient as, instead of spinning in a smooth circle it spins in actually like this:
Which is not happy.
Sam set about designing a better way to mount the pinwheels while Sarah had an epiphany. Because the blades were so floppy and curling up on themselves, she would iron them between to sheets of cloth. Sheer brilliance I tell you!
We cut those ironed sheets into enlarged versions of our prototype and held it in front of the fan. It still flapped too much. We tried re-enforcing the wings with wire and that made it spin well. Carissa and I began to cut wires off pinwheels, two per our 12 pinwheels, so that we could re-enforce the wings with them while Sam and Sarah ironed the sheets.
Sarah later came back and told us she’d found wooden sticks in the art room, which, of course, are lighter. We had already hot-glued on some of the metal rods but we abandoned that (though we kept the pinwheels we had finished).
Once Sarah and Sam came down they began to develop a way to hook up our generators onto the pinwheels while Carissa and I glued the ironed sheets to the sticks and T-Pins (a rather tedious process).
S&S, found, after Richard assisted them, that we could cut two rectangles from wax cup and fill them with hot glue, sticking a T-Pin inside while it cooled. Once it had cooled, the T-Pin was removed and the T-Pin attached to a fully-made pinwheel was inserted and secured with Gorilla Glue.
Carissa and I nearly finished and Sam and Sarah stayed after school to finish making the bases for the wheels and begin soldering (spelling?) the wires onto the generators. They will also try and construct a base for our pinwheels to mount themselves on.
Ethan, Richard, and Max all pointed out a fatal flaw in our design: our pinwheels did NOT line up directly. It was inefficient as, instead of spinning in a smooth circle it spins in actually like this:
Which is not happy.
Sam set about designing a better way to mount the pinwheels while Sarah had an epiphany. Because the blades were so floppy and curling up on themselves, she would iron them between to sheets of cloth. Sheer brilliance I tell you!
We cut those ironed sheets into enlarged versions of our prototype and held it in front of the fan. It still flapped too much. We tried re-enforcing the wings with wire and that made it spin well. Carissa and I began to cut wires off pinwheels, two per our 12 pinwheels, so that we could re-enforce the wings with them while Sam and Sarah ironed the sheets.
Sarah later came back and told us she’d found wooden sticks in the art room, which, of course, are lighter. We had already hot-glued on some of the metal rods but we abandoned that (though we kept the pinwheels we had finished).
Once Sarah and Sam came down they began to develop a way to hook up our generators onto the pinwheels while Carissa and I glued the ironed sheets to the sticks and T-Pins (a rather tedious process).
S&S, found, after Richard assisted them, that we could cut two rectangles from wax cup and fill them with hot glue, sticking a T-Pin inside while it cooled. Once it had cooled, the T-Pin was removed and the T-Pin attached to a fully-made pinwheel was inserted and secured with Gorilla Glue.
Carissa and I nearly finished and Sam and Sarah stayed after school to finish making the bases for the wheels and begin soldering (spelling?) the wires onto the generators. They will also try and construct a base for our pinwheels to mount themselves on.
Tuesday
Sam was back and we explained our new idea to him. As other groups overheard, we were made fun of.
In earnest, today, we began to gather the final materials we will need to make our final project. We decided that the lightest material we can have spin in the air is the plastic that makes up overhead slides. However, we found out, after testing it, that the plastic was too floppy.
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/piggybacks_the_hat_pinact.htm
The site above was where we got our pinwheel pattern from. We made a miniature pinwheel model which, unfortunately, I do not have a picture of as we don't have a camera. We traced and cut out the pattern on math slides, sticking a T-Pin through the center to hold it together. After holding it front of the fan, we saw that it spun very well and VERY fast. Mass production of these babys seemed like the best plan, though we would have to make them larger. We began to cut out larger ones to test to see how well they spun in the wind.
Sam wanted to see how much power each of our generators could produce so we mounted our small prototype pinwheel one of our generators with tape to see if it would spin. It did, and, in high winds (as in, putting the fan on high and holding the pinwheel close to it) it produced 1/2 volt of electricity.
Hazzah.
Still, as I am worried about the slides not working, I want to go to the dump during class tomorrow to find sheet metal.
In earnest, today, we began to gather the final materials we will need to make our final project. We decided that the lightest material we can have spin in the air is the plastic that makes up overhead slides. However, we found out, after testing it, that the plastic was too floppy.
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/piggybacks_the_hat_pinact.htm
The site above was where we got our pinwheel pattern from. We made a miniature pinwheel model which, unfortunately, I do not have a picture of as we don't have a camera. We traced and cut out the pattern on math slides, sticking a T-Pin through the center to hold it together. After holding it front of the fan, we saw that it spun very well and VERY fast. Mass production of these babys seemed like the best plan, though we would have to make them larger. We began to cut out larger ones to test to see how well they spun in the wind.
Sam wanted to see how much power each of our generators could produce so we mounted our small prototype pinwheel one of our generators with tape to see if it would spin. It did, and, in high winds (as in, putting the fan on high and holding the pinwheel close to it) it produced 1/2 volt of electricity.
Hazzah.
Still, as I am worried about the slides not working, I want to go to the dump during class tomorrow to find sheet metal.
Monday
Sam was out sick today.
None of us were able to work on the design or even meet up with one another over break, as suspected.
We had a hard time getting things done today, as we were so busy re-checking and working our design to actually MAKE anything. We did get the plate of generators Richard promised us, however. Max Hardcastle also went over our design with us.
None of us were able to work on the design or even meet up with one another over break, as suspected.
We had a hard time getting things done today, as we were so busy re-checking and working our design to actually MAKE anything. We did get the plate of generators Richard promised us, however. Max Hardcastle also went over our design with us.
A Summary of our Last Friday Together Before April Vacation
Our team sat in despair, this Friday, finally coming to the understanding that our original design was not going to work. We decided, instead, to scrap the original design so that we could attempt something far easier and not condemn ourselves to becoming like Microsoft and trying to patch up a broken product.
The reason we decided to scrap everything because we had no idea how to make the blades of our design. Also, we didn’t know how to anchor the pole the blades would be attached onto the generator without completely stopping all movement.
The four of us sat, quietly sighing in despair, after finishing a second prototype which did not work, trying to have an idea-fest for a new design.
Sarah idly mentioned pinwheels. The rest of us were intrigued by the idea and I began to look up data on pinwheel wind-power generation.
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Pinwheel_20Generators
http://www.turningcolorz.com/
http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200318/000020031803A0582870.php
I saw that, indeed, the idea was plausible and we all gave our stamps on the project. We began to draw out a new design. We didn’t want to make one large pinwheel, as we wanted it to always be able to catch the wind and we were loathe to make a tail. Instead, our machine was designed to catch the wind from every side— because we would make multiple mini-pinwheels and mount them in a circle in a hoop.
After asking Richard about how many generators he could provide us with (12!) we discussed other matters.
Such as our schedule.
Virtually none of us are available over break.
This should be interesting.
The reason we decided to scrap everything because we had no idea how to make the blades of our design. Also, we didn’t know how to anchor the pole the blades would be attached onto the generator without completely stopping all movement.
The four of us sat, quietly sighing in despair, after finishing a second prototype which did not work, trying to have an idea-fest for a new design.
Sarah idly mentioned pinwheels. The rest of us were intrigued by the idea and I began to look up data on pinwheel wind-power generation.
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Pinwheel_20Generators
http://www.turningcolorz.com/
http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200318/000020031803A0582870.php
I saw that, indeed, the idea was plausible and we all gave our stamps on the project. We began to draw out a new design. We didn’t want to make one large pinwheel, as we wanted it to always be able to catch the wind and we were loathe to make a tail. Instead, our machine was designed to catch the wind from every side— because we would make multiple mini-pinwheels and mount them in a circle in a hoop.
After asking Richard about how many generators he could provide us with (12!) we discussed other matters.
Such as our schedule.
Virtually none of us are available over break.
This should be interesting.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Third and Fourth Day
Sam and I were absent the last time we met, so Sarah and Carissa discussed using bicycle wheels as the piece of the machine that allows the pole to spin.
Second Day of Work
This was an extremely productive day as the group brainstormed about what materials to use and coming up with a final design. After developing this design, the group set to work gathering materials from around the school to build a prototype. Thick tin foil was used for the blades.
For the sake of balancing out the "pole" we chose for our initial design we decided to put four blades on the "pole" instead of the three present in our design. Using LOTS of hot glue and patience we assembled out great work. After making sure the structure would stand by reinforcing it with sticks and hot glue, we went out to the hallway to test our design against the large fan.
However, after testing our prototype against the mighty forces of mighty wind provided by the mighty fan our team discovered something. The thing would not turn. Our design made the wind push against the blades equally so nothing moved. To fix the problem we had to put a block up in front of half the windmill, effectively making a "tail" for our defective machine.
One of the advantages of having a our blades lain out horizontally was, we thought, that we wouldn't have to bother with making a "tail" to angle it towards the wind, as it would always be facing the wind.
Instead of now trying to make a "tail" for our design, to truly test it, we will be building a more accurate model of our design.
Also, I will be trying to figure out why NONE OF OUR MOVIES WILL PLAY!!!!!
For the sake of balancing out the "pole" we chose for our initial design we decided to put four blades on the "pole" instead of the three present in our design. Using LOTS of hot glue and patience we assembled out great work. After making sure the structure would stand by reinforcing it with sticks and hot glue, we went out to the hallway to test our design against the large fan.
However, after testing our prototype against the mighty forces of mighty wind provided by the mighty fan our team discovered something. The thing would not turn. Our design made the wind push against the blades equally so nothing moved. To fix the problem we had to put a block up in front of half the windmill, effectively making a "tail" for our defective machine.
One of the advantages of having a our blades lain out horizontally was, we thought, that we wouldn't have to bother with making a "tail" to angle it towards the wind, as it would always be facing the wind.
Instead of now trying to make a "tail" for our design, to truly test it, we will be building a more accurate model of our design.
Also, I will be trying to figure out why NONE OF OUR MOVIES WILL PLAY!!!!!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Day One
The first day of the project we found out who comprised our group, namely, Carissa, Sarah, Sam, and myself, Rachel. We discussed design materials, and have nearly completely settled on making the blades out of alumenium.
Sarah and Sam both sketched out ideas for the generator, Sam focusing on the inner components, like the battery, while Sarah drew the blades. The groups decided on Sarah's design of horizontally leveled wings with three blades per level and we will have up to four levels of wings.
The job assigned for the group tonight is that all members will gather needed materials (aka, soda cans), research further into building wind generators, and prepare for the mighty day ahead of us.
Sarah and Sam both sketched out ideas for the generator, Sam focusing on the inner components, like the battery, while Sarah drew the blades. The groups decided on Sarah's design of horizontally leveled wings with three blades per level and we will have up to four levels of wings.
The job assigned for the group tonight is that all members will gather needed materials (aka, soda cans), research further into building wind generators, and prepare for the mighty day ahead of us.
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