For this project, Martin and I worked efficiently together to finished our rube Goldberg project. The machine was designed to play a 2000 throwback song: replay by Iyaz, as a result of a mini stylus hitting the play button of an iPhone 8. In this project Martin and I, both showed a great extent of critical, creative as well as communication to resolve issues and problems that appeared.
Part A
Research:
- Our research abilities lacked as we did most of our brainstorming on paper with ideas we previously had in our heads. This lead to a crowd of ideas that had to be cut to size to be able to be incorporated into our project.
- We tried to copy the design shown in the video and it did not work. We checked the channel and found a tutorial that showed it in greater depth.
- Our research was mostly about the machines and not how to link them we needed to improvise ourselves to connect the two things together.
Design:
- We wanted our project to be above and beyond which lead to some issues relating to the size and scale of the project and the space we had to work with. We used some critical and creative thinking to work our way around the problem which was our lack of space and an awkward backing.
- Originally we wanted to run the track along with the top of the table but we quickly ran out of space. We then changed the direction the track moved in so it would run off the table gaining more speed and granting us more space.
- A design issue we had was designing the winding track as it was hard to mount onto the wall. We ended up not using it in the project but it took up some time as we both wanted it to work.
Materials:
- Gathering materials were not a problem as most of it we could find at our homes or in the shop. Finding materials that fit best for the project was a little bit more of a challenge. For example, we needed to test multiple different Hotwheels as each one had a different mass of weight and mass. In the end, we found a car that suited the track the best and one to carry the stylus on its back.
- The glue was a problem as it didn’t stick to all the surfaces. We fixed this problem by simply reinforcing it with tape and extra support.
- Tracks were a problem as the cardboard wasn’t smooth enough to carry the car the proper distance. With help of Erics HotWheel tracks, it made the cars move faster and smoother.
Construction:
- Constructing the tracks needed was not a challenge as Martin and I knew what was needed from each other but keeping it attached to the wall was hard as tape would not hold and the push pins used are not strong enough. We approached Mr. Romani with our problem and he advised us in making little wedges to help support the main build.
- A construction issue that was the most problematic was the little release pin. The pin didn’t have enough force to be pulled so we needed to attach it to something heavy to ensure its release.
- Dominoes were very annoying as they would bounce and hit things or fall unexpectedly. We put a safe space to make sure if one falls it doesn’t hit the others as well as a barrier.
construction:
- In the making of a pulley which included a wheel, the production of the wheel ended up working but was not very good looking as I cut it out using an Exacto knife which led to many straight edges which made it look like more of an octagon than a circle. Mr. Romani saw this flaw and showed us how using a disc sander and a stable surface we can sand away the rough edges to make an almost perfect circle which was much more pleasing to look at.
- The wall was awkward as there was a lip poking out so we incorporated it into our project after it was causing mounting problems for our track.
- The last Hotwheels track was at too steep of a height so the car kept failing to make it to the end. We fixed this by giving the Hotwheels track support to make it less of a drop which worked perfectly.
Part B
Things learned:
1. How to give extra support using little pieces of folded cardboard.
2. How to sand an almost perfect circle using a hand drill and the disc sander.
3. That the simple things are not always the easiest. But can be the best solution.
4. How to do at-home chiropractor.
5. How to half cut the cardboard so it’s easier to fold.
Part C
Self Evaluation:
Grade: A
Martin and I came to class everyday repaired to work. Both came on time in good spirits. Martin and I worked well together as we worked efficiently and finished early enough to not worry about time. No matter how many mistakes were made we never got frustrated, we simply worked together to solve the problem. We socialized with other groups as well to get to see their progress for ideas of our own. When we needed help we would occasionally ask for help but we would always try and figure it out ourselves first. We would plan ahead before starting as we got materials together before starting, of course, there was some improvisation along the way but most of the main parts were planned beforehand. We also stayed in during a lunch break to get ahead in our project which really helped us with a problem we struggled with. An improvement we can have is maybe a better plan as most of our ideas were rough ideas that evolved into little side parts to the main projects.
Video:
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