Blog 6 + practical 4

 Topic 7, is about what's the operating principle behind the things we do daily, such as how distillation works or even as simple as how a coffee was made based on leaching☕. 

Through this topic, we will learn about the following in 

1. Operating principle
2. Mechanism-to help enhance the process

For our product we ideated in CA1, the working principle was based on electrochemical process and the mass transfer of ions. 

For mechanism, we learnt about how the different types of mechanism can help enable & enhance the working principles. There are 6 essential mechanism in functional prototypes:

1. Actuators
2. Cams
3. Gears⚙️
4. Lever
5. Ratchets
6. Springs

We applied the mechanism into a ping pong shooter and we used 3 springs and 2 lever to make a ping pong shooter. The toy uses spring as the energy storage mechanism to propel the ping pong ball. The user manually releases the compressed spring by pulling the trigger. 

The trigger moves up, which makes the left side of the lever move up and the right side of the lever to move down allowing the level to unlock the U-shape platform to expand the outer compressed spring and compress the inner spring to release the ping pong ball out of the launcher. 

(bang banggg it looks like a gun isn't it🔫i guess we are a little bit too in to valo)

Practical 4

In this cardboard marble game, we are making use of Cams as the mechanism of the our game.

Here is a short clip of how its going to work and our design.

After multiple brainstorming, we came up with the dimensions of the set up.

Step by step guide for making a cardboard game set.

Step 1: The set up

1.1: The body of the set up

• Cut out a piece of cardboard of 60cm x 22.5cm 
• Mark the following lines onto the cardboard
• Gently cut thru the lines so it is easier and nicer to fold it

Note: 

• All joinery tabs for body are 3cm x 2cm 
• The 3.5cm is to be folded outwards and the 3cm is to fold up after folding out(which creates like and L shape)

1.2: Making the base

• Cut out a piece of cardboard of 61cm x 57cm
• Mark the following lines onto the cardboard
• Gently cut thru the lines so it is easier and nicer to fold it

Note: 

• All joinery tabs for the base are 18cm x 2cm

(for the base, follow the sketch on the right and for the slanted board, follow the sketch on the left)

1.3: Slant board

• Cut out a piece of cardboard of 18.5cm x 23.5cm
• Mark the following lines onto the cardboard
• Gently cut thru the lines so it is easier and nicer to fold it

Note: 

• The sides are 2 cm each and are to be folded inwards 
• The X are the fastener for joinery

1.3.1: Making the pathway for the marble. 

• Cut out the following template and insert it through the holes by using slot and tab

Step 2: Making the mechanism element

2.1: Making Cams

• Cut out 21 circles of 1.5cm radius (or 3cm diameter) 
• Punch a hole 1cm away from the radius
• Attach 3 piece together by using hot glue and align the hole
• 7 sets of circle together
• Using a cupboard, peel out the outer paper and cut a strip of 0.9cm and use a hot glue and attach it on the side of the circle
• Using a stick, inert the circles through in an opposite direction as shown below

21 circles

Peel off the outer layer of the cardboard and stick it on the cams

Repeat for all 7 cams

Insert the cams in an opposite motion. (for the distance between cams, we will decide it during the assembly) 

2.2: Making the wheel for the cams

• Cut out 3 circles of 4cm radius (or 8cm diameter) 
• Punch a hole 1cm away from the radius
• Attach 3 piece together by using hot glue and align the hole
• Using a cupboard, peel out the outer paper and cut a strip of 0.9cm and use a hot glue and attach it on the side of the circle

2.3: Making ladder

• Cut out a piece of cupboard according to the table of board dimensions
• Draw the following dimensions of the ladder on the cupboard
• Slightly cut the lines go allow easy folding

Note: All tabs have a width of 2cm 

Dimension of the boards (total 7 ladders)

An example of how one would look like.

The following are the dimensions of the ladder from 1-7. Take note, every height of the ladder has a difference of 1cm.

Step 3: Assembly

1. Join the base by punching a hole through the tab and securing it with brass fastener.
   
   
   
   
2. Join the body by inserting into the gap on the base

   

   
   
3. Place the slant board on the left side. 
4. Place the ladder in, from low to high. Punch two holes, one on each side and make sure its the same level

   

   
   

   

   
   
5. Punch a hole on the side and tie using a string to secure it

   

   
   

Finished product

Here is a video of our product

This is my team and our finished product

 

Mini me time(reflection): 

Ok la I think we a bit think too highly of ourself but we are still fabulous 💁and but itsokay, from this we learnt to try during the process and not wait till the end and realise it failed. With just less than one week time from we started learning about mechanism, we manage to somehow made it work like 10%(better than nothing right), I'm still proud of us especially my team. 

Another important thing I’ve learnt is we cannot predict and always have he perfect ✨plan in our mind, and we do not have to complicate simple thing. For example this practical, we could have done something simpler and more practical such as our practical 2 where we made a water well.