Post 6 - ITT - Class Summary

In this post, I will be talking about my experience and my overall feeling about this class.

I really liked this class. I liked the freedom that came with the projects, but most of all, I love making things and seeing the results. There wasn't much I didn't enjoy in this class. My favorite project was the last one we did. This is because I liked the choice we had of what project we could do, and the longer time helped me make sure we did everything properly. I've learnt a lot of skills that will be very useful in coming years.

If i had to improve this class, I would add another project. Maybe something like a catapult arm would be a good idea in my opinion.

In general, i thought the class was great, and I don't think you should change it at all.

Post 5 - ITT - Project "M"

Musical Instrument.

For our final project of the class, we had a choice of three projects, a musical instrument, a robotic arm or a bridge (with a either a seismograph, a technology game, or a glider). We chose the musical instrument project. This involved designing and building a musical instrument with unlimited materials that can play an eight note scale.

The technological concepts of the project were the lengths of the metal pipes we used, to make different pitches, the way they were hit, which also creates different pitches, and the type of beater that we used, that changed the sound of the instrument.

My learning goals from this project. as a non musical person, were to learn how to create a scale from basic materials, how to calculate the different lengths needed for different notes, and to decide which beater made the best sound with the instrument.

Our project is a kind of xylophone but upended and instead of using wood, we used 1 1/4 inch metal piping. We used wooden bases and supports, which were connected to a piece of wood that would hold the pipes. The pipes were hot glued in place so they stayed where they were and made a consistent sound.

What I like about our project was that it actually made an eight note scale. It also was built strongly and the supports and bases are very sturdy. I like the sounds it makes, because its a different sound to most instruments, helped by my specially made beater.

If I were to re-do this project, i wouldn't change much, apart from using a more solid piece of wood to hang the pipes from. I would also try and cut the pipes more straight and cleanly, to make the perfect sound, and I would try and glue the pipes in more evenly.

The technological resources of this project were mainly the pipes and how there lengths created different pitches. Other than the pipes, i think the other resources were the beater and how it made the pipes sound better and how the wooden supports held them up without wobbling while being hit.

Once again we had two biggest challenges. They were getting the pipes the right length, so they make the correct pitches, and getting the pipes into the wood and keeping them there and so they still sounded good.

To overcome the first of our problems, we went on the internet and found out the formula for our scale and applied it to our pipes, after cutting, we made a few adjustments to make them sound better. For our second problem, we measured out the wood according to how many pipes we had, and how wide they were, we marked our the spots and filed the holes out just so the pipes fitted tightly, we then glued them in place and they don't move now, allowing us to play the instrument, without having to worry about the pipes falling out.

Post 4 - ITT - Mousetrap Car

Mouse Trap Car.

This project was also in a group of two. We had design and build a car or vehicle powered only by the mouse trap. We could bring in any materials we wanted, except things like motors or more power. We could not modify the mousetrap except for fitting. 

Some technological concepts involved were, friction, force, mass and torque. These will effect how ell our mousetrap car will work. For friction, you want enough friction to get all the force from the mousetrap through the wheels and convert it into movement, but not too much that it slows the car down. We wanted enough torque to get the car moving fast, but not too much the wheels span.

My learning goals for this project were, to be able to utilize the power from the mouse trap to make the car move fast and efficiently, to learn how to make a light weight but sturdy car, and to make precise cuts in the wood and to build the car well.

This is our finished project. we made it mainly out of wood and dowel rods. for the wheels we used old DVDs, which we put electrical tape on the outer edge for extra grip. The axles were made from dowel rod, which had wood glued on either side to keep them in place. We also put tape on between the hole in the body and the wheel,. so that the axle stays straight but can still spin freely.

There was a lot of positive feedback for our car, it's best distance was 25.5 feet. It was designed well, it was sturdy, light and the wheels span very well and pretty straight. I am happy with the results, especially as we were a few days behind because we had a major redesign a few days in.

If i were to redesign the mousetrap car, i would make the main chassis longer, so the pulling pole could pull a further distance. I would also make the back wheels larger than the front wheels, because this would decrease acceleration, but increase top speed.

The main technological resources of this project were the mousetrap itself, the pole and the axles. The mousetrap provided the power which was transferred to the back axle by the pole that was attached by string. These came together to move our car.

I think we had two biggest challenges in this project. The first was to actually get the car to move, as our first design didn't move at all. The second biggest challenge was to make the body lightweight, yet sturdy.

We overcame our first problem by redesigning our whole project, we lightened the body, made it shorter, changed the wheels to CD's and lengthened the pulling pole. These changes enabled our car to travel almost 26 feet. The way we over came our second challenge was buy using thin but strong wood for the main chassis, and only out thin wood on top for the mousetrap to sit on. This made the body strong and light s the car could go as far as it could.