User:Awilson429/enes100/Strandbeest

Write problem/project Goal
Design an operating Strandbeest with my teammates out of cardboard and other easily obtainable materials.

My First Task
I will gather information from previous Strandbeest designs and find what seems to work best for our access to materials and the overall project. Also, I will design a crude/miniature prototype with which I can compare to my teammates to work toward the ultimate design.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
I have designed a small scale "prototype" of the strandbeest my team and I will be working on in the next few weeks. It differed from my original thoughts and ideas because I didnt have a set plan or anything to truly work with. Deciding what materials to use was the biggest issue.

Week1 Narrative
What I did for the team this weekend was I designed my crude prototype which will attribute to the overall group design that we will all agree on. I located a basic template which described the simplest version to make so that I could have a basic understanding to work with from then on out. I also assembled the small scale prototype out of cardboard and paperclips. While the crude prototype "works" it needs to be enlarged and many things need to be added.

My Second Task
For the second weekend I will be working on creating the remaining legs for the strandbeest so that when my teammates and I reunite we will each have a piece of a working strandbeest.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
For my second weekend I spent the duration of my time working on finding materials to use for the Strandbeest. I went through a couple hours of Youtube to find tutorials on building the best and most accessible Strandbeest that we could. The internet doesn't have too much in the way of tutorials but I did find a video showing one built out of drinking straws. This is something I would like to work on over this next weekend. The video to the drinking straw Strandbeest is located below within the Youtube link. This is what I believe to be the best way to build one, the only problem being is that it may not be able to hold its own weight properly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiPcNm5hhUA&feature=related

Week2 Narrative
I found what I believe to be a great way to design the Strandbeest out of less costly materials than what our initially agreed upon prototype. I found a video on a smaller Strandbeest built out of drinking straws and staples. I also measured the initial prototype which was very large and found that we should probably scale down to about a quarter of the initial size. Below is a video of another Strandbeest design which does not look too intricate and it looks like the materials used are rather cheap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWm4VMR8D0w&feature=fvwrel

My Third task
Depending on what we come up with for the final design, this weekend I will be working on creating the legs out of the material we all agree upon by the end of Wednesday night. The design has not been agree upon yet because I have yet to find an easily obtainable material and at that, a cheap material. We will have this figured out by the end of Wednesday night so that we can proceed with the actual building process.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
Over the weekend I was able to help with the design of the crankshaft by cutting the new pieces that would increase the strength and functionality of the crankshaft. These pieces were designed to help keep the washers in place so that we could have a really solid center for the Strandbeest. I drilled the holes for these. The next thing I did was I went out to Hobby Lobby and purchased three more 8*10 sheets of thin aluminum so that we could start cutting these and designing the legs. The legs will be very light and very durable if we are able to use this material. The sheets are also very cheap and easy to cut and bend.

Week3 Narrative
I spent most of my time trying to configure ways to design the legs and when I spoke with my teammate he suggested we do it out of the same aluminum we used to create the joints for the crankshaft. So, I went to Hobby Lobby and I purchased more sheets of this aluminum so that I could work with this and cut it in order to eventually solder or connect this in some way to create these legs. The next thing I did was I went through my original prototype for the legs and tried to figure out the best way to put the new ones together.

My Fourth task
Record what you are planning on doing for the team during the final weekend of project work. Complete and wrap up the final touches to the plans for the legs. I will try to get together what I can for the next team so they can work toward completing the legs and finish a functioning Strandbeest. The legs I will work on will consist of plastic straws and will look similar to this > Drinking Straw Strandbeest

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
While I was only able to construct one leg out of plastics straws, my plan was to make six. I did not complete this because I ran out of the straws, for some reason Walmart and Safeway do not sell these and I looked for more there. They are easy to find at fast food places but I am guessing you can only take so many of those. The straws must be the clear plastic ones, not the bending straws. The reason being is because they are perfect length to work with and they do not bend out of shape like the bending straws do.

Week4 Narrative
I constructed a plastic drinking straw leg for the strandbeest and it seems to work. The "crankshaft" design we have will not work with these legs but the chassis will. The crankshaft needs to be made from one single piece and that will work better. The leg I designed this weekend will work and needs to be duplicated. The straws I used (clear drinking straws) are the best to use but hard to find. I would suggest ordering these from a website in bulk rather than using bending straws.

Complete Team Page
Fill out the Team Form (should have already copied the form, created the team page, linked to it and started filling it out).