User:Mbaig5753/enes100/My Work P3

Airplane Float

Write problem/project Goal
What is your wording of the overall problem/project goal?
 * To design and create and airplane float that floats the longest.

My First Task
What are you going to do for the team this first weekend?
 * Design and start creation of my airplane float.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
What I did over this weekend was go and buy materials to build an airplane out of basel wood, and I built an airplane. Due to weather conditions this airplane has not had proper flight yet weather bearing it will.

Week1 Narrative
I and my group member Erika went to Michael's and we bought supplies for the airplane which consisted of:
 * 2 Sheets of .3175 cm thick and 1 meter long Balsa wood.


 * Elmer's Wood Glue
 * X-Acto Knife (Pictured below)


 * Once the materials were bought I researched online designs that would be easy and efficient to make using Balsa wood. I found this design online Link. I decided to make this one because it was similar to what I had in mind. The first thing I did was make a thin frame for the airplane I did this by drawing a very narrow rectangle with a red-pencil and then cutting it with the X-ACTO knife. I then made lines for the main wing of the airplane

with a red pencil on the wood so I can trace the X-ACTO knife over for a clean cut. As you can see from the photo below I made a symmetrical rectangle for the wing of the airplane.

Then I drew in lines for a tail and made that also. Which is also pictured below, I made a small cut which is at an incline on the frame so the tail doesn't rest squarely on the frame and instead is on a 30 degree angle.

A technique I used for better stability is that i made small cuts into the fram with the X-ACTO so the wing and tail can rest on the frame instead of being glued to the sides.This entire procedure took about an hour or so. I finished the design of the airplane I just need to add a propeller and a rubberband to provide the airplane with energy via work of the propeller spinning. Here is a look at the finished airplane


 * Some takeaways from this week is that I need to pratice on my cutting skills with the X-ACTO knife, also make better indentions in the wood so the parts can have the most support from the frame.

My Second Task
I plan on having this airplane flying and also improving the design for maximal flight.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
I built another airplane over this weekend because the one I made last week broke when it was tested.

Week2 Narrative
Since the airplane i made last weekend broke I looked at what I did wrong. I realized that the center of gravity on the airplane was closer to the tail then it was to the wing. When I launched the airplane I noticed that te airplane did a 180 and took a nose - dive to the ground. The airplane broke into two pieces. Here is a pic of the aftermath

When I took the initiative to build the second airplane I decided on building an airplane that was sturdier then my last attempt. I looked up a design online and found this one. Link. What I noticed was that this design used the least amount of glue, and used the frame of the airplane as a base that the wing and tail are inserted in. This provides added support. Here is a photo of the design I made with the dimensions.
 * Airplane float design.png

Here is what differentiates this from my previous design The design is basically a frame with a slit in the middle where the wing goes through, then there is another slit at the end of the frame where the end of the tail squeezes in. Then the top of the tail is glued on to the frame at an angle. Notice that only the last part of the tail is on an angle.
 * Only one piece is glued
 * Frame is smaller
 * Has two slits in the frame
 * Sturdier
 * Wing and tail are slid through the slits
 * More stable
 * The wing isnt rectangular i cut the edges round

As you can see from the gallery there is the frame, wing, and the slit in the frame to house the wing. I slid the wing into the frame and it fit very snugly. I did something similar for the tail for the part that sits horizontally at the end of the frame i put a slit at the end of the frame and pushed the horizontal component of the tail into the frame. This also fit snug.

Lastly here is how the finished airplane looks here is a side view and top view.

My Third task
Hopefully this airplane flys well and doesnt break. I will analyze how it flies and what direction it sways too. I will also improve the design.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
This week after consulting with Mr. Foerester, we decided to give this project a different approach think outside the box. So instead of just relying on just balsa wood I decided to use styrofoam too in the assembly of my wing.

Week3 Narrative
What I did firstly was that since the pre-prepared airplane that you can buy at the hobby-store was successful I decided on building of that. Here is a video of my previous attempt at using the pre-made airplane from the hobby store.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTAAYDcb3vw&feature=youtu.be

I modified the airplane seen in the video by interchanging the wing with a Styrofoam wing instead. I did this because it would hopefully reduce weight and increase lift. Here is a picture of the wing assembly out of styrofoam as seen below.

I also had to adjust the slit in the frame of the airplane because the styrofoam wouldn't fit. I did this by using the X-Acto knife to increase the width of the slit, this allowed the styrofoam wing to fit in perfectly. Here is a picture of the completed airplane. It is half styrofoam/ half basal wood.



This airplane did have success flying it flew longer then my previous attempts here is a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPWfwJpldoA&feature=youtu.be

I tried something else which was taking something as basic as paper (EGNR. paper specifically) and adding a plastic bag to it. Basically to see if it would create lift and "float"

Here is a video of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJHpWAnLE4s&feature=youtu.be

I also tried different size wings. One of them one rectangular the other was spherical and the other was square. What i noticed was that the rectangular wing bent at at a 30 degree angle from the middle worked the best. So using the styrofoam as a part of he airplane was definitely helpful. Compared to my teammates airplanes having a combination of styrofoam and balsa wood is the best.

My Fourth task
Going to use parachute like material and create and airplane out of that. Also experiment with material that floats the longest and use this on an airplane but not limit myself necessarily to an airplane in terms of design. Will look at other things too such as a ballon like design.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
What I did over this weekend was I improved upon my last airplane design by enlarging the wing, I also looked into paper gliders. See my summary for details.

Week4 Narrative
I took my previous design of the airplane that was a combination of balsa/foam, and improved on that. I did so by enlarging the size of the wing in the Z-axis. This kept the center of gravity the same too which helped. Here is a pic

I changed the size of the length to 14 inches and kept the width the same (2 inches). This had success it created more lift and kept the airplane in the air longer. The next approach i took was to make an airplane made completely out of paper. Material:
 * Paper (8x11.5)
 * Scissor

Here is a tutorial to how I made it. Tutorial

I used this design because it stayed in the air the longest.

Complete Team Page
Here is our Team Page