User:Mwnuk/myWork CoreControl

Write problem/project Goal
Research and develop a working core control system

My First Task
Research the core control system and prepare an introduction presentation for next week.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
Read through the tutorial for constructing a homebrew Core control on instructables as well as research from Standford Magazine and Avacore's website.

Week1 Narrative
Both of us were tasked with general research to familiarize ourselves with the core control technology in preparation for giving an introduction presentation to the class. The majority of my research was from Instructables which provides a tutorial for building a homebrew core control system. Additional research from Standford Magazine where the technolgy was origonally developed and from the commercial producers of the product Avacore's website

Avacore produced documentaries explaining the technologies.
 * Video 1
 * Video 2
 * Video 3

My Second Task
My second task is to test the vacuum pump and buy PVC pipes and couplings to start basic assembly of the glove.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
Over the second weekend I bought and tested the materials for creating a vacuum as well as some of the materials for assembling the glove.

Week2 Narrative
This weekend I spent time with the good people of home depot. First I decided to test the vacuum pump on an ordinary container to see if I could produce the 3 inches of mercury needed as per the specifications. This turned out to be fairly easy. I cut a crude hole in an empty creamer container and fit a tube covered with latex hose into it. The latex hose was to create a snug fit and allow an airtight seal. I covered the threads with silicone sealant to create an airtight seal there and presto, 5 inches of mercury.

My Third task
My tasking for the third weekend is to acquire the divers glove to create an airtight seal around the wrist.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
This past weekend I created the wrist seal component for the glove.

Week3 Narrative
I got the divers gloves in the mail at the end of last week. Obviously there are only two so I was a but nervous that I may not get it right, cutting it too close to the wrist or the gloves being too large to create a seal. I was pleased with the gloves overall and had been advertised to be airtight, they seemed tight so I figured there wouldn't be a problem. I cut the gloves as close to the fingers as I could to ensure enough room to attach them firmly to the 4" x 3" PVC reducer.

My Fourth task
The last weekend on the project I still needed to get the pump set up in a jar to attach and create a vacuum in the actual glove.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
This weekend I finished up the vacuum tube / hand pump stuff, created the water pump jar and got everything all together.

Week4 Narrative
So upon inventory of what was left I realized there was still a bunch to do. I had at this point gotten the water pipes through the body of the glove and the wrist assembly on the PVC reducer. Remaining was to get the vacuum pump working on the glove and create the water pump jug apparatus. I set to work on the vacuum first because I assumed this was going to be the biggest problem. I realize that making a vacuum in a jar that can be sealed on all points is easy enough, but this was an attempt at creating a vacuum in a PVC pipe that you are able to stick your hand into. Probably not the easiest thing in the world. I cut the hole, put a small layer of latex over the tube and jammed it in there. At this point I had thought I might be good on that and went to work on the water pump situation. This was very easy as it turns out. The ridged pipe idea that was brought up worked very well with several levels of this project. It was cleaner for one thing which was the original intention (to keep from having a bunch of tubes everywhere). It worked well with the water pump we ended up with because it screwed in, as well as the thermal transfer which I obviously should had thought about before.

After applying silicone to the inside of the wrist strap and the band where the wrist strap is connected to the PVC reducer the leak is much reduced to the point where 5 inches of mercury vacuum can be produced inside the core control unit with the persons hand inside. The silicone inside the wrist strap does however make it somewhat of a chore to get my hand in, but i have big meat hooks for hands. We now have a fully functional Core Control unit!

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).