Greetings! 😀
This entry will be about Operating Principles and Mechanisms, as well as how my team and I applied this theory in Practical 4: Game Design with Cardboard.
In week 13, Dr. Noel walked through with us what operating principles are in general, Mechanism principles as well as the six Essential Mechanisms in functional prototypes. Afterwards, in week 14, we did Practical 4, which involves using one of the six mechanisms within our cardboard creation.
Operating Principles
Operating Principles basically describes how things work. All devices, apparatus and equipment are designed based on working
principles that are either mechanical, electrical, chemical or
magnetism. For example, the separation principle behind distillation is the difference in volatilities. Brewing coffee involves the leaching of coffee soluble.
Next is Mechanism Principles,
Sometimes, in order for the identified operating principle(s) to work efficiently, mechanical movements are often required. For example, take a look at the picture below.
She pulls the tea bag back and forth. This is actually to make the leaching process of the tea soluble more efficient and effective at a shorter time.
In Chemistry, Mechanism is the fundamental chemical processes
involved in or responsible for an action, reaction or other natural
phenomenon.
In Engineering however, Mechanism refers to the combination of rigid
or resistant bodies, formed and connected so that they move with
definite relative motions with respect to one another. More simply, it is something that transforms forces and movement into a
desired set of output forces and movement.
This brings about the six essential mechanisms in functional prototypes.
The six mechanisms are:
- Actuators
- Cams
- Ratchet
- Gears
- Springs
- Lever
During the lesson, Dr. Noel also tasked us as a group a group activity, which is to create a Ping-Pong ball launcher using the mechanisms that we had learned in the lesson. There are 2 main principles within this Ping-Pong ball launcher, the Propulsion Principle, how the ping-pong ball is going to get launched and the Ball Loading Principle.
For my group, we unanimously agreed to use 3 springs within the gun.
The first main spring is in the magazine of the gun. The ping-pong balls will push against the spring at the bottom of the magazine, compressing the spring. After each shot, the spring extends back, closer to its original position. The second main spring is the one that launches the ball. Based on the picture above, the gun is designed to be a bolt-action gun, thus we have to pull back the catch, which loads the spring. Then when we press the trigger, the spring releases, which will then launch the ball. The final spring is located in the handle. The purpose of this spring is for the trigger to return to its original position so that we can pull it back after reloading.
Last but not least, Practical 4
For this practical, my team and I are to design and assemble a Marble run machine, out of cardboard as a team. The requirements for this practical is:
For my teams design, we decided to create a structure similar to that of a Ferris Wheel.
Initially, we planned to use a slide that will bring the marble from the top slot of the Ferris Wheel to the bottom, which looks like this
Afterwards, we decided the come up with more options for the way we can bring the marble back into the hole, the second design, after the slide, looks like this
The marble will enter the Ferris wheel from the bottom. Using the gear mechanism, we will be bringing the marble to the top hole, and will go back to the bottom hole through those platforms.
The last one, Hong Yi and I managed to come up with a simple tube that will just let the marble fall into and roll into the bottom hole, which is on the right side of the next picture.
However, we soon realised that creating the slides were too much to do with the amount of time we had left before the practical day and the platform design looks aesthetically better than the tube, thus we decided to use the platforms. The following pictures shows the dimensions and the individual parts of the whole structure.
Next up is the fabrication process.
- Cut out 2 large triangles, the base with 30.5cm and the other 2 lengths of 33.9cm
- Next, cut out 4 large circles, this is for the large gear with each circle to look something like this:
The smaller circles within the larger circles are the slots for the marbles and needs to be cut out as well.
Align the larger circles together and glue them.
Next, cut out 2 smaller circles for the smaller gear. Glue them together after they are all cut out.
Based on the dimensions mentioned earlier, cut out the platforms and create the slots for the platforms.
Next, cut out the smaller triangles to be used as L-braces
Last but not least, assembling everything and gluing the Ferris Wheel to the base!
Final Product!
Voila! This is da Ferris Wheel! 😱
Hero shot with our assembled masterpiece! 💥
Video showing how our marble run machine works! It was able to last at least 30 seconds 😁
Reflection
Through this practical, I managed to recap and reuse the types of cardboard joineries that was learned in practical 2. Some of the joineries that my team used is the L-brace, tab and slot and brass fasteners. I feel proud that my team was able to accomplish what we had planned and that the marble was able to run for 30 seconds. Moreover, I feel I have improved in creating certain joineries as compared to practical 2. I was able to create more accurate cuts and create them at a faster pace. However, I do feel slightly upset that my class was informed about preparations for this practical in such a short notice. As compared to other classes, my class were only given 3 days of school days to prepare, but we were only able to come on 2 of them due to our schedule. Despite this handicap, my team and I still succeeded. In addition to this, I do wish that we could have created a simpler design. This is because the cutting of the bigger wheels and the smaller circles within the wheels take a lot of time. It also takes time to draw the circle and the inner circles out. Overall, I appreciate my team a lot as they each contributed well to this project. I am especially appreciative of Hong Yi because he managed to cut out at least 2-3 more sets of each piece in the structure just in case our main pieces do not work or are faulty. All in all, this practical was a success!😆
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