Naomi Michaelis
12/5/17
5* STEM
STEM Project Proposal
For my senior capstone project I decided to work on the plane. The plane project encompasses a variety of different strategies and techniques. I’m part of the project management team, so I’m in charge of coming up with tasks for each group and assigning them on Google Docs as well. Google Docs keeps everyone in the loop and work effectively. I have come across a few problems or issues as one may refer to them while working on the plane. The one that stands out as most urgent to me is that we should organize the room we’re working in. There are many unnecessary objects and pieces of furniture that are stored in our workspace. It’s not only unappealing to the human eye, but it also results in lack of organization and confusion. To continue smoothly with this plane project, I think this issue should be addressed, and then resolved.
Another issue that will come up in the near future is funding. We are in need of roughly another $50,000 in order to complete this project. It’s going to require lots of time and energy, but through fundraising, we should be able to raise a lot of money as a class. (1) The people in charge of the STEM funds said that they’d be willing to help us out. We could also have bake sales either on campus at break, or we could have them at the church across the street on Thursdays at lunch during “Jesus Pizza.” Another idea that could potentially raise a decent sum of money is creating a Gofundme account. Even though Gofundme does take a certain percent of the money raised, it’s a good way to reach out to a very broad crowd in hopes of raising money for an educational purpose. I think that Gofundme will be one of the most effective ways to raise money.
Whether or not we want to paint the plane this year is a whole other issue. We have two options, we can either upholster the inside of the airplane, or we can begin painting it already. If we want to paint the inside, we’d have to begin painting it now, because once we begin to build more of the airplane we won’t be able to reach certain parts, which would result in a sloppy paint job. Painting the airplane now brings up a whole other issue--fundraising. Painting the plane will end up being roughly five thousand dollars more to budget into our total cost. We could also potentially paint a mustang on the plane to symbolize San Marin High School. We could also create a poll of multiple different design ideas and see what the San Marin Community wants on the airplane to incorporate everyone’s opinion.
The plane mentors said that they’d happily help us with any other projects we want to take on this year. Fundraising is going to be a very important part of our project. As a practice or “dry-run” we built tool boxes in groups of three. My group ran into an issue with the deburring tools that we have in the worker’s space. We weren’t able to reach some of the holes that we had to deburr. My group thought that we could potentially design a new deburring tool for our project to fit our needs throughout the building process. A retractable deburring tool would be ideal. Then you can make it shorter to fit into tighter or more narrow spaces, and longer for when it’s needed. It shouldn’t be too costly to build this deburring tool, but it may take some time to design. I think this would be a good side project to fulfill our capstone project requirements, as well as leaving enough time to work on the plane.
A deburring tool has multiple parts to it. The three main parts are the handle, the flutes, and the tip. The handle is the part of the tool that’s gripped by the user when working. The handle is often made of plastic, with grips for comfort. The tip is sharp and pointed so that the user can find the center of the machined hole and guides the tool into position ensuring a neat result. On most deburring tools, three flutes are machined into the tip of the tool. These transport cut material way from the cutting edges, preventing chatter from occurring and leaving a chamfered edge. (2) What my group wants to incorporate is the retractable aspect. That would mean that we should alter the handle to create our retractable element. I think that we should have different sized handles that can layer into each other. This will be the most efficient way to create a retractable handle, because the side of the deburring tool stays the same, or we could even potentially make it smaller. Our plane mentors confirmed that that would be a good invention and a good use of our time.
We’ve also had some difficulties with the hand rivet squeezer. I think that my group should come up with a new design to use the hand rivet squeezers that we already have in the most efficient way possible. Yesterday my group actually had to squeeze a rivet, and we came up with a pretty good design to squeeze the rivets as tight as we possibly could. We used three blocks of wood, and two clamps to hold the hand rivet squeezer still, so that one of us could just use all of our weight and strength to push it down towards the table. This system ended up working really well; much better than the one we have attached to one of the tables in the makerspace. My group could use the design we used the other day as a foundation for a permanent design.
All in all, this assignment helped me find ways to improve the plane project as a whole. Whether it be painting the plane itself, or working on improving the space in which we build the plane. Both of which are very important to the project as a whole. I think it’s important to start cleaning the makerspace first, and then work on actually building the plane after. Cleaning the makerspace may seem like a simple task, but I think that it will require a decent amount of planning. There are large pieces of furniture in the makerspace that will require a new home on campus. Perhaps there’s a need for them in another room? I’m not sure, but that will definitely be part of my group’s planning. Once the makerspace is nice and clean, we will have to properly organize all of the parts of the plane so that nothing goes missing. This will require lots of planning too. I think that we should incorporate some type of online component so that everyone remains in the loop and is informed as to where all the plane kits are being stored. Last year the plane groups used Google Docs as a helpful tool, so I already started organizing a class Google Doc. I shared it with all of the mentors and students in my class, so hopefully, that will help with the whole organization aspect of the building process.
Sources:
12/5/17
5* STEM
STEM Project Proposal
For my senior capstone project I decided to work on the plane. The plane project encompasses a variety of different strategies and techniques. I’m part of the project management team, so I’m in charge of coming up with tasks for each group and assigning them on Google Docs as well. Google Docs keeps everyone in the loop and work effectively. I have come across a few problems or issues as one may refer to them while working on the plane. The one that stands out as most urgent to me is that we should organize the room we’re working in. There are many unnecessary objects and pieces of furniture that are stored in our workspace. It’s not only unappealing to the human eye, but it also results in lack of organization and confusion. To continue smoothly with this plane project, I think this issue should be addressed, and then resolved.
Another issue that will come up in the near future is funding. We are in need of roughly another $50,000 in order to complete this project. It’s going to require lots of time and energy, but through fundraising, we should be able to raise a lot of money as a class. (1) The people in charge of the STEM funds said that they’d be willing to help us out. We could also have bake sales either on campus at break, or we could have them at the church across the street on Thursdays at lunch during “Jesus Pizza.” Another idea that could potentially raise a decent sum of money is creating a Gofundme account. Even though Gofundme does take a certain percent of the money raised, it’s a good way to reach out to a very broad crowd in hopes of raising money for an educational purpose. I think that Gofundme will be one of the most effective ways to raise money.
Whether or not we want to paint the plane this year is a whole other issue. We have two options, we can either upholster the inside of the airplane, or we can begin painting it already. If we want to paint the inside, we’d have to begin painting it now, because once we begin to build more of the airplane we won’t be able to reach certain parts, which would result in a sloppy paint job. Painting the airplane now brings up a whole other issue--fundraising. Painting the plane will end up being roughly five thousand dollars more to budget into our total cost. We could also potentially paint a mustang on the plane to symbolize San Marin High School. We could also create a poll of multiple different design ideas and see what the San Marin Community wants on the airplane to incorporate everyone’s opinion.
The plane mentors said that they’d happily help us with any other projects we want to take on this year. Fundraising is going to be a very important part of our project. As a practice or “dry-run” we built tool boxes in groups of three. My group ran into an issue with the deburring tools that we have in the worker’s space. We weren’t able to reach some of the holes that we had to deburr. My group thought that we could potentially design a new deburring tool for our project to fit our needs throughout the building process. A retractable deburring tool would be ideal. Then you can make it shorter to fit into tighter or more narrow spaces, and longer for when it’s needed. It shouldn’t be too costly to build this deburring tool, but it may take some time to design. I think this would be a good side project to fulfill our capstone project requirements, as well as leaving enough time to work on the plane.
A deburring tool has multiple parts to it. The three main parts are the handle, the flutes, and the tip. The handle is the part of the tool that’s gripped by the user when working. The handle is often made of plastic, with grips for comfort. The tip is sharp and pointed so that the user can find the center of the machined hole and guides the tool into position ensuring a neat result. On most deburring tools, three flutes are machined into the tip of the tool. These transport cut material way from the cutting edges, preventing chatter from occurring and leaving a chamfered edge. (2) What my group wants to incorporate is the retractable aspect. That would mean that we should alter the handle to create our retractable element. I think that we should have different sized handles that can layer into each other. This will be the most efficient way to create a retractable handle, because the side of the deburring tool stays the same, or we could even potentially make it smaller. Our plane mentors confirmed that that would be a good invention and a good use of our time.
We’ve also had some difficulties with the hand rivet squeezer. I think that my group should come up with a new design to use the hand rivet squeezers that we already have in the most efficient way possible. Yesterday my group actually had to squeeze a rivet, and we came up with a pretty good design to squeeze the rivets as tight as we possibly could. We used three blocks of wood, and two clamps to hold the hand rivet squeezer still, so that one of us could just use all of our weight and strength to push it down towards the table. This system ended up working really well; much better than the one we have attached to one of the tables in the makerspace. My group could use the design we used the other day as a foundation for a permanent design.
All in all, this assignment helped me find ways to improve the plane project as a whole. Whether it be painting the plane itself, or working on improving the space in which we build the plane. Both of which are very important to the project as a whole. I think it’s important to start cleaning the makerspace first, and then work on actually building the plane after. Cleaning the makerspace may seem like a simple task, but I think that it will require a decent amount of planning. There are large pieces of furniture in the makerspace that will require a new home on campus. Perhaps there’s a need for them in another room? I’m not sure, but that will definitely be part of my group’s planning. Once the makerspace is nice and clean, we will have to properly organize all of the parts of the plane so that nothing goes missing. This will require lots of planning too. I think that we should incorporate some type of online component so that everyone remains in the loop and is informed as to where all the plane kits are being stored. Last year the plane groups used Google Docs as a helpful tool, so I already started organizing a class Google Doc. I shared it with all of the mentors and students in my class, so hopefully, that will help with the whole organization aspect of the building process.
Sources:
- Brown, Melissa. “Fundraising Research: Strategies That Work.” Top Nonprofits, 16 Dec. 2014, topnonprofits.com/fundraising-research-strategies-that-work/.
- Editors, Wonkee Donkee Tools. “What Are the Parts of a Hand-Held Deburring Tool?”Wonkee Donkee, 2017, www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk/de-burring-tools/what-are-the-parts-of-a-hand-held-deburring-tool/.