Friday, May 15, 2015

Chopping up the pedals

In order to get the pedals to fit in the axle of the wheel, I have to cut off the sprocket and some washers with the angle grinder.  Once they were cut off, I tried to put the pedals in the wheel but the axle had too sharp of an angle to fit.  I cut the pedal in half and now it can fit through.  Monday, I need to shave down the with of the pedal axle in some areas and then weld the axle to the wheel.  I also have to find a way to attach the fork to the wheel without have it rotate with the wheel.
Cut off sprocket

Monday, May 11, 2015

Removed the Pedal

This is the last week before finals week and I am falling behind on the unicycle because of the stuck pedal.  I asked the other guys in class for help but we were still not able to remove the pedal.  We then decided it would be best to remove the right pedal instead of the left.  Since we removed the right pedal, I'll have to use the angle grinder to cut off the sprocket and possibly one or two bolts.

After the pedals are removed I will spend the rest of the week welding them to the wheel.  Hopefully, I'll finish welding by the end of the week.  If there is time I would also like to weld the seat to the wheel's fork.  I may have to cut down the seat post if it is too long.  After that, all I need to do is attach the fork to the wheel, inflate the tire, and ride.
Right pedal removed

Dylan, Fed, Jeremy, and Jaret helping to remove the pedal.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Trouble with the Pedals

This week I almost finished deconstructing the bike.  The wheels have been removed and I took out the bearings from inside.  All I need to do is slide in the pedals and weld them into place.  The only problem is that the actual plastic pedal can't be removed.  The rod holding it in place is severely rusted and we just can't get it off.  Next week we'll try heating it up so the rust will burn off.
Meanwhile, I will look to see if there is an old bike that I can use for pedals if the pedals on the current bike remain immovable.
Wheels with bearings removed

Rusted pedal

Monday, May 4, 2015

Bike is no more

So far this week I have completely disassembled the bike.  It is down to the frame and tires.  Since it is a short week I will have to do the bulk of the work Thursday an Friday.  On those days I will see if I can connect the pedals directly to one of the wheels and if it is possible to attach the seat post to the front fork without welding.  It might be possible to not have to weld for this project but I am prepared to do so with Jaret's help.
Bike frame with chain

Wheels with front fork

Friday, May 1, 2015

Not a lot of progress

This week has been a short and unproductive week.  I have only worked on the bike Monday.  Tuesday and Wednesday there was no class, and Thursday and Friday we were in the portables.  Since not a lot of progress was made on the unicycle this week, I will have to work extra hard next week to get myself back on schedule for finishing before the end of the year.  We also did a current event assignment Friday.
Friday's current event assignment.
Working in the portables.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Got the Bike

I have brought in an old bike from home to use for parts of my unicycle.  I have two ideas of how to approach the project. One is to remove the front wheel and weld the seat to that spot and shift the pedals to the center of the frame. I hesitate using this method because the unicycle will be extremely tall making it hard to ride.  The other method I was considering was to take the front fork and place it on the back wheel.  I would then take the pedals and connect them to the wheel where the gear and chain are.  I will probably use this method because it will create a direct drive unicycle which is easy to ride.
So far I have only begun stripping down the bike of unnecessary parts.
Some stripped off parts

Old bike from home

Friday, April 24, 2015

Project Unicycle

For the rest of the quarter, my project will be constructing a unicycle.  I decided not to pursue a camera based project, simply because I cannot come up with a suitable application at the moment.  I would, however, be able to use the unicycle as a means of transportation.  Since I will not be bringing a car to college this fall, I will have to use some other means of getting around.
Most freshman bring a bike to ride a class, so I thought, "Why not a unicycle?"  With a unicycle, I will definetly be the coolest kid on campus.  This weekend I will find a bike frame and some other materials so I can start building next week.
Unicycle with chain

Unicycle with pedals directly one the wheel

Monday, April 20, 2015

A New Project

Over the weekend I researched many projects on instructables.com.  There were a few projects that interested me and I am debating which one to pursue.  One of the projects is a robotic camera dolly system.  This project creates a motorized camera system that moves along a track.  This project might be to complex and expensive for me since I have no experience with robotics.  Another idea would be the time lapse shield for gopro cameras.  There are fewer steps in this project but it might be too easy and I would probably finish it before the four week deadline.
A project that I thought would be doable in terms of difficulty and price would be a cable dolly.  It's a camera mounted on a wire and is controlled by remote control.  Building the frame is the bulk of the project which I can mostly handle myself.  The robotics part is minimal compared to other projects and I could always have Matt, Dylan, or Mr. Martin guide me along in the process.
I will know for sure which project I intend on doing by tomorrow and I will begin gathering my materials and developing my own timeline for completing it.
Radio controlled dolly system that I will probably choose as a project

Camera dolly system that is too expensive and will take too long

Friday, April 17, 2015

Senior Symposium Finished

Senior Symposium was a success.  Four judges came around to evaluate my project and all of them were impressed at the idea of using solar energy to bring clean water to third world countries.  Many students were also impressed with the idea as well as the quality of the presentation board.

Now that symposium is over, it is time to start a new project.  This weekend I will look different project ideas on instructables.com and for the next four weeks I will spend time building something and then making a powerpoint documentation of the project.
Looking up project ideas on instructables.com
Symposium Day

Monday, April 13, 2015

Preparing for Symposium

This week is symposium week.  I have to print my board design and paste it on a piece of foam core.  I also have to do the finishing touches on my portfolio.  My original design was good, but I think the new one I came up with looks a lot nicer and is still relevant to the subject matter of the experiment.
A new cover design and dividers is all that I need.  Hopefully symposium will be a success.
New board design
Old board design

Friday, April 10, 2015

Board underway

This week I made a great deal of progress on the binder for my project.  All that is left is to make the cover page and to edit a few pieces of the written material.  I have also started the design for the board.  I'm designing the board on a power point slide and it will be printed out as one large sheet of paper.  The printer is at school and I will print the board on Monday.
Portfolio cover design

Design for portfolio dividers

Monday, April 6, 2015

Working on Presentation

This week I plan on finishing the binder and to make progress on the presentation board.  Hopefully, I will finish the binder early and will be able to finish most of the board before the weekend.  Currently I am wrapping up parts of the final paper.  During the weekend I will complete the power point for the presentation.
Completing the graph of growth data
Completing the abstract

Friday, April 3, 2015

Beginning Portfolio

This week I was able to write up my data analysis and conclusion.  I was also able to complete my citations for my paper.  All that is left is to go over all my written material one last time to make sure there are no errors.  This weekend I will buy the materials for my board and start putting the binder together.
Completed works cited page

Completed data analysis

Monday, March 30, 2015

Experiment Success

The experiment for my senior project finished successfully.  After 13 days the experimental group grew to an average of blah and the control group grew to blah.  Even though the experimental group plants did not grow as tall as the control, the difference is minute.  Solar distillation is still a great way to produce freshwater for growing crops where potable water is not easily attainable.
All that is left for the project is to complete the portfolio, project board, power point, and reflective paper.  By the end of this week, I hope to have the portfolio done, and over the weekend I hope to finish the board.
Control(left) is taller than experimental(right) on last day of experiment
Plants after a week without water

Friday, March 20, 2015

Project Completion

The project has been completed successfully.  The control groups ended up being taller than the experimental group plants by an average of 5 cm.  I still feel that the distilled water did an adequate job in sustaining the growth of the bean plants, so solar distillation should be considered a suitable option in bringing freshwater to third world countries.
Now that the experiment is finished and the data has been collected, all that is left is to create the presentation board, write the final paper, and assemble the portfolio.  I plan on completing all of this in the next couple of weeks.
Final growth of second group of plants.
Control (left), Experimental (Right)

Final growth of failed first group.
Control (left), Experimental (Right)

Monday, March 16, 2015

Significant Growth

This weekend, a number of the bean sprouts fully germinated.  The first one to germinate was one from the experimental group and it measured in at 11 cm.  By Monday morning almost all the seeds from both groups had fully germinated.  It is too soon to tell whether or not the experimental group is growing better than the control group, but after this week I will know for sure.
I will continue to measure and record the growth of the plants everyday for the rest of the week and to collect distilled water.
Growth Saturday morning

Growth Sunday morning

Friday, March 13, 2015

Small sprouts

This week I continued to monitor the growth of the plants and on Thursday, one of the seeds started to sprout for the control group.  On Friday, four out of the six seeds sprouted in each group.  They seeds are showing equal growth at the current moment.  During the weekend I hope to see more growth and I will record it accordingly.  The plastic wrap for the stills was getting worn so I gave it a fresh wrap.
This weekend I will write the works cited page for the project proposal and start making outlines for the project board and transfer my log entries to a journal.
Growth on Thursday
Growth on Friday

Monday, March 9, 2015

Seeds Planted

This weekend I was able to plant the seeds for my experiment.  I planted six seeds in one pot and six seeds in another.  I put one teaspoon of soil in each of the six compartments, the seed, and then two more teaspoons of soil.  In the control batch, I watered each seed with two tablespoons of tap water and the experimental seeds were watered with two tablespoons of the distilled water.
If the soil is still wet this afternoon I will not water them.  From now on I will only be watering each seed with one tablespoon of water.  Hopefully, some growth should be visible by the end of the week.
I did not put the stills out today because it is supposed to rain.  However, this afternoon is supposed to be hot and sunny, so I will put them out then.  This week I will continue to distill water, monitor the growth of the plants, and work on my proposal.
Planting the seeds
Seeds watered

Friday, March 6, 2015

Success in Distillation

I ran into some trouble earlier this week.  The original design for the solar stills was not successful and all five yielded a couple milliliters in total.  I experimented with a couple more designs .  One consisted of a small bucket within a larger bucket, with plastic wrap directing the evaporated water into the smaller bucket. This design was just as bad as the soda bottle design.  The next design, however, proved far better.
I was able to make a still out of an aluminum tray with a small glass cup in its center.  A thin layer of saltwater was poured into the tray, and plastic wrap covered it which allowed for the evaporated water to be directed into the glass cup.  I made a duplicate still and another of the same design but with a black plastic bin.  The three stills created approximately 90 mL of water.  Each one made about 30.  Placing the stills on a glass table also helped increase the yield.  Today, I will collect another batch of water and will start planting the seeds.
First batch of water on Tuesday
Third batch of water on Thursday

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Start the project

This weekend I was successfully able to gather all the supplies for the senior project.  I have the bottles, the seeds and the saltwater.  I went to the beach on Sunday and filled up 3 5-gallon buckets and a cooler.  This is more than enough but I would rather have too much than too little.
Today I will finish setting up the project.  The solar stills will be completed and the bean seeds will be planted.  I have changed the design of the stills slightly.  Instead of soda cans I am using glass jars to collect the freshwater.  They are more stable and heavier than the cans.
Throughout the week I will begin to keep a journal of the experiment and take extra photos for my display.  I will also continue working on my proposal.  The purpose is all that is left to be finished.  My sources are also disorganized and I will have to make the proper citations for them in my paper.
Saltwater collected
Solar stills set up

Friday, February 27, 2015

Solar Still Built

This week I was successfully able to build the first of twelve solar stills.  This still was the first prototype.  I did not paint it because I wanted to see if the crude design would actually work.  I have it set up with freshwater is in the bottle and if it works the water should end up in the can.  I have put two cups of water in the still.  This morning I was going to test the still but the weather was cool and cloudy.  These conditions would make it hard to accurately test the productivity of the still, so I will hold off testing until Saturday.  If all goes well with testing, I will make the rest of the stills and set up the experiment so I can start growing the bean plants Monday.
As far as the project proposal I am approximately 60% done.  I have completely finished the Project Parameters & Budget section, and I have almost completed the Introduction.  All that would be left is to write the Purpose and the Bibliography.  By the end of the weekend, both should be completed.  After that I can focus on my experiment and do some fine tuning on the paper.
Still test delayed because of weather
Project Parameters ccompleted

Monday, February 23, 2015

Time to Build

This week I will build the solar stills for my senior project.  Today, I will gather the materials for the project after school and will start building.  In addition to building the stills I will be working on my project proposal.  I was not able to make as much progress on the proposal as I thought I would.  I will be working on the proposal in class and at home.
Introduction underway
Solar stills being built

Friday, February 20, 2015

Sources found for proposal

This week I was successfully able to complete the rough outline/draft for my project proposal.  Yesterday I was also able to find all the sources that I need to complete the paper.  The rough outline has everything that I want to say in the order I would like to say it; all I need to do is find the exact information from the sources and basically fill in the blank.  I have about 20 sources.  I probably will not need all of them, but I definitely have enough information.  This weekend I hope to get the bulk of the paper done and then dive right into the project next week.
Researching solar stills

Researching freshwater problems in Haiti
ek.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Project Proposal Underway

This weekend I was able to find several sources to help with my project proposal.  I was also able to construct a basic outline for the paper.  This week I will use class time to flesh out my proposal.  Since it is a short week, I will only be working on Solidworks one day this week and the rest will be dedicated to my senior project.
I most likely will not finish the proposal during the week and will have to do most of the fine tuning over the weekend.  Some time next week I hope to finish and give Mr. Martin the finished proposal.  I will then make the necessary edits that he suggests and then proceed with the actual project.
Basic Rough Draft in the making
Basic Outline Completed

Friday, February 13, 2015

Friday the Thirteenth

This week I have finished unit one of the intermediate Solidworks tutuorials.  The most interesting thing that I learned was being able to create additional planes of reference.  By creating different planes I can create three-dimensional objects with a wider or narrower base than if I used the basic extruded cut tool.
I have also finished my letter of intent for my senior project and have started the research to make my project proposal.  I will continue researching over the weekend and begin the rough draft to my paper.  Next week I will  work on finalizing the proposal and hopefully have a finished paper by the end of the week.
Making additional planes of reference.

Researching basic information on solar stills.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Project Underway

This week I plan on starting the intermediate lessons of Solidworks and also beginning the preliminary work on my senior project.  By the end of this week I plan on having completed my letter of intent as well as most of the research on my project.  I am giving myself until next Thursday to complete my project proposal, and then I will begin constructing my solar still.
Learning to use circular pattern tool

Writing Letter of Intent