Gravicar develops

Have now built a Gravicar, and several things have needed changing. The width didn't quite give enough room for the wheels to fix. If you were careful they worked well, but any slight difference in building and they fell off! So now the whole thing is 10mm narrower as well as having extra marks on the cardboard sheets of joiners to show which way is up when assembling the three main frames.
The 10Th of February is a big day because I am running a whole day event for 150 students in 6 classrooms, simultaneously building them as part of a STEM day I am running at a clients. This means getting all parts ordered and in stock, card pieces laser cut, info and building sheets copied and staff briefed. As with all my projects, I am going to base the building around a PowerPoint using Sketchup graphics and photos to show the stages. Backed up with a Students building sheet to build 'ON' and a diary sheet to record 'ABOUT' the day, that should be enough to keep them all going.
The one featured here rolls about 5 metres using the 500ml bottle of water. Replacing the wide wheels with CD's would give a very low rolling resistance and with string that unwound completely from the axle, should travel about 30 metres on a good flat floor indoors.
I am going to use very slight ramps to start it off as some built will be a bit 'sticky' with too much friction. Probably a sheet of polypropylene about 50mm high
This is not a new project, but I hope I have streamlined it enough that all the students can build it without too many problems, and that the non-specialist staff can assist them

Mass manufacture:
A present client of mine wants to run a STEM event (Science Technology Engineering and Maths based) event for up to 140 students at the same time for a whole day. I have done a number of these events, developing ideas and training staff and often leading the day. The clients has a technician to cut parts and order specialist materials but not for this particular event. Originally this gravity powered car was to be made from sheet material, or using special huge cardboard pieces I had previously developed. To fit in with the time availabel to make the parts and source the other pieces, I designed this version below.
This version uses bought in 600mm wooden spars. These are joined first into three basic frames using an A4 sheet of laser cut cardboard pieces which also join the three frames into the final shape. Each laser cut piece is pre drilled with holes for the drawing pins which hold the pieces together while they glue and provide additional support while it is used. All other pieces are off the shelf components available from at least 3 major educational suppliers to minimise supply difficulties. With this design, and a bottle of water each, the students will all have a great learning experience competing in various activities

Chicken Catapullet

This is a project for my client, Nottingham e-Learning Centres, devised as a set of files and exemplars to show just how creative you can be with a simple idea.
A laser cutter sales company was selling a simple ping pong ball catapult project and I was intrigued by this as not only was it cut out of 3mm acrylic, it also worked only moderately. With the support of www.nelc.net, I designed a new catapult from scratch as a set of simple elements that could be personalised and adapted. From this came the CataPullet, a chicken shaped catapult.
The design was developed in CAD (2D Design) then parts checked for size in Sketchup, then a first cardboard prototype cut on the SELC laser. Then this version in green acrylic. I was delighted that the worm shaped ratchet/trigger worked first time as it was the most difficult part of the design.
There are now 6 projects for FREE download at http://www.wix.com/nottinghamelc/notadesktidy (Flash only I am afraid) where teachers notes, exemplar files and video of me demonstrating the projects can be viewed.

I am always available to develop new projects for clients. This one was to drive visitors to their pages, something special that can also work in the classroom day to day!
Let me know if you want something for your organisation or company