Rube Goldberg Machine
The Rube Goldberg machine project has been very hectic and a bit unorganized, but as I've noticed, we've pulled through to the end quite well. Although in a hassle, we have gone through presentation night with few worries. We started slowly, barely even getting schematics, and ended up with a satisfying end product that worked very well 80% of the time. The first thing we did after getting our two boards, was to attach them together. This took quite a bit of our time during the first few days, as we could not get them to stay, and nails proved extremely challenging to us. Eventually we found that hammering against a strong, sturdy, and stable surface added the extra support needed to finish the job.
There are small triangle supports that we added using a drill, which provided more stability, and proved easier than trying to use a hammer on a surface that was not sturdy, or able to withstand the force. After this, the construction of the steps of the machine began. First was the set of inclined planes. These were added, and then later we added bumpers, as the marble would often fall off. We then added the first pulley. This pulley had the marble fall into it, and pull a wedge out from the first ball of the newtons cradle. The Newton's Cradle was constructed separately, and added on with some drilled pieces of wood. After this was the domino platform, drilled in, on which the dominoes would fall onto a lever. The first lever had to be perfectly off balance, in order for the dominoes to hit it with enough force to knock into the next lever. This next lever had to be balanced with marbles that would roll down a plastic screw that we used zip ties to attach. We began to speed up with our construction at this point, because we had few working days left.
We had some trouble trying to position a weight so that marbles could push it off of the small platform. After this we spent some time trying to work with balsa wood gears. These gears were mostly for some unique design on our machine. After the gears had input too much friction to be able to even budge, we removed them from our steps. We then added a fan and began to experiment with a lever in order to use mechanical advantage, as a dial was proving hard to rotate using a string. We then added a large wooden lever onto it in order to be able to rotate it upon the weight falling into the cup. The next step was an inclined plane. Placed upon this inclined plane was a light ball. The fan then pushed the ball down the ramp, which bumped into a smaller, more dense marble. This marble then fell onto the keyboard of a laptop, starting the presentation below.
There are small triangle supports that we added using a drill, which provided more stability, and proved easier than trying to use a hammer on a surface that was not sturdy, or able to withstand the force. After this, the construction of the steps of the machine began. First was the set of inclined planes. These were added, and then later we added bumpers, as the marble would often fall off. We then added the first pulley. This pulley had the marble fall into it, and pull a wedge out from the first ball of the newtons cradle. The Newton's Cradle was constructed separately, and added on with some drilled pieces of wood. After this was the domino platform, drilled in, on which the dominoes would fall onto a lever. The first lever had to be perfectly off balance, in order for the dominoes to hit it with enough force to knock into the next lever. This next lever had to be balanced with marbles that would roll down a plastic screw that we used zip ties to attach. We began to speed up with our construction at this point, because we had few working days left.
We had some trouble trying to position a weight so that marbles could push it off of the small platform. After this we spent some time trying to work with balsa wood gears. These gears were mostly for some unique design on our machine. After the gears had input too much friction to be able to even budge, we removed them from our steps. We then added a fan and began to experiment with a lever in order to use mechanical advantage, as a dial was proving hard to rotate using a string. We then added a large wooden lever onto it in order to be able to rotate it upon the weight falling into the cup. The next step was an inclined plane. Placed upon this inclined plane was a light ball. The fan then pushed the ball down the ramp, which bumped into a smaller, more dense marble. This marble then fell onto the keyboard of a laptop, starting the presentation below.
We used pulleys in the project, and these, along with levers, provided mechanical advantage, which is how many times easier a simple machine makes tasks. If a load were too heavy to raise alone, a lever would be able to add mechanical advantage and lower the amount of input force required to complete the task.
The Newton's Cradle and dominoes utilized two types of object collisions. An elastic collision is when two objects collide and transfer all of the energy from one to the other, with no energy left in the primary object. An inelastic collision is when two objects collide and only some of the energy is transferred, leaving some of the energy to allow the first object to either move with, or away from the second object.
Most of our project was primarily physics, but our original idea for gears was primarily aesthetic. This idea, while looking pleasing to the eye, was not very effective.
I learned that I need to work on my productivity, as I only worked on what I was told to and did not take charge to find materials to construct on my own. I also learned how when I out my mind to it, I can accomplish challenging tasks in a short period of time, or come up with ideas that work surprisingly well compared to other more standard approaches to these problems. I had figured how we could use a drill instead of a hammer in order to complete the challenge of attaching specific parts together in a short period of time.
I found that I could have done better with how I acted. I had been getting very distracted and off task at times when I was not doing a heavy amount of work. I could have been Documenting calculations and measurements when I went to other groups instead, distracting myself and others. I also found that I can improve upon putting more thought into design beforehand and not adding last minute changes. I came in on the last day in order to paint the machine so it looked nicer than just scraps of wood, and I could have used more than one color and more creativity in my design than just a rushed quick paint on the machine. We also experienced many problems along the way because we had not planned in very much detail, costing us time. This is something that I will use to my benefit and notice to improve upon this large flaw.
The Newton's Cradle and dominoes utilized two types of object collisions. An elastic collision is when two objects collide and transfer all of the energy from one to the other, with no energy left in the primary object. An inelastic collision is when two objects collide and only some of the energy is transferred, leaving some of the energy to allow the first object to either move with, or away from the second object.
Most of our project was primarily physics, but our original idea for gears was primarily aesthetic. This idea, while looking pleasing to the eye, was not very effective.
I learned that I need to work on my productivity, as I only worked on what I was told to and did not take charge to find materials to construct on my own. I also learned how when I out my mind to it, I can accomplish challenging tasks in a short period of time, or come up with ideas that work surprisingly well compared to other more standard approaches to these problems. I had figured how we could use a drill instead of a hammer in order to complete the challenge of attaching specific parts together in a short period of time.
I found that I could have done better with how I acted. I had been getting very distracted and off task at times when I was not doing a heavy amount of work. I could have been Documenting calculations and measurements when I went to other groups instead, distracting myself and others. I also found that I can improve upon putting more thought into design beforehand and not adding last minute changes. I came in on the last day in order to paint the machine so it looked nicer than just scraps of wood, and I could have used more than one color and more creativity in my design than just a rushed quick paint on the machine. We also experienced many problems along the way because we had not planned in very much detail, costing us time. This is something that I will use to my benefit and notice to improve upon this large flaw.