BALSA wood tower
Planning:
We have been looking at the designs of truss towers and have decided to make one that will be made out of balsa wood and elmers glue that will have at least 50 lbs of pressure on it that it will have to withstand.
Identify the Problem:
-Create a tower made of Balsa Wood that can withstand up to 50 lbs of pressure up against it.
Generate Ideas:
-We have 3 ideas in mind for this assignment:
We have been looking at the designs of truss towers and have decided to make one that will be made out of balsa wood and elmers glue that will have at least 50 lbs of pressure on it that it will have to withstand.
Identify the Problem:
-Create a tower made of Balsa Wood that can withstand up to 50 lbs of pressure up against it.
Generate Ideas:
-We have 3 ideas in mind for this assignment:
This idea has a 2 sticks of balsa on the side, with 2 pieces of balsa crossing over each other.
This idea has 1 stick of balsa on the side, with one piece of balsa going diagonally from one side to the other. The side of it is double up with balsa wood.
This idea is shaped like a pyramid. The balsa wood has a piece in the middle for support, and also has pieces that cross over in the middle for even extra support and strength.
Constraints:
-Their is only elmers glue that can hold the pieces of balsa wood together
-Only balsa wood is allowed.
-Only a week of time is provided
-Can only use our hands to cut, and change the balsa wood length.
Criteria:
-Strength: the quality or state of being strong. This relates to my truss tower because it needs to be pretty strong to work well and be accurate data.
-Stability: not likely to change or fail; firmly established. We want our truss tower to stay in its original shape to begin with, and crush later on in heavier impact.
-Effectiveness: the degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result; success. We want our truss tower to be successful and produce the best score possible (over 50 lbs of weight).
-Their is only elmers glue that can hold the pieces of balsa wood together
-Only balsa wood is allowed.
-Only a week of time is provided
-Can only use our hands to cut, and change the balsa wood length.
Criteria:
-Strength: the quality or state of being strong. This relates to my truss tower because it needs to be pretty strong to work well and be accurate data.
-Stability: not likely to change or fail; firmly established. We want our truss tower to stay in its original shape to begin with, and crush later on in heavier impact.
-Effectiveness: the degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result; success. We want our truss tower to be successful and produce the best score possible (over 50 lbs of weight).
Research:
Theoretical:
-They can be used as electricity transmission towers, as a radio tower or as an observation tower.
-A world famous example of a truss tower is the Eiffel Tower in Paris
-A truss tower is also called a "lattice tower"
-The tallest wooden lattice tower was at Mühlacker, Germany. It had a height of 190 metres (620 ft) and was built in 1934 and demolished in 1945.
-Nowadays, the tallest truss tower is the Kiev TV Tower, with a height of 385 metres (1,263 ft).
-Truss towers can either be made with wood, or any other durable and long lasting metals.
-Truss towers are often designed as either a space frame or hyperboloid structure.
Credit to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattice_tower
Empirical:
-We never had a trial and error type of situation.
-We only had one time to test, just like in life when we have one shot and opportunity.
-We learned sometimes that you only have one chance to get it right, and we hope that our idea will work.
Possible Solutions:
Theoretical:
-They can be used as electricity transmission towers, as a radio tower or as an observation tower.
-A world famous example of a truss tower is the Eiffel Tower in Paris
-A truss tower is also called a "lattice tower"
-The tallest wooden lattice tower was at Mühlacker, Germany. It had a height of 190 metres (620 ft) and was built in 1934 and demolished in 1945.
-Nowadays, the tallest truss tower is the Kiev TV Tower, with a height of 385 metres (1,263 ft).
-Truss towers can either be made with wood, or any other durable and long lasting metals.
-Truss towers are often designed as either a space frame or hyperboloid structure.
Credit to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattice_tower
Empirical:
-We never had a trial and error type of situation.
-We only had one time to test, just like in life when we have one shot and opportunity.
-We learned sometimes that you only have one chance to get it right, and we hope that our idea will work.
Possible Solutions:
The double sided balsa wood will make it very sturdy and efficient. The crosses in the middle of single balsa wood will hopefully maintain strength. This will be light and in a cube shape.
The double sided balsa wood will make it very sturdy and efficient. The diagonal will hopefully make it strong. This will be light and in a cube shape.
The pyramid will have a single sided balsa wood to make it angled upward. The inside will have double sided balsa wood between the crosses and it will make it stable and strong. The crosses will be in the top section, middle section, and bottom section to maintain strength.
Idea Matrix:
Summary:
-In the end of the conceptual model, we decided to choose the diagonal cube design. The diagonal cube design will work very well because it is very stable and effective over our other designs. Overall I thought the building of the truss tower documentation went well and was fun!
Technical Sketch:
-In the end of the conceptual model, we decided to choose the diagonal cube design. The diagonal cube design will work very well because it is very stable and effective over our other designs. Overall I thought the building of the truss tower documentation went well and was fun!
Technical Sketch:
The image to the right is quite blurry, due to formatting issues.
The top image is the top view of our truss tower. Since you cant really see the measurements on the side, the measurements are all the same since it is a cube shape. The length and width of the square (top view) is 4 inches.
The bottom image is the front and right view of our truss tower. Since our truss tower is a cube the front and right side will just measure up to be the same. The height of the square is 4.25 inches, and the length and width of the square is 4 inches.
The top image is the top view of our truss tower. Since you cant really see the measurements on the side, the measurements are all the same since it is a cube shape. The length and width of the square (top view) is 4 inches.
The bottom image is the front and right view of our truss tower. Since our truss tower is a cube the front and right side will just measure up to be the same. The height of the square is 4.25 inches, and the length and width of the square is 4 inches.
Mathematical Model:
When testing our truss tower out, the computer froze and did not provide a graph at the end of the testing. I couldn't find it on the PowerPoint, so we are just using the graph below comparing the data between all of the class period below.
On the X-axis is the weight of the truss tower itself, and on the Y-axis is the weight the truss tower held. It seems the heavier the truss tower the more weight it can hold. The points on the graph show that because there are more that hold a higher amount of weight in the heavier section of the truss tower. The weight that is being held is measured in pounds (Y-axis) and the weight that the truss tower weighs is measured in grams (X-axis).
When clearing out the data in the excel spreadsheet, I deleted data that didn't make sense. One of them held only 0.01 lbs. and the other held 1 lbs.. I think any truss tower can hold at least 10 lbs. in my opinion.
When clearing out the data in the excel spreadsheet, I deleted data that didn't make sense. One of them held only 0.01 lbs. and the other held 1 lbs.. I think any truss tower can hold at least 10 lbs. in my opinion.
Working Model:
04-13-2015
We started researching and discovering exactly what truss towers are. We discovered how to build them and what design works the best. We also began and made good progress through our Conceptual Model Here is a video of what we watched during our research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztFeTKI1ukY |
04-15-2015
Today, Michael was sick, so I had to work on my own. I continued to work on the building
process a little bit and mainly worked on my Conceptual Model in my Documentation. I also got the second side done.
Today, Michael was sick, so I had to work on my own. I continued to work on the building
process a little bit and mainly worked on my Conceptual Model in my Documentation. I also got the second side done.
04-17-2015
Today, Michael and I had a major documentation day and updated our websites. When we did a decent to a great amount of documentation both of us came back to finish up the fourth side, but unfortunately did not have enough time to glue it together.
Today, Michael and I had a major documentation day and updated our websites. When we did a decent to a great amount of documentation both of us came back to finish up the fourth side, but unfortunately did not have enough time to glue it together.
04-21-2015
Today, Michael and I put our design in the wooden cube to see if it would fit or not. One of the sides were poking out a little bit so we had to sand it down a little bit. We also worked on documentation toady.
Today, Michael and I put our design in the wooden cube to see if it would fit or not. One of the sides were poking out a little bit so we had to sand it down a little bit. We also worked on documentation toady.
04-23-2015
Today is the big day... testing day. Michael and I were not sure if our design would work due to the sizing issues. But we measured it for one last time in the wooden cube and it fitted! We put our design in the machine and it held a whopping 91 lbs! Our design was partially broken and cracked.
Today is the big day... testing day. Michael and I were not sure if our design would work due to the sizing issues. But we measured it for one last time in the wooden cube and it fitted! We put our design in the machine and it held a whopping 91 lbs! Our design was partially broken and cracked.