Session E - Day 9 - Rock n' Roll
After a weekend of rest, our tinkerers are back up at the shop for our second week of build. Today was one of those days where we had to push and hustle in order to get our prototypes working and start figuring out the parts that work and parts that need some improvement.
The creek civilization team has moved up from the creek and is now working on a water hammer for making M&M (or Trail Mix) butter along with a 4x4x1 pool for their boats to drift in. The wind power team is creating a very complicated yet beautiful blade attachment for their windmill and getting a fair amount of decoration done. The potential energy team has finally managed to get their cart rolling and are starting to experiment with ways of harvesting the energy and using it.
This morning we all woke up to Savan making her 'If you keep picking out the M&M's out of the Trail Mix, you will be severely tickled!' face, along with her very important memo on the Trail Mix box.
Before we all head up the hill, Eisen gets ready for the day by setting up his hand-made figures up for a photoshoot of the master and the grasshopper.
Tinkerers Madelyn, Johnny and Morgan from team potential energy are working through the first challenge of the week, the creation of a frictionless axel support for their cart.
Our JC Yoel asking the question most of the windmill team has been thinking about through the weekend: 'Now that we have a very tall building, how do we make it into a windmill?'
In order to answer Yoel's question, the windmill team has gathered in a morning design session. They are getting engineering advice from Gever on how to proceed with their project and it seems like they might need to work with a fair amount of precise bits and detailed measurements.
Portrait of a tinkerer: Braden.
Portrait of a tinkerer: Onion.
Portrait of a dish rag: Mr. Clean.
Pictured (left to right): Gever, Matthew and Diego working on connecting the blades of the windmill to the hub. As it turns out, stabilizing round objects is harder than stabilizing flat objects.
Victoria and Audrey from the water power team trying to figure out how to make their water hammer bucket waterproof. They realized that, although duct tape might seem like a great solution for everything, closing the gaps between their pieces of plywood might be a better idea.
Team potential energy discussing how to mount their frictionless wheel bearings made with two skateboard wheels.
Portrait of a tinkerer: Morgan, keeping his teeth squeaky clean.
The windmill team takes a break as they discover a string with a piece of wood attached and use their creativity and windmill window to create a guillotine.
Laila is the first of the team to be sacrificed to the wind gods.
Next up is Diego who seems surprisingly happy to be sacrificed for his project.
Matthew pictured ready to catch his teammate Gus' head.
Tinkerers Cyrus and Eisen reporting for duty during their well-deserved break.
The rest of the water power team watches carefully as Micha masters the art of chiseling. They will use the slot created to lash in a rock that will create the hammer part of their water hammer.
Portrait of the master and the grasshopper.
Portrait of our awesome volunteer Carles.
Portait of a tinkerer: Johnny.
The windmill team making a fashion statement with their noise suppressors.
Onion and Gever mastering the art of finding exactly what you're looking for amongst many many bits and parts in the shop.
Introducing Owen, our new JC for the week, working on the water hammer.
Caroline looking through her third hole of many more to come. (It is very important fort the hole size to fit the shaft very specifically)
Savan has her eye out for who ever is picking out the M&M's from the trail mix, watch out!
The potential energy team has a new idea. What if we use the person as the weight instead of some rocks?
With a little help from Jack, Audrey and Victoria find an alternate solution to duct tape: wax.
First test goes well as the team manages to crush an almond with the rock attached to their water hammer.
Isabella carefully inspecting the almond that is now 'almond butter' thanks to the heavy rock.
Water team discussing ways of improving the efficiency of their water hammer and trying to figure out a way to crush more than one almond in one try. Also, maybe find an even heavier rock?
A top of the windmill shot of our shop.
Madelyn mastering the art of the circular saw with some tips from Gever.
Savan still looking out for the M&M picker.
If only we could scale up these blades to fit the actual windmill...
Maybe we can start with taking it up there and testing if it works, suggests Tenley.
Or we can just use the power of perception to make it look like it works!
The whole crew has gathered for and inspirational mid-project talk from Gever. This is the time to really push and power through a lot of work and get our prototypes ready for testing.
Tinkerers Ben, Madelyn and Johnny working on fixing our snack cart that was broken yesterday as a result of many tinkerers onboard riding it down a hill.
Matthew working on a chair for the lounge that is under the windmill.
The potential energy and windmill teams pictured with their magnificent projects. The windmill team added a very long post to the top of their windmill in order to break the record for tallest project built at Tinkering School, although they will no longer be able to hold that record once the blades are attached.
Potential energy team almost ready for their first human test.
Owen, Ben and Victoria working on improvements for the water hammer.
Gus has figured out a way to become a human shop and attach all the tools to himself!
Portrait of a tinkerer: Micha mastering the jigsaw.
Diego and Caroline have become really close friends with the drill press and adjustable hole saw while trying to create the perfect sized hole for the windmill shaft.
Gever explaining to Eisen how the table saw jig works.
Finally testing their gravity-powered cart, team potential energy. Savan and Johnny move the cart by unwinding the rope that is wrapped around the axel. They are all delighted to find that their idea works as the cart starts moving!
After the first trial run, the team recoils the rope and discusses possible improvements.
The second run is made by Morgan and Johnny who realize it is quite a bit of work to pull the rope all the way. They will now try to power it using the weight of the person riding it instead.
The cart team wraps up for today with all the new design challenges to work through for tomorrow.
The water hammer seems to get a lot of attention as a Trail Mix Butter attempt takes place.
Cyrus, Audrey and Daniel decide to take a break from the water hammer and build a 4x4x1 pool. Now the tinkerers can work on boats to sail in the pool...
Or they can cool off by dipping their hair in the water and splashing at each other.
The windmill team rolls up their sleeves and works with a fair amount of wood glue and clamps to get their hub done.
Portrait of tinkerers: Micha and Ben working in the shop.
Gever and Liora looking for possible ways of combining all three of the water group projects: the water wheel, the water hammer and the pool.
Portrait of a collaborator: Miles.
Portrait of a tinkerer: Cyrus.
Portrait of a tinkerer: Micha, representing how we feel after a long day of intensive work.
Tomorrow we do another morning of building followed by a Beach Trip... Night Edition!