Potential is when a ball is just sitting at the top of the hill – waiting to roll down as it were.  Kinetic is when it starts moving and stays kinetic until it comes to rest.  We want to show this.  We also want to show how it looses energy over time (the three decreasing hills).

Requirements – it shall be minimum 2 meters long, it shall have one loop and it shall have 3 humps of decreasing size. If you are going to pursue a career as a business analyst or another roll where you gather requirements, be sure you learn the distinctions between ‘shall’, ‘will’ and ‘must’. Essentially, shall means ‘no exceptions’.  Don’t do a ‘shall’, then you missed a requirement.

The BIG test. Liam and me testing the track.

So we discussed how we should do it, the size (we needed to transport it to his class) and materials we might use.  We looked around the garage at what was handy.  Ton of wood!  Hot glue gun with Super Strong glue (the most underrated tool for the creative type personality).  Plenty to nails, screws, power tools, etc.

One of the lessons I wanted Liam to learn was that you can take things meant for one use and turn them around (metaphorically as well a technically) and use them in a different way from their intended purpose.

We lacked something to fulfill the ‘loop’ part of our requirements.  So off to the hardware store and cruising the aisles.  We came across some one inch thick tubing and bought five feet.  Out tests at the store seemed to show it would work.  We took a long PVC tube and dropped marbles into it and they (mostly) made it through.  We bought PVC tubing as well that fit into the tubing.

Liam learning a)how to countersink b)drill a pilot hole so we don't split the wood

Back home we started work on the base.  The base was a piece of scrap plywood that we squared up on the table saw.  We added a tall board to the end of our base, supported by a gusset.

Installing the tubing. This is rigid, with a metal spiral to keep it from pinching or crushing.

Next we attached the coiled hose to the board and base.  Sadly (and this was the most expensive thing we bought at about $10) it did not work consistently.  And when it failed, the marble was stuck inside and you had to turn the whole unit upside down to get it out – not acceptable.  The problem was the metal wire which, while helping keep the tubes shape, introduced friction and drag.

There were just enough small ridges to kill the marbles momentum.  So, back to the drawing board.

Testing and, sadly, more failures than successes. Back to the drawing board.

I have a friend who had built a few of these and went to bum some parts from him

(this was also one of those, “Oh, uh, Dad, I’ve had this project several weeks but it is due in two days”, projects).  While I thought the loop requirement was supposed to be closed, Liam felt it might not need to be so.

Terry had a piece of 6″ PVC tubing, about five inches long that was cut open, heated and pulled back.

The PVC tube piece and Liam's idea for a way to catch the marble. Worked GREAT!

This allows the marble to enter near the bottom, spin around and shoot out the top.  While I was gone, Liam scrounged up some old red plastic bowls.  Some serious hot glue gun work and you have a PacMan catching marbles.  An exit hole was drilled into the bottom bowl.

Kate, being very industrious and craft oriented, made her own dress.  I know.  It is great! She also taught me the art of thrift store shopping and we put together my son’s cool chimney sweep outfit the night before we left.  My uniform was borrowed from the guy in the picture, my oldest friend, Tim Godfrey.  Tim has been a Civil War reenactor for many years now and has a pretty good collection of clothing.  Tim loaned me the Union Cavalry Officers uniform.  Fit great.  I want one.

This was  fun time.  The crowds were large, people were spending money and the economy of Galveston is rebounding after hurricane Ike.

Me and Tim, Dickens on the Strand, Galveston, Texas 2010

SC BEST (Boosting Engineering Science and Technology) is a program geared toward teaching kids through an atmosphere of open innovation, cooperation, hands-on skills, and free exchange ideas (in my words) .

This year I have the job of working with and coordinating the team of outstanding volunteer judges who will choose the best (BEST) Engineering Workbooks.  These workbooks, created solely by the students, detail the processes they used in creating their robots.  We will be performing the judging on October 23rd, 2010 at Clearbrook High School in Friendswood, Texas.

Here are some of the files (PDF) used in judging a BEST event:

• 2010 Awards and Judging Policies – Part I
• 2010 Awards and Judging Policies – Part II
• 2010 Project Engineering Notebook Score Sheet

One safety item about the chain with nuts and bolts.  It is a good idea to either tighten the nut all the way down or use a double nut like I have done here.  You put two nuts on and then, using two wrenches, you turn them against either other, in opposite directions, forcing them to tighten together.  This (mostly) prevents the nut from working itself loose and flying off.  And, yes, I have had that happen with funny and dramatic effect.

This is a close up of the worm wood look achieved by using a nasty looking tool made from a one foot length of wood with 3 Sheetrock screws driven through it.  Use screws vs. nails as nails leave a square hole from the point (or at least cut the point off).

Buffet almost done. Changed hinges to darker, non-mortising type.

This has been a fun project, taking about 6-8 hours to build so far and next will be the doors.  They will be mortise and tenon or butt joint with cleat with punched tin inserts.

The Materials Used
It is built in a Shaker style using low cost white pine for the body and top and cedar fence pickets for the back, all obtained from Lowes Home Improvement (though you can find this type of wood anywhere).  Take your time, look for good, straight boards with interesting patterns.  As I am doing Primitive and Shaker style furniture and want it to look a little old and distressed, I use wood that may have blemishes, knots, dents, etc.

Design
I started with a rough sketch.  Originally there was a shelf here, but I wanted something more.  It stands about 32.5″ tall, 40″ wide across the top and 14″ deep across the top.  It is built primarily from 1×12 (sides, bottom shelf and inside shelf), 1×6 (front stiles), 1×2 (braces across top, front and back), and 1×8 (two pieces butt-edge joined to form top).

Construction
Building this was straight forward.  Be sure you measure the wood you buy to assure the dimensions.  Many people assume a 1×12 is 1 inch thick and 12 inches deep.  It is not.  Usually (with some odd variations) it is actually 3/4 inch thick and 11 1/4 inches deep.

Buffet face down with sides, bottom and back cedar boards.

For this project, first cut the bottom and sides to length.  Then I cut the two front stiles to length.  I wanted  to the do the feet with a slight outward curve, so I first laid out the nominal dimensions, then used a pizza pan to make the curve radius.  I used a jig saw to cut each piece out.  I glued and nailed the stiles to the side boards, then glued and nailed the bottom to the sides.  The 1×2 (seen on the bottom of the picture) give strength and stability to the top end.  Neck, evenly space the cedar boards across the back, attaching with common box nails (they have a head to hold the cedar on better than finish nails.

The top was made from 2 1×8 boards, 40 inches long, joined along the edge.  No glue, just a butt join held by cleats on the under side.  The picture shows the underside.  This is then nailed to the top of the buffet base, leaving about a 1 1/4 inch overhang on the sides and 1 1 3/4 inches on the front.  Go for a pleasing symmetry.

The finished unit was then distressed with various tools (nuts tied to a rope, bolts, washers and nuts on a chain and a wooden board with 3 Sheetrock screws protruding to simulate worm damage).  After that, it is sanded first with 100, then with 220 grit, all the holes, seems and joints are blown out with compressed air, lightly wiped down.  The base, except for the cedar, was stained with Minwax English Chestnut and the top with Minwax Cherry.  About 2 hours later I used a Van Dyke brown glaze on the top to darken it a bit and make the worm and other distress areas pop out.  After two more days I will use Deft to do a satin clear coat.

Next… the doors.  These will be simply made either mortise and tenon or butt joint with cleats, still deciding.  There will tin inserts in each door.  The tin is galvanized, bought at Lowes in the Heating and Cooling duct work section.  To age the tin, you have to remove the galvanized plating.  I have read that you can do this with Muriatic acid, then age it with Apple Cider Vinegar.  I will let you know if this works for me.

Tools Used

• Table Saw – Ripping long boards to width and acting a bit like a planer/joiner to get all boards the same width.
• Chop Saw – for the smaller cuts on long boards
• Jig Saw – for the cuts on the feet
• Claw Hammer – fun pounding in nails
• Squares, tape measures, Titebond III wood glue, nail punch, clamps, and a few others I cannot remember.

Enjoy building.  Just BUILD IT!

Nearly finished.  Just need to punch the tin.

Buffet almost done. Changed hinges to darker, non-mortising type.

Here is a link to the his site explaining what we covered in the class:

http://www.rhinoresearch.com/training/software-architecture-with-uml

George has the ability to take dry material, such as ‘Canonical Risks’, ‘Viewtypes’, ‘Quality Attributes’ and ‘Boundary Models’ and tie them into a coherent set of tools for architecting a complex software application.

For me, classes like this are excellent, but I do think they need to be done yearly vs. the typical corporate model of doing it one time and then it slowly fades out of my limited-space brain.  As I sat in the current class, which was three days but I only attended the last day, I began to recall information from the previous class.  The first two days of the class covered the information I learned in the previous class, but that others had not covered.  This last day focused on Object Oriented Analysis and Design (OOA and OOD), which was the continuation and loose end tie-up for me.

Georges new book, due out in September, 2010, is available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984618104

It is made from inexpensive white pine bought at the local Lowes.  The back panel is left-over bead board (thanks again, Mom) painted with some old maroon paint I had around.  Just enough to get it done.

The stain is Minwax English Chestnut, one good coat left for a few minutes, then wiped off.  Then three coats of polyurethane were added, with a 220 grit light sanding between coats.

I prefer more distressed looking furniture, not sure why, though it seems to feel warmer to me, though I did not distress this piece.   I am happy with how this turned out and it was done in a about 8-10 work hours, taking several days during the actual build for drying times, etc.

I saw some similar shelves for sale for $500-$700 dollars.  I think I have about $40 in wood as the paneling was left over scrap from my parents.  Re-purpose and reuse!

Basic Box Assembly - sides, top and bottom

In the picture on the right you can see it glued and nailed, squared up and clamped.  This all took about an hour.  Again, this is inexpensive, knotty white pine.  Just take time to find straight boards, though a little warping is okay.  Remember to look at the end grain, see if the board is cupping.

Next will be the Shaker Buffet…