Week 13 (Practical 3)

Welcome to Week 13 (Practical 3) Blog

15 July 2021

Part 1

In this week's practical, we learned more about prototyping and how to do so using the different cardboard joinery. The group did a small research on our main material, Cardboard, before going for the practical itself. This is what the group has found.

Short notes on corrugated fibreboard:

Corrugated Fibreboard is made from 3 components. A "fluted" Material in the center, glued between 2 layers of paper (outer and inner liners).

Normally produced from Kraft and Test paper. Kraft paper is used as it is the strongest type of paper due to its "virgin" fiber and it is also the easiest to print on. Thus, commonly used as the outer liner when in production for Corrugated Fibreboard. Test paper is not as strong as Kraft paper or easy to print on, so it is more commonly used as the inside liner. However, it is less costly than Kraft paper.

Different flute types contribute to different usage of cardboard. The weight of paper used is measured in grams per square meter (gsm) where a higher gsm indicates that the paper is much stronger and also heavier. By increasing the number of fluting sections adds extra rigidity and strength to package heavier or fragile items.

Actual Practical:

After talking about the dryer part of the practical you might be curious what we actually did, thus the group will be showing you what we did below here.

Figure 1: Different cardboard joinery

As shown above, the group learned about the different joinery we could use when trying to prototype our ideas and making them in reality. The group was then tasked to create a visual board showing at least 8 different types of joinery when making it with a twist which is to make it creative and incorporate into a design instead of just making 8 different joineries on the visual board.

After a few minutes of discussion, the group has decided to make a catapult. Why? The group just wanted it. Below are some of the pictures we took when making our product.

After assembling the mini catapult we made, this is the finished product as shown below.

Figure 2: Front view of catapult

Figure 3: Backview of catapult

Figure 4: Side view of catapult (right)

Figure 5: Side view of catapult (left)

The group has managed to corporate 8 joineries into this catapult and they are as such.

1. Gusset
2. Flange
3. Slots
4. Tabs
5. Slots + Tabs
6. Swivel
7. Layering
8. Rubber band

It was overall a fun session, playing with cardboard and prototyping. The group has enjoyed themselves throughout this week's practical.

Part 2

The group was then given the Winged Unicorn created by Mr. Bartholomew Ting, a graduate of NUS Business School, to bring home and assemble as well as document the process and that will be our 2nd half of this week's blog where the group will bring you through this process along with us.

This was our process of assembling the Unicorn, by following the instructional video that was provided.

Step 1: Making of unicorn head

Step 2: Making of the main body

Step 3: Connecting head to the main body

Step 4: Assembly of wings

While assembling the unicorn, the group has observed a few different joineries that was used. It includes a bend, and mainly slots to hold this unicorn in shape.

After assembling, the group then proceeded to find out a way to flap the wings such that they can look like it is "flying". 

We did it by first tying two pieces of rubber band together first and after that we proceed to tie one end of it at the intersection point of the two wings as highlighted below in yellow.

Figure 6: Semi-Automatic Wings

After connecting these two different wings together, we are then able to move on to a "semi-automatic" flapping of the wings. We prepared a video below so that you are able to see how this works in actuality.

Figure 7: Video on semi-automatic flapping

Now, after going through the previous two activities, the group is finally down to the final thing to cover for this week's blog and that is "How to automate the wing-flapping process?"

To automate the wing-flapping process, we decided to use actuators as the main mechanism to flap the wings. A motion sensor connected to an Arduino board is used to determine when the wings will flap. 

We decided to put the motion sensor at the unicorn's eyes to simulate that when someone walks past the unicorn, it will "see" the person and flap its wings.

Figure 8: Automated Wings Flapping System

The rod of the actuator is connected to both wings and when the sensor is activated, it will send a signal to the actuator which will then do a "push & pull" action. This will then "push & pull" the wings as well which will make the unicorn's wings flap.