Engineering
Independent Projects
Final Product
Wooden speakers after being glued and having the initial holes drilled
Wooden speakers after being glued and having the initial holes drilled
Using Ferric Chloride I acid etched into aluminium
Using Ferric Chloride I acid etched into aluminium
Using electricity, vinegar, and salt we etched some aluminum to make key-chains, badges, and more.
Using electricity, vinegar, and salt we etched some aluminum to make key-chains, badges, and more.
Using electricity, vinegar, and salt we etched some aluminum to make key-chains, badges, and more.
Using electricity, vinegar, and salt we etched some aluminum to make key-chains, badges, and more.
Shelves:
For my first project Jerry and I created shelves for Rafael's class. I learned to use the nail gun. The most challenging part was marking everything out on the wall before screwing it in.
Step 1: Measure where shelves are going and make plans. based on those measurements
Step 2: Cut Wood to size
Step 3: Sand and Stain wood
Step 4: Draw out markings and plans on the wall. Mark where each support would be and make a level line to help line board up.
Step 5: Screw supports in.
Step 6: Use nail gun to nail board into supports and wall.
Arduino Case:
My second project was designing, and 3D printing a case for a arduino stress monitoring device. I learned to use the 3D printer and Sketchup during this project. The most challenging part was troubleshooting what was wrong with my design, and finding out why the printer wasn't reading my files (file was set to inches but printer set to centimeters).
Step 1: Make stress device as small as possible. Tried etching a circuit board, reducing the amount of things used, an simplifying the machine.
Step 2: Take measurements of device and draw out a first plan.
Step 3: Begin making a rough draft on Sketchup
Step 4: Finalize first draft of Sketchup and convert it to proper files.
Step 5: Print first draft
Step 6: Using printed first draft make proper adjustments in Sketchup
Step 7: Convert files and Print
Class
Projects
This is the front of the board with the holes drilled
This is the back of the board with the holes drilled for the magnets
This is after I glued, stained, planed, sanded my bottle opener.
This is after I glued, stained, planed, sanded my bottle opener.
Wood I used for my bottle opener: Poplar and Walnut.
The completed and stained project
sizing, measuring, and cutting wood
Mountain Art:
My first business project was the mountain art, and I was paired with Gerardo. We went with a a simple design which ended up being a good idea because we were one of few people who finished before the deadline. I learned how to be patient on long and arduous projects. The most challenging (or frustrating) part was having to restart when losing pieces of the art or when the piece was cut to short.
Step 1: Design on paper
Step 2: Joint, Plane, then cut wood into equal thin strips of wood.
Step 3: Transfer design onto backboad
Step 4: Start cutting pieces of wood, basing each new piece of wood off what you already have so everything fits.
Step 5: Make adjustments, replacements, anything else to make it fit.
Step 6: Select stains and stain wood (we went with Honey, Ipswich Pine, and Aqua)
Step 7: Glue everything down onto the new, nice backboard.
Step 8: Clamp everything down and let dry.
Step 9: Remove clamps
Step 10: Cut edges flush and parallel
Step 11: Take measurements of the entire board and make a border.
Step 12: Cut wood for border
Step 13: Glue border on and clamp down to dry
Step 14: Remove clamps and sand border.
Step 15: Clean piece and clear coat with polyurethane
Step 16: Let dry and done
Etching:
For my third project I wanted to learn to etch metal. My goal was to learn how to acid etch and electro-etch, to understand how it works. It took a lot of experimenting ad fiddling around with my technique but here is my final step process. Everything that in this project was a new skill to me that I had to learn. The most challenging part finding the correct mix of water and Ferric Chloride.
Acid Etching:
Step 1: Cut, polish, degrease, clean metal.
Step 2: Design what you want to go on metal in Photoshop or other software and flip it so it is mirrored.
Step 3: Laser print design onto transfer paper
Step 4: Transfer design onto metal using an iron (place design onto metal so that printed side is touching metal so that it is oriented the correct way).
Step 5: Put metal with design in a plastic container.
Step 6: Dilute Ferric Chloride acid with water (1:1 solution).
Step 7: Brush acid onto metal unto the etch is where you want it to be.
Step 8: Clean metal until satisfied with look.
Electro-Etching:
Step 1: Cut, polish, degrease, clean metal.
Step 2: Cover metal in electrical tape.
Step 3: Using an exacto-blade cut out your design
Step 4: Mix distilled white vinegar and salt and plug in 18 volt battery pack
Step 5: Attach positive end of an 18 volt battery pack to the end of your metal.
Step 6: Attach a piece of cloth to the negative end of your 18 volt battery pack
Step 7: Dip negative end of battery pack into vinegar and salt solution and touch to visible metal.
Step 8: Repeat Step 7 until etch is noticble
Step 9: Remove tape and clean metal until satisfied.