Cardboard Chair Project
The Cardboard Chair project was the main project of the course. It focused on the planning, construction, and performance of the chair, as well as the design process of engineering. The chair had to be able to hold multiple people, including several teachers and every student in the class (one at a time). The chair could only be made from four sheets of cardboard and a roll of masking tape. The Cardboard Chair was the first collaborative project of the class, with groups of two people making one chair.
The grading of this project was based in several areas - testing performance, project presentation, student vote on aesthetics, and partner evaluation.
The grading of this project was based in several areas - testing performance, project presentation, student vote on aesthetics, and partner evaluation.
For the Cardboard Chair project, I first sketched several different designs. I then collaborated with my partner and we chose the most structurally sound and comfortable design out of our ideas. I made several drawings and measurements for our initial design, while my partner began to assemble a model of our initial design. After the model was made, I then made calculations and found that our initial measurements would exceed the material limit for the chair. We made slight changes to the chair regarding the supports and dimensional attributes to reduce the amount of cardboard used. Our final design was then assembled efficiently with little to no problems.
Unfortunately, our chair was broken by the first tester and was essentially disqualified from further testing.
My main take-away from this project was the importance of making calculations early on in the design process. Because I did not calculate the cardboard usage of our chair until late into the project, my partner and I lost time trying to redesign our chair.
Unfortunately, our chair was broken by the first tester and was essentially disqualified from further testing.
My main take-away from this project was the importance of making calculations early on in the design process. Because I did not calculate the cardboard usage of our chair until late into the project, my partner and I lost time trying to redesign our chair.
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