Rapid Prototyping

One great way to rapidly prototype an idea is to use popsicle sticks. Popsicle sticks make a great medium for this because they are relatively strong and easy to manipulate. They also are cheap and readily available. Here are some general guidelines when prototyping objects with popsicle sticks:

1. When cutting popsicle sticks, it is best to use tin snips, but a strong wire cutter works too.

2. Hot glue works well as an adhesive but it is a malleable plastic and is not very stiff.

3. Hot glue adheres well to popsicle sticks, but does not adhere well to some plastics.

4. Popsicle sticks are strong vertically, but break easily during horizontal stress due to the wood grain.

5. When making your object, do it with the intent to produce something in minimal time and it the most simple manner - it is just a prototype to be modified later on.

6. Popsicle sticks can be manipulated beyond just cutting. You can sand them down, shave them off (carefully), and stack them on top of one another.

7. An issue with popsicle sticks is that they are not uniform in dimension or shape. This is not a big issue because rapid prototyping is not a precise work.

8. Drilling holes in popsicle sticks can be extremely difficult especially with larger diameters. If necessary, it can be helpful to tape multiple popsicle sticks together and drill through all of them, only ruining the top and bottom popsicle sticks.

Finally, once you have quickly made an object that you can test and learn from you have to improve upon it. This could be with another popsicle stick design, or you can move on to another medium such as plastic or metal.

When you a creating a car you usually think about what material to make the car out of. Two of the largest available options are wood and plastic. Both materials have pros and cons so he is list that describes each's strengths and weaknesses.

Wood

Pros:

• Pieces can be easily attached to, screws and glue stick much better to wood than plastic.
• Wooden builds are much more structurally stable than plastic ones.
• Wood builds are easier to make quality builds with, the sander works really well with wood.

Cons:

• When making small pieces the wood can crack and split.
• Cutting wood can make a large mess.
• Finding a good piece of wood to work with is difficult.

Plastic

Pros:

• Finding plastic pieces to work with is really easy, there is a large amount on the shelf in the shop.
• Cutting plastic is easy, plastic wont crack or split.
• Plastic builds can be made fast, the amount and size of the plastic helps with making speed builds.

Cons:

• Plastic is hard to attach to corners, the thinness makes attaching parts difficult.
• Plastic builds are fragile, if you drop a build don't expect it to stay in one piece.
• The plastic sheets limit creativity, the flat dimension of the sheets can make other builds look similar.

How to Use the Different Power Tools in the Shop