Compound Machine Design

Name: Anish Roy

Class Period: 1B

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: In this project, you will design and build a compound machine following all of the design constraints.

Design Process: We first brainstormed ideas on what type of compound machines we could create and after we decided on which one we were going to build, we actually went ahead and built our contraption. Then, we made annotated isometric drawings that detailed the parts of our creation. Furthermore, the last part was the testing phase, our creation would have to move a heavy block up 6 inches, and we tested this in front of the class.

Learning Target: Identify different simple machines and how they can be used in conjunction as well as calculate IMA.

Personal Reflection: This project was very influential in my understanding of simple machines and how they could be put together to move objects, and how they could be used to make the movement of objects extremely easy. Furthermore, I was also able to visualize how AMA, IMA, and efficiency were utilized in the movement of the different parts. Furthermore, I am very proud of our creation especially because I contributed a significant amount to it, I came up with the design and helped in its creation, as well as fixed any mistakes that may have been hindering our performance. This project was one of the more enjoyable ones as it helped me showcase my mechanical skills as well as my mathematical knowledge. Additionally, the challenge of trying to lift the 100 g block was exciting and promoted competition among groups. The simple machines that we used in our system are a wheel and axle, a gear system, a spool that counts as a second wheel and axle, and 2 pulleys. Calculations for the pulleys were the easiest since their IMA is just the number of strings were present. However, the gears were somewhat challenging, finding out which way Fr and De are is confusing if you don't have substantial practice. However, the great thing about this project is that it helped me improve in this category, I believe I can read the IMA of a gear train at a much faster rate than before. I would overall say that my enjoyment of this project is quite high.