Outdoor Furniture Design
What is the Project?- For this project we designed a piece of furniture that could be voted on to be used outside on our campus. My group decided to create a bench that has roofing. In order to create it we first brainstormed ideas for what type of bench we could design. We did this on paper and on Tinker Cad. When we had a rough idea of what we wanted to make we made detailed blueprints of the bench. We then created a cardboard model of what our final product would look like. Finally, we created a detailed materials and costs list for every material we would use in order to actually create it.
Blueprints and pictures
Where it would go
Physics/Engineering Concepts We Used-
Environmental factors- For environmental factors in our project we looked at solar angles so that we could understand how the sun would hit our bench at different angles during the day.
Human use patterns- For this project we looked at other benches to see what was most comfortable for people. We measured the heights of the benches and how long they should be in order to have more people able to sit on it.
Material choice- Material choice was important because you want you bench to be comfortable, strong, and not rot. In order to do this you have to change the material throughout the bench. We used pressure treated wood for the parts of the bench touching the ground because it is harder to rot but it can also cause splinters so is worse for sitting on. Because of this we used redwood for the parts that people would be sitting on for more comfort.
Blueprinting- This project probably included more blueprinting than any other project. We had to create detailed blueprints of what we wanted our bench to look like and have it properly scaled so we could actually create it in real life.
3D Modeling- We created a detailed 3D model of our bench for this project using cardboard. We did this to test how sturdy it would be if it really existed and to see what parts of our blueprints wouldn't work in real life. We also created a model in tinker-cad before we blueprinted to see are initial idea.
Reflection:
I think I did pretty well on this project. This project was really fun because it taught us about real world engineering and what it could be like to be an engineer. This is because we had to actually create a model using real world ideas. Overall I think that this project was great for communication because I didn't know my partners as much as I have on other projects and I had to communicate ideas differently like drawing pictures to get my ideas across. I need to improve on my leadership skills, so our group can work together effeiantly.