Magnetic Board Testing 1

Materials

Testing

We took a little packing tape to secure the magnet inside the wooden block and place it on the sheet metal. The block held up well, but then we placed the PVC on top of the block. Immediately the block's flush side angled away for the sheet metal losing the connection that the magnet had and fell to the floor. We attempted this many times even trying to use smaller PVC. There was no way that the ceramic magnet could support the wooden block and any weight so we knew we must up the strength of the magnet.

Other Problems

The PVC that we ordered was much bigger than expected, the size was way over the top and much larger than needed to get balls through that were not choking hazards. Because of that issue, we used scrap PVC in order to work on the prototype. We went to the Machine Shop to have Phil cut some of the pieces for us. He quickly warned us that cutting the PVC in half lengthwise is much harder than we thought since the PVC will rotate. This is something we would have had to do by ourselves and it would most likely not come out looking clean.

Phil cut down the length of some pieces for us and we discovered that there was a lot of debris that was still stuck to the ends and after pulling it off and attempting to sand it the edges were still too rough for the young age group we were planning on giving this to. On top of that finding PVC in different shapes and colors was not easy in the sizes that we desired, options became very limit the larger size we needed. After all of these discoveries, we worried if PVC was the most practical use for us so we began to look at different materials.

Adjustment

Melaney and Alex went out to purchase stronger magnets so we would not have to wait for the time it took to order it through the school. While out they found plastic rain gutters that we hoped could also work as track pieces and would be easier to cut in half considering their rectangular shape. With these two items, we worked on testing these again.

Prototype and Testing

For these new items, a similar method was used to prototype and test. This time we drilled a hole partially into the wood block so the magnet could rest inside (example wood block pictured). We then used our scrap PVC and rain gutters to test if the magnet could support the weight.

The magnet could not be set completely flush inside of the wood block so whenever weight was placed on the block the magnet side angled away from the board causing the piece to fall off.

Problems

The wood block system is not working no matter the strength of the magnet. Many of the materials that we got for our product are either too heavy or are not possible to be cut in half like we thought.

Attempted Solutions

We attempted to get plastic cups that we could cut out the bottoms of to use as track pieces but the plastic was too thick and would crack once we attempted to cut it. We tried to find cardboard shipping tubes but any ones that we found online were too expensive for the budget that we had and would most likely still have a little too much weight.

In attempts to make a working prototype to test things such as how many runs can be made and stable connections we decided not to use any method of embedding magnets in a connecting piece and instead decided to attach them directly to the track. We created a prototype with two of our rain gutters and paper cups with the bottoms cut out since it was something on hand. With this prototype, we were able to do some actual testing and begin to prove that our system will meet our clients' needs. For more information on that prototype and the testing done on it please visit the "Magnetic Board Testing 2" sub-page under this tab.