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When I work on a project I write pretty much everything down. It helps me work through the problems I have, keep track of what I'm doing, and get a better picture of what I'm trying to build. It's where I write ideas and measurements, sketch plans, solve project-related math and physics problems, and take note of new concepts I'm learning. Below are some of the pages from my notebook, from the projects on this website. Since it's my personal project journal, no one is allowed to judge me for the messy handwriting.
My poor project notebook. It's been drilled through, used as a cutting board, glued, hammered, sawed, taped, and tossed around. This is where most of my projects start.
Left, initial designs for the shape of the ship and the minimum height needed to fit me inside. This actually took a lot of math, some that I never really expected to use in regular life. On the right are the calculations I did to find the radius of the largest hoop.
Left, several possible designs for the ship, focusing on the round option with four structural hoops. Also shows measurements for how much pex pipe would be needed for the hoops and inital measurements and ideas for windows.
Ideas for how to attach the plexiglass dome to the front of the spaceship.
At first I wanted to build my own simple tricycle, but settled on buying one. Right, the measurements of the trike I bought.
Figuring out the door, the wings, and the windshield.
Left, measurements of the structural pvc pipe that supports the nose. Right, final designs with measurements for ratios.
These pages detail several ways to make wings either detachable or foldable, the pros and cons of each idea, and the main challenges of adding wings to the spaceship
Right, the first calculated values and the lengths I used to calculate them. Those lengths were measured from a pencil-and-paper drawing with a ruler. I later learned that the calculated values on this page were not at all the correct side lengths of my triangles. This page also includes notes about how to approach the calculations.
Left, all the triangles in the spaceship, including wings and tails.
Left, a table full of unhelpful values. These are values I got directly from my computer-aided spaceship drawings, of all the lines in each drawing. No math was done to get these lengths, I just clicked on all the lines in my drawings to get their lengths.
Right, trying to understand what value I'm actually looking for. The final formula is visible at the top right corner of the page.
Left, the final list of values. These are the correct values. Final lengths are calculated using three separate lengths: an X, Y, and Z coordinate. The square root of the sum of the the squares of each of the coordinates gives the final value. The three boxes at the top of the page are calculations for lines for which one coordinate is zero.
Right, a checklist for the triangles and some minor problem solving.
Left, initial ideas for a bikeship, with notes on possible issues and required measurements
Center, bike measurements, ideas for attaching cardboard panels, and a list of questions that needed solutions
Right, a drawing showing the ship structure and which types of pipes (PEX for shape and PVC for strength) would be used in which areas, and some ideas for making windows, a door, and attaching cardboard panels.
A diagram of the ship with possible joints, connection points, structure, shape, extra attachments, and other notes
Pictures of possible bikeship shapes among drawings of a helmet. Strange that it's hard to tell the difference.
Initial planning for how to make a flat chess board fold into a box. I considered using pins, wire, or gluing ribbon on the edges for hinges until I settled on sewing. The key with folding was to make the box a rectangular prism instead of a cube.
Figuring out what steps should be shown on the instructions for reassembling the chess box.
A diagram that reminds me how to sew the box together.
These plans helped me know exactly what the cad model needed to look like, and what size my 3d printed piece needed to be.
This was more of a figure-it-out-while-building kind of project. I had a vague idea of how I was going to build this chair, and my idea transformed into something real and more clear as I scavenged around my yard to see what wood I had to work with. I didn't even have clear measurements for the height of the legs, I just used the shortest piece I had and cut the rest to fit. In the end, it became more of a chair than the stool I had planned.
Basic ideas for how to build a cheese guillotine, with metal balls that slide down a track.
Final plans for the guillotine. The sizes for this project were based on the materials I had available.
These are my calculations to find how many gallons I need to keep me afloat. I used the buoyancy force equation, with the density of water and my mass to find the minium submerged volume that would hold my weight.
Planning the shape, size, and design of the raft. I decided what the parameters were and drew several designs that fit within. I considered using ropes, creating a kind of bean-bag with a tarp, and sewing containers to a rug or sheet.
Final design using a pvc frame from an old homemade soccer goal, with dimensions and a plan for how to fit all 45 gallons onto the frame. I've also kept track of what kind of containers and how much total volume I've collected.
A quick design for a paddle, a recalcualtion of needed volume based on the extra weight of the raft, and further notes on the relationship between mass and minimum submerged volume.
Here, I wrote a list of problems I expect from the raft. Since my projects evolve as I build them, these are issues I wasn't able to fully consider before I started.
Once I filled in the center of the raft with containers, it became clear that my raft would be unbalanced and in danger of tipping, so I plan to create outriggers.
At first I thought I could use the same equation that I used a few years ago (below, left) when I made a pan pipe out of pvc pipes, but it turns out the sound a tube makes when hit or blown from the bottom is completely different than when it is hit from the side. So I had to find the interval between the notes I wanted and use a chart to find out how long the pipes had to be,
Interested in a project? Click on the title to go to a page with pictures, videos, and more details.
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