Dec 20

Throwback Thursday

Today, was the last day working here at the school Tecnico Chixot with Long Way Home and one of the busiest. We had breakfast, which included eggs, bread, jam, chorizo, and cereal. Once we finished eating, the group walked to the school. When we arrived, we were happy to see that the tongs we needed were prepared and delivered to us bright. The remaining goals for the work week was to accurately refill the solar power system batteries with distilled water in order to keep electrolytes inside the battery, finish drying the molds for the aluminum forge, getting gloves and charcoal to test the forge, and continue building the prototype for the trash compactor.

While Angel was building his trash compactor prototype in the classroom, Abdullah, Cristian, Giselle, and Jenny found some charcoal and machete chopped it until it was small enough to fit into the forge (with the crucible inside). After that, Angel and Jenny used Angel's makeshift measuring stick to refill the batteries with distilled water so the water would cover the plates and electrons could freely flow between the plates. Dr. Basha was still checking the solar panel system to see if there were any changes.

When the charcoal was ready, Cristian and Abdullah went to go find a PVC pipe, pipe joint, and metal pipe for the forge exhaust. They tried to fit it into one of the two holes in the forge, but realized that we would need the pipe to point at an angle for optimal air flow. Therefore, Cristian and Jenny worked on filing some of the brick blocking the way so the pipe could be angled better. At this point, everyone was trying to get the forge ready to heat up after lunch and we set up our forge station as far away from the buildings as possible (with two buckets of water in case).

After lunch, the moment we all have been waiting for was going to happen! Thomas (the photographer) got us a piece of wood to help start the fire for the charcoal. However, it was actually really challenging to keep the fire going. It took us multiple tries to get the charcoal to ember up. Giselle and Cristian did a really great job feeding the flames and keeping the fire. We ended up using a heat gun as the air source instead of a hair dryer to keep the fire going. However, the heat gun was kind of melting the PVC pipe, which was not what we wanted. Cristian and GIselle ended up making the decision to blow the heat gun in the other open end of the forge and then using the pipes as the exhaust for the forge.

While all this was happening, Dr. Basha, Abdullah, and Jenny ended up going to the construction site to help with the cement filling as they needed more hands on deck. It was really intense because they needed the cement job done by the end of the day (4PM) as the cement would dry by the next day. It was a combination of coordination, teamwork, and heavy lifting. Dr. Basha, Abdullah, and Jenny worked with the students from Southern Utah University and the school construction workers to fill the building layer with cement.

Angel stayed in the classroom to complete his trash compactor prototype, occasionally coming out to help with the forge. Angel's ratchet lever prototype ended up looking amazing! Even though it was all done in cardboard, the idea was there and hopefully, Long Way Home can bring the idea to life later on to speed up their trash compacting process.

At one point, Giselle and Cristian decided to drop in a crushed aluminum can just to see if it would work. To their dismay, the can only seemed to turn really brown and not "melt". At this point, Dr. Basha, Abdullah, Angel, and Jenny would stop what they were doing and come to check on the progress of the forge. We were all thinking that the problem may be either that the forge could not reach up to the melting temperature of aluminum (around 1200 Farhenheit) or that the crucible wall was too thick meaning that heat transfer was slower. It ended up being the latter as the crucible ended up getting hot enough and the aluminum can was actually melting on the bottom after pushing it down with our tongs! We were super excited!!

We all ended up staying at the aluminum forge station and kept melting the aluminum cans. As 4PM was approaching, we realized it was best to stop melting cans and to actually test if the cab molds would work. Cristian lifted the crucible carefully with the tongs and attempted to pour the molten aluminum into the muffin tin and cab molds. After a little molten aluminum was poured into the muffin tin and 40:60 cab mold, the aluminum set in the crucible and would not pour out anymore. This wasn't efficient as the crucible was only away from the charcoal for like 30 seconds.

However, from our two samples, the cooled aluminum took shape of the molds and looked really cool! The cab mold worked pretty well as the aluminum only left scorch marks and had a few pieces of sand and dirt stuck to it (which could be removed with water). The experimental forge seemed to work pretty well besides the crucible cooling too quickly. With this idea, the school could melt their aluminum cans and mold certain objects to either sell for the school or as medals for the students in the school!

As this was our last day at the school, we said our farewells to Roberto, Thomas, and the construction workers of Tecnico Chixot and headed back to the hostel.

Tonight, we had grilled carne asada, potatoes, cucumber salad, beans, and tortillas for dinner followed by a cultural marimba performance. We all danced alongside together in a circle with the music in the background and it was such a wholesome time! At the end of the night, we all packed and rested so we could be ready by 2AM in the following morning to leave for Antigua.