Week 1 12/9-12/13: This week we got new laptops in our classroom so I created an account on Fusion, got it activated and then installed Fusion onto my laptop. I have taken CAD classes in the past so I am familiar with the general setup of the program but some things are new to me and some are formatted differently. Then I created my first model for a golf ball at the end of the week and I plan to create many more with differing variables and hopefully print out my original model next week.
Week 2 12/16-12/20: This week I am still working a bit on my google site and plan to work on the Fusion golf ball design for much of the class time this week too. Last week I created a sphere for the golf ball and now I am trying to find how to put dimples on it. Next week I plan to work more on my Fusion golf ball design.
Week 3 1/2-1/3: This week I worked on my golf ball model that I was designing on Autodesk Fusion. I successfully finished the first model of it. I do not think this will be the exact final model since it needs a couple changes to it but it is a good base point. I plan to 3d print it on the PrusaSlicer next week.
Week 4 1/6-1/10: This week I successfully 3d printed my first successful golf ball. Then I printed two more, each time printing a more accurate model to the design on Autodesk Fusion. After this, I successfully designed an adapter from the leaf blower to the tubing and started the print. Next week, I will retrieve my print and then I will design the other adpater for the wind tunnel to the piping.
Week 5 1/13-1/17: This week I retrieved the print for by first adapter from the leaf blower to the tubing. It was successful so I decided to then print the second adapter from the tubing to the wind tunnel. This print was also successful. However I realized that my adapter from the leaf blower to the tubing needed to be more vertically tall so it could cover the openings in the sides of the leaf blower which I had failed to account for in my design. This new slightly altered design would be able to cover those holes meaning essentially all the air from the leaf blower will reach the wind tunnel. I printed this design and it was successful and now it covers the holes in the side of the leaf blower. Then I started to design all my different customized golf balls with different dimple dimensions. I completed two of them. In the next week I plan to finish designing and print out all my golf ball variations.
Week 6 1/27-1/31: This week I printed out the rest of the golf balls I needed and then started to test. I plan to keep testing next week. The process of testing is very long and I need to make sure I am very precise while preforming it so it might take a couple weeks to finish testing.
Week 7 2/3-2/7: This week I continued testing. I plan to continue testing next week.
Week 8 2/10-2/14: Early on in this week I did a lot of testing. In the second half of the week I was working on a mid-year slide presentation and then our class presented them for the rest of the week. I plan to finish testing the week I come back from February and then move onto the next component of the project.
Week 9 2/24-2/28: This week I finished testing the radius in the first two days of the week. I found as the radius of the dimple increased so did the aerodynamic efficiency of the golf ball. Then I started and finished the designing of my next 5 golf balls that would be used to test the "depth variable". After designing them I successfully printed them out and labeled them all. Now I have set myself up for next week so that I can start testing with these golf balls on Monday.
Week 10 3/3-3/7: I tested all the golf balls this week for the depth variable. I found as the depth of the dimple increased so did the aerodynamic efficiency of the golf ball. Next I want to see if there is a "fall off" in the graph of the average distance vs dimple depth. I believe that at a certain point the graph will come to a peak and then after that point making the dimple anymore deeper will make the golf ball less aerodynamic. To test this I will 3d print more golf balls with very deep dimples to see if I could locate the point where the dimple depth starts to negatively affect the aerodynamic efficiency of the golf ball.
Week 11 3/10-3/14: I started and finished testing the new group of the deeper golf ball dimples this week. I found that the golf ball peaked in aerodynamic efficiency around 0.03 inch and then started to become less aerodynamic. So according to my results the golf ball is most aerodynamically efficient around 0.03 inch depth of dimples. Now I will start to work on poster because my Andromeda science fair is coming up soon. If I have time after finishing my poster I would like to make some revisions to my experiment to make the data flow better.
Week 12 3/17-3/21: This week I worked on my google site, worked on my poster, and prepared for my final testing group.
Week 13 3/24-3/28: The first half of the week I spent solving a problem with my testing procedure. I solved the problem by printing a part that was needed to hold the leaf blower lever in place. After I solved this problem I began my final testing group. I tested until the end of the week and almost finished. I will finish testing next week.
Week 13 3/31-4/4: I finished testing in the beginning of this week, then I worked on my poster all week.