The ToyMaster Project

November 13, 2018  Day 2 Journal  By: Lee Joshua Millora  Today we went to Mr. Saporana, the woodworking teacher in St. Patrick Catholic Secondary School, to ask for some scrap wood for the launcher and the base. We chose to get wood for only the launcher because the wood meant for the base was crooked, which would affect the velocity of the ball and direction of it. W e continued to examine the scrap wood to see if they are crooked or have any holes since it would be a systematic error that might affect the physics calculations for the launcher. The sizes, types, and thickness of the woods are important to make a strong and sturdy launcher. It was hard to find the woods for the base and launcher because some of them have holes, glued, or uneven.                        On the day 1, there was a problem that needed to be fixed on the launcher. The pr...

November 19, 2018  Day 3 Journal  By: Angel G  I, Angel talked to Will who is in my physics class and in the wood shop class to help me build the metal dowel launcher version. The prototype for the launcher with the metal dowel was finally built today. It took about 3 days to build it since the building could only take place after school or during lunch. Since we chose to use the metal dowel and the hex nut, there was less wood cutting needed, since the metal version launcher version only needs two wood blocks. In the wood launcher, three wood blocks were used.   Scrap wood from Mr. Saponara’s class was used since it was only a prototype. The length and width of the prototype were made according to the size of the metal dowel. The height did not really matter since the metal dowel is close to the base. As mentioned in day 2, the metal dowel was a 3/8 carriage bolt and was bought from Canadian tire. A picture of the metal dowel can be seen down below. ...

November 8th, 2018 Day 1 Journal By: Simon Zhang  Today is the first day of our group discussion on the toy project. I, Simon, and my partners, Angelica and LJ came up with three toy proposals that involve the concept of a pinball launcher, as Angel suggested it. Angel made a prototype launcher and so first, everyone was made aware of how the pinball launcher works. The four images showed our brainstorming and the structures of each design. The pinball launcher is made up of a short wooden stick surrounded by a strong spring to provide the force to push the marble which is aimed so that the marble can hit the block. Meanwhile, this stick is installed in the centre of the box and three blocks are placed onto the dowel to provide the support needed to make sure the spring compresses when the dowel is pulled through the hole and the spring returns its original form when the dowel is released.  This design is shown below.         ...