August 8, 2016 - August 12, 2016
For the first week of Principles of Engineering in Mr. Neat's
class, I was introduced to the class and how it worked. Mr. Miller
brought half of the class to the place with all the machines that
used to be an old garage. He showed us the different types of
equipment. With Mr. Neat, we each got assigned individual
laptops. I picked laptop #20 because I used that same laptop last
year. I managed to log into my account and I found that the files
from last year were still there. We also worked on our spaghetti
bridge project for two days and laid out our plans. We plan on
building two bridges and picking one of the two that
holds the most weight, then using that one in the actual
competition. We are still in the process of building one of the
bridges. Later, I helped the class log into their computers because
the WiFi was not working. Then, I drove on Mr. Neat's computer to
show the class how to start making their website.
August 15, 2016
On this day, we were having internet issues. Mr. Neat demonstrated
how to make tags on html. Mr. Neat was having issues with his
students not being able to connect to the internet. Internet has
been an issue for quite a while now and it's significantly
delaying the progress of this class.
August 16, 2016
Today, we continued to work on the website. I drove for Mr. Neat
and he showed the class my website. They were allowed to write
down what I had on my website to serve as a framework for the
rest of the year.
August 17, 2016
Today, I worked with my group on the spaghetti project. We made
some significant process in building our bridges. We plan on
making two bridges, each with different designs. We were able
to glue part of the bridge with spaghetti and built a clamp
to hold the spaghetti. Refer to the September 6 entry for the
finished Spaghetti Wednesday Challenge Form.
August 18, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat instructed us to download the Wednesday Challenge
Form from his website and we typed out the problem statement.
Normally, we would type it out ourselves but since it's the
beginning of the year he's letting us copy it this time.
August 19, 2016
Today, we continued to work on the spaghetti project. We decided
to make one of our bridge designs as a log. We're going to wait
for it to dry over the weekend.
August 22, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat explained how we can only have a few people at a
time using the live server to edit their own website. He showed
us how he's going to keep track of it by having metal things
that you grab when you're using the live server. If we used
too many servers at once, the server would get angry. We were
also introduced to SketchUp.
August 23, 2016
Today we learned how to put in a picture into our website.
We copied a line of code from Mr. Neat's website and then edited
it.
August 24, 2016
Today, me and my group worked on the spaghetti project. We used
dried glue to support the bridge and make it stronger.
Refer to the September 6 entry for the finished Spaghetti Wednesday
Challenge Form.
August 25, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat gave us time to work on our websites. He also
showed us how to put in a link on our website. An example
is shown below, which is a link to my Spaghetti Bridge
Wednesday Challenge form in progress.
Spaghetti Bridge Wednesday Challenge
Refer to the September 6 entry for the finished Spaghetti Wednesday
Challenge Form.
Today the veterans presented the JPL challenge to us they
showed us their ideas on a powerpoint. We met a person
that owned a mechanic shop that's an accomplished man.
He talked to us and answered questions. Here's a link to Mr.
Wilton's website:
Mr. Wilton's website
August 29, 2016
Today Mr. Neat showed us Jacob's website that shows tutorials
on how to do stuff in the class. He showed us where we can
go on Jacob's website to install FileZilla if we choose to
at home.
August 30, 2016
Today, we worked on the bridge. We used very good technique
to make the bridge.
August 31, 2016
Today, we continued to work on the bridge. I forgot to take
a picture of the bridge today, hopefully I remember later
on. We used a heat gun to more quickly warm the glue.
Refer to the September 6 entry for the Spaghetti Wednesday
Challenge Form.
September 1, 2016
Today was the Spaghetti Challenge, where people competed
against each other for the best bridge. We have been
building this bridge for several days and we finally
tested it. We decided to use a bridge we built earlier
because the bridge we were currently building did not
dry up fully.
September 6, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat showed the scores for the Spaghetti Bridge
Challenge was 1.075 and the highest score was 13. Mr. Miller
mentioned that the scores were very impressive. This is my
finished Wednesday Challenge Form for the Spaghetti Bridge
Competition:
Spaghetti Bridge Wednesday Challenge
September 7, 2016
Today, we did the Wednesday Challenge. The problem was to find
out a way to differentiate between a cat and a dog using some
type of device. We came up with the idea of having two bowls
of food, one with cat food and one with dog food. Then, the
device would detect which bowl the animal goes for and
decide whether it's a cat or a dog depending on which bowl
the animal ate. This is the Wednesday Challenge Form in progress
so far:
Dog vs. Cat Wednesday Challenge
Refer to the September 13 entry for the finished Dog vs Cat
Wednesday Challenge Form.
September 8, 2016
Today, Mr. Miller told us his rubric of grading our websites.
I learned that the content of the entries make up 60% of the
grade, style makes up 20% grade, and mechanics of the website
makes up 20% of the grade. The total points possible is 10.
Mr. Neat gave us time to work on the website before it gets
graded on Friday.
September 9, 2016
Today, the veterans talked to us further about the JPL invention
challenge. Mr. Wilton told them that they need to be more
efficient with their time. The veterans shared their ideas
with us, one of them was similar to a toilet flush.
September 12, 2016
Today we are going to build stuff on SketchUp. I built a city
with 25 buildings. The buildings varied in form and size.
I learned how to make rectangles on SketchUp and then
use the pull/push tool to make them into 3-D objects.
This is the city I made on SketchUp:
SketchUp City
September 13, 2016
Today we learned how to make a 3-D object and set the dimensions
of it. We did it first by making a rectangle and then typing
in the dimensions right after. Then we used the push/pull
tool to make it 3-D and then set the dimensions of that also
by typing in the dimensions right after using the tool.
My Jenga was 3" by 1" by 0.5" so I typed those in and accurately
displayed my Jenga on the SketchUp. Here is my finished Wednesday
Challenge for the Dog vs. Cat Challenge:
Dog vs Cat Wednesday Challenge
September 14, 2016
Today we did another Wednesday Challenge. Mr. Neat was not
here today. Mr. Miller took the role as acting teacher
to fill in the role of Mr. Neat, since he was gone.
The Wednesday Challenge was basically a challenge
designed to teach us how to make lines and teach us
that manually cutting is inaccurate compared to
using machines. We measured two inches and then used
a hand saw to cut it at that length. Our veteran
taught us to keep the hand saw straight when
cutting. Refer to the September 15 entry for the finished 2
inch wood Wednesday Challenge Form.
September 15, 2016
Today we finished working on the Wednesday Challenge
from yesterday. This time, we did not have the help
of our veteran. This is the Wednesday Challenge
Form for this week's Wednesday Challenge:
2 Inch Wood Wednesday Challenge Form
September 16, 2016
Today I sorted my FileZilla. I did this by making a folder for
images and another folder for all the Wednesday Challenges.
This makes my FileZilla much more organized and easier to work
with. It also cleaned up my desktop.
September 19, 2016
Today Mr. Miller told us to sign up on CourseSites. We made
an account on the website to sign up for the safety course.
Then, we made a structure on SketchUp using three jenga
blocks. This is the SketchUp picture and the real
picture side by side, respectively.
September 20, 2016
Today Meghan Musser from Skillifynow came to our class to talk
about her program of helping students get internships. She
told us that internships are very important to success.
She also told us she would teach us how to network.
September 21, 2016
Today we did the marble Wednesday Challenge. I was on Raul's
team. But, our team did not win. This is the Wednesday
Challenge Form for the Marble Challenge:
Marble Wednesday Challenge
September 22, 2016
Today I learned how to make a video from Alex. Through some
trial and error, he managed to show us the process of
getting a youtube video onto our own website. Here is
an example of a youtube video, which I got from Mr. Neat's
website:
What you have to do is scroll down below the video and then
click Share, and then click Embed and then copy paste
the code that youtube gives to you into Notepad++. By
the way, if the youtube video is not showing properly while
viewing the website, try refreshing the page.
September 23, 2016
Today Mr. Neat told us that he is going to grade the
websites over the weekend. For some reason, the picture
that I took of the three jengas in real life is not
working on the FileZilla website, but it works when I do it on
my computer. Eventually, I solved this problem by simply
dragging my whole images folder into FileZilla and overwrote
everything. I also did this with my Wednesday Challenges
folder. In the end, it solved my problem of the picture
not working on FileZilla.
September 26, 2016
Today Mr. Neat showed us our grades. He showed different
student websites that he thought were good to show
what he was looking for. He showed my website as one
of the examples.
September 27, 2016
Today Mr. Neat showed us a video of a space ship explosion
after a failed launch. Some guy gave their analysis on the
explosion. Afterwards, Mr. Neat gave us time to work on
our websites. He walked around and helped out anyone
who needed help.
September 28, 2016
Today we started the archBridge wednesday challenge. I met
with my group and we discussed what we were going to do.
First, we had to search up what an arch bridge was
and find out what exactly we were building.
Mr. Neat clarified which type of archbridge we were
building. Here is the powerpoint pdf for the
Archbridge Wednesday Challenge:
Archbridge Wednesday Challenge
September 29, 2016
Today we continued to work on the archbridge wednesday
challenge. I downloaded the archbridge template
from the website. Then, I saved it as another
powerpoint and I entered in my group members' names.
We are still deciding on which material to use.
Refer to the September 28 entry for the Archbridge
Wednesday Challenge powerpoint pdf.
September 30, 2016
Today Mr. Miller talked to us about our websites
and advised us to update our websites on FileZilla today. This
is because if the FileZilla doesn't work next Friday, at least we
would have more entries to show than if we didn't update it
at all. He also told us to start working on the Safety
Procedures. Afterwards, Kevin showed us the progress
the veterans have made on the JPL Invention Challenge.
Mr. Wilton gave his input on the device.
October 3, 2016
Today I met up with my group for the archbridge Wednesday
Challenge. We discussed potential materials that we
could use for building the bridge. We're still
trying to figure out which materials we are
going to use. Refer to the September 28 entry for the Archbridge
Wednesday Challenge powerpoint pdf.
October 4, 2016
Today we met up again with our groups. We decided on
the material that we're using. We are using a
keystone in our design of the bridge. Refer to the September 28
entry for the Archbridge Wednesday Challenge powerpoint pdf.
October 5, 2016
Today I brought in the material that we are using
that I bought yesterday. We tried out multiple
designs physically. We also continued to work on
the archbridge powerpoint. Refer to the September 28 entry for the
Archbridge Wednesday Challenge powerpoint pdf.
October 6, 2016
Today we needed to build our final bridge for the archbridge
competition. We did not use an effective material for
the bridge and we got disqualified from the competition
as a result. Refer to the September 28 entry for the Archbridge
Wednesday Challenge powerpoint pdf.
October 7, 2016
Today Mr. Neat showed us the results of the archbridge
competition. The group that used erasers as the material
for the bridge was the group that won. They used
erasers as the material because it has more grip
than other material such as wood.
October 10, 2016
Today Mr. Neat showed us a cool video that used
sound to make a certain type of fluid form
different shapes. Connor is the one that recommended
the video and explained it further after the video
ended. Afterwards, we went on SketchUp to remember
what we learned in it.
October 11, 2016
Today Mr. Neat showed us another video of a robot, but this
time the robot emulated a dog in its design. It jumped over
various obstacles. Afterwards, we went onto SketchUp and
continued to practice the move tool by making a
staircase. I also added in a door. Here's the picture:
October 12, 2016
Today we did the Card Tower Wednesday Challenge. We had to
build the highest structure made entirely by stacking cards.
We built little pyramids of cards side by side and stacked
them on top of each other.
Here is the Card Tower Wednesday Challenge Form, which includes
a picture of the card tower:
Card Tower Wednesday Challenge
October 13, 2016
Today we worked on SketchUp. We measured the cards and then
replicated it on SketchUp using the same dimensions. I also
added in the round curves using the technique that Mr.
Neat showed us the other day. Here is the card
on SketchUp:
October 14, 2016
Today we were shown the different devices that were made
for the JPL Invention Challenge. We had to move to the
workshop next door to see them. They seem to be making
great progress.
October 17, 2016
Today I worked on making a pencil in SketchUp. I started out
by making the 3 parts of the pencil separately. It's not
finished yet.
October 18, 2016
Today I continued to work on the pencil in SketchUp.
I'm doing it by making the three parts of the pencil
separately. It's not easy.
October 19, 2016
Today we had a Wednesday Challenge that told us
to make a perfect ninety degree angle using three
straws. If the whole class joins together as a
group, then the whole class will get an A on
the Wednesday Challenge. The Wednesday
Challenge Form is posted on the website
on Mr. Miller's page. The Angles Wednesday Challenge Form
is here:
Angles Wednesday Challenge
October 20, 2016
I finished up the pencil in SketchUp today. Here is the
picture:
October 24, 2016
Today Mr. Miller talked to us the whole period. He talked
about the Angle Wednesday Challenge. The two lessons that
he wanted to get through to us is to be mindful of your
teammates and use math to make precise measurements. In
this case, it would be the Pythagorean Theorem to get
a 90 degree right angle.
October 25, 2016
Today Mr. Neat decided to give us time to work on our
websites. I already did the Angle Wednesday Challenge
Form and posted it on my live website. I also
have everything else updated so far. He told us to make
a piece of lego on SketchUp next. Here is the picture of the lego:
October 26, 2016
Today we did the candy corn Wednesday Challenge. Our estimation
was 493, but the correct answer was 496. Here is the
Candy Corn Wednesday Challenge Form:
Candy Corn Wednesday Challenge
October 27, 2016
Today Mr. Neat gave us time to work on yesterday's wednesday
challenge and on our websites. I finished up the lego
on SketchUp. Mr. Neat then walked out with the candy corn
wednesday challenge answer again so that we could take a
picture of it.
October 28, 2016
Today the veterans showed their progress on the JPL Invention
Challenge. One of the group is behind on progress because
of group complications and is behind as a result. They
showed us a SketchUp model of what they plan on building
for the JPL Invention Challenge.
October 31, 2016
Today Mr. Neat presented the Bridge Report that's due at
the end of the semester. He showed us an example he did of
the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. After he finished showing us the
example, he gave us time to work on our websites.
November 1, 2016
Today Mr. Neat gave us time to work on our lego blocks and websites.
I was already finished with the top part of the lego block, so
I worked on the bottom part of the lego. I had to draw a lot
of guidelines.
November 2, 2016
Today we had a Wednesday Challenge where we had to replicate
the letter E on SketchUp. Another group would have to take that
SketchUp and then build it physically. We only got to do the
SketchUp today. Here are the pictures:
Here is the Letter E Wednesday Challenge Form:
Letter E Wednesday Challenge Form
November 3, 2016
Today we finished up the Wednesday Challenge. We got the #6
letter E and cut it up using boxcutters. The SketchUp
was very helpful with dimensions written out. They did a
great job setting us up and making it easy to build it
physically.
November 4, 2016
Today we were shown a video about Duke Engines. The background
music had a nice beat. It showed a visual representation
of how the Duke Engine works, partly consisting of five
cylinders. One of the advantages of a Duke Engine is that
it is resistant of pre-ignition.
November 7, 2016
Today my group found out who were the people who made their
physical E using our SketchUp. Basically, we found out who
the rest of our group was. Then, we were handed a bunch
of E's that were not even ours. It took a while to figure it
out and find the E that we made.
November 8, 2016
Today Mr. Neat gave us time to work on our websites and
on the Wednesday Challenge Form on the letter E. We also
found out which bridge we were going to do. I emailed
myself the picture of the physical E and the picture of
the letter E on SketchUp to post on my website.
November 9, 2016
Today we started the Wednesday Challenge for the 1kg weights.
We had to figure out the ratio of the solid 1kg block with the hook
to the bag of screws that weighed 1kg. We held both of these
in our hands and decided that the bag weighed much less
than the solid 1kg block. Here is the 1 kilogram Wednesday
Challenge Form:
1 Kilogram Wednesday Challenge Form
November 10, 2016
Today we had the veterans show their progress on the JPL Invention
Challenge. This is the last time that we meet up before they
participate in the JPL Invention Challenge and the last time Mr.
Wilton is here. The group with the vacuum has started doing
tests to maximize the amount of grams of water they can get.
November 14, 2016
Today Mr. Neat gave us time to work on our website. He told us
who won the 1 Kilogram Wednesday Challenge, who was Tyler's
group. He then told us to work on our Wednesday Challenges
for the letter E and the 1 kilogram one. He then walked
around checking for the Letter E Wednesday Challenges that
were live on FileZilla.
November 15, 2016
Today was a workday that Mr. Neat gave us. We worked on the
Bridge Presentation that is due at the end of the semester.
We've done major progress on the presentation.
November 16, 2016
Today we did a Wednesday Challenge on sheer force. We had a
choice of what adhesive to use to keep the two little bars
together. The group with the bars that withheld the
highest amount of force is the group that wins. We had to
choose from many adhesives such as duct tape and superglue.
Here is the Sheer Force Wednesday Challenge Form:
Sheer Force Wednesday Challenge Form
Here is the picture of The Splitter, which measured the sheer
force of the adhesive:
November 17, 2016
Today Mr. Miller talked to us about yesterday's Wednesday
Challenge. He told us he didn't want to weigh the
sheer force more than two gallons of water because of how
dangerous it would be. Afterwards, he switched out with
Mr. Neat.
November 18, 2016
Today Mr. Neat told us that it's mostly a JPL Invention day.
It's a special day. We have four different inventions, but
we can only use three. He said part of the day we would have time
to work on our websites though.
November 28, 2016
Today we were on SketchUp. Kevin was driving and he taught us
how to use the rotating tool. The color of the protractor
corresponds to the color of which axis it is on. Afterwards,
Mr. Neat told us to make a SketchUp of our archbridge.
November 29, 2016
Today the veterans talked to us after the JPL Invention Challenge.
They did not win. One of the groups' design had a rope that got
stuck and made the design fail as a result. Here are the pictures
of the lego arch bridge. The one on the left is the SketchUp
of the one on the right. It's important to note that our bridge
got disqualified.
November 30, 2016
Today we worked on a wednesday challenge. We had to make a SketchUp
of a design that had the highest height possible. First, we made
a SketchUp of each material that we could use for building it:
a cracker, a pretzel, and a marshmellow. We decided to build
a tower of crackers only. It was 1 foot, 9 and 9/16 inches high
on the SketchUp. Here is the Crackers Structure Wednesday
Challenge Form:
Crackers Structure Wednesday Challenge Form
Here are the pictures of the our crackers structure and the
SketchUp model of the structure that we had to make physically,
respectively:
December 1, 2016
Today we had to physically make a building using the SketchUp
model that some other group made. We tried building it, but
it did not hold up. It used 4 marshmellows, 2 crackers, and
2 pretzels.
December 2, 2016
Today was a workday in which we could work on our own pace.
The sub also had an episode of Mythbusters showing. I worked
on my wednesday challenge for this week.
December 5, 2016
Today we were shown the results of last week's Wednesday
Challenge. Our group got disqualified from the competition
because we couldn't keep the structure that we built upright.
It kept falling over. Afterwards, Mr. Neat told us that our
final was to do the JPL Invention Challenge with a group.
December 6, 2016
Today Mr. Neat told us about the Robotics Club that is starting
after winter break and lasts until spring break. Afterwards, he
gave us time to work on our JPL Invention Challenge final project.
December 7, 2016
Today Mr. Neat gave us more time to work on the final project.
He told us that he would fund our materials for making the
project if we made a SketchUp of what we were going to build
and he approved of it. If not, we would have to fund our own
materials.
December 8, 2016
Today we continued to work on the final project. I looked at the
JPL Invention Challenge rules online. It was on Mr. Neat's
website. We made the water vessel on SketchUp using the
dimensions written on the JPL Invention Challenge official
rules.
December 9, 2016
Today Mr. Neat was not here. We had a substitute and the whole
period was a workday basically. We continued to plan out what
we were going to do for the final project.
December 12, 2016
Today we have the design built for the final project. We
continued testing. Our design is similar to the Kevin arm.
We're using bungee cords to propel the water cup.
December 13, 2016
Today we continued to test our device. It exerts a lot of force.
December 14, 2016
Today we tested our device with bricks to hold it down. Without
it, the device would jump out of place.
