Year 1 IED Truss Design Project

Another long story to blog ar!! haha... as the title suggests, all year 1 Engineering students had been given a project to do... hehe... interesting right?? we're supposed to design and construct a truss... then test it out to see how much load it can take... the more the better of course~ btw, a truss is a bridge-like structure or some would say a frame built from figures of triangles... put in simpler terms, it's juz like the Harbour Bridge, Sydney that kinda style la...

The challenge here is we have to use hot dog sticks, nuts and bolts as well as PVA (Polyvinyl Acetate) glue... tat's the white glue that they owaz use for artworks one lo~ hehe... and then there are also lotsa other constraints la... anw, juz read the timeline below =D

9 May 2008

Hot dog sticks, nuts and bolts and the glue handed out to groups... My group?? Marilyn (Malaysian but came here to study college), Jack Tan (everyone knows la) and William (a Chinese guy)...

22 May 2008

Finally after completing the design and report, we decided it's time to start building the thing!! hehe... This is where we did our woodwork~ the old Geomechanics lab... and our assistant is Mr. Liew... Mark Liew... not Wa Liew (it's a hokkien swear word)~ haha! *lame*
This is how the lab looks like la... but then the stuffs inside shud b all taken away to the first floor liao lo~
We graded the sticks into A, B and C grades accordingly la... Each grade sticks has it's own uses one... later i'll slow slow explain... haha...

23 May 2008

Next thing is the sawing!! muahahaha!!!! -_-|| anw, i haven't seen this kinda saw for a thousand years dy lo (actually only bout 5 years la... juz to exaggerate only)...
After sawing, gotta drill some holes so that the sticks can be screwed (hmm~ sounds weird)... haha... there are only two such drills in the lab... and in the following week, the lab was actually so so full, man~ everyone do last minute... haha... thank gudness my group finished it earlier and on time too... =)
After sawing and drilling, we have to smoothen the edges and the holes la... so, sanding time~ hehe... bought these 3M sand papers at an artwork shop...
I saw.....
... and I sand it too!! O.o this is to prove that i oso got do stuffs one hor~ hehe...

27 May 2008

Hmm~~ rested a few days for the weekends... then we have to get ourselves into this sticky situation dy... stick the sticks together!! haha...
Marilyn happily sticking the sticks together during a math lecture... hehe...
That's not the worst thing... the worst one is we did it behind the lecturer's back... the guy standing is our math lecturer for that day la... haha!!
After the math lecture, we decided to go out to the sun and sun-dry our sticks... here, Jack seems like a person selling ikan kering (dried fish)!! haha... but then sadly, he left me and Marilyn to go have his lunch~ ok, nvm... go have ur lunch... but who knows he came back to meet us only when the resting period is over... aiz~ leaving us there under the bright sun!! =(
Sticks laid out to be dried~~ hehe... oh ya.. the clips are meant to make sure that the sticks are tightly stuck together =D yeps... and so that the glue will b absorbed into the sticks producing a stronger adhesivity... haha... and one more thing... the sticks should be left like this for hours!! best is left one day to dry... i pity the clips la... even me oso cant open my mouth whole day long... haha~~
Later that day, we went to the library to discuss bout the design of the truss... we're putting it together!! hehe... so, it's sticks---> truss!! =D but some problem occured... the sticks actually did not fit together!! omg~ i was like "this time die die liao la...." but thanx to William (left) and Jack (they're in-charge of the design part), a solution was found!! hehe... and i was like "wa!! heng (lucky) ar..." haha... Marilyn was in-charge of the calculations part while i oversee the report part lo... hehe... so, everyone got thgs to do!! =>
After pek chek pek chek (being frustrated) a bit, we went back home... i was asked to assemble the truss at home... so, these are the members and the nuts and bolts i used to assemble it... hehe... we actually call each hot dog sticks as members la... juz a convention... and at each end of the sticks that will be bolted together, we call that a joint...

28 May 2008

This is the completed model of the assembled truss!! hehe... it looks kinda like an injured object with lotsa things holding it together lei~ haha...
Each hot dog sticks without reinforcement can actually take up to 23.4 kg of load!! powerful hor?! haha... this here is a '2 style' reinforcement... it's actually juz two sticks stuck together...
Then there's the '2+ style' reinforcement (read as two plus)... it's actually two sticks sandwiching cut sticks as spacers...
And this one... i tell u ar~ this one ar... is we create on our own one... haha... the lecturer nvr taught this in lectures... we call it the '2++ style' reinforcement (read as two plus plus)... hehe... it actually is quite strong one lo~~
Another thing... each joint can only have six sticks... like this joint... if more than that, it'll b disqualified dy... hehe... and the screws have to be hand-tightened one lo... that time do til fingers vy painful neh~~ yea la, the screw so small... aiz~
Well, went to uni after taking all the pictures... haha... met Clarence in the lab... all alone~~ aiks... his group mates are so so bad.. left him alone to do all the work lei... sad huh?? juz look at his lonely expression... head facing down... aiz~~ sad la.... hehe..
Later that day, we actually have to dismember the truss... aiya!! all my hard work!!! but then no choice la... wanna drill holes for the place to put the load mar... hehe...
Next thing to do is to put the cross members!! hehe... cross members are sticks that connect both the trusses together la... we decided that the length between the two trusses should be about 80 mm apart~ haha.. this is taken by dividing the height of our truss with the Golden Ratio of 1.618... amazing huh?! hehe...
Cross members goin across two trusses...

29 May 2008

Again, i have to take the truss back home to stick all the cross members~~ aiks... haha... this is the completed truss with the cross members stuck onto it but not dry yet la...
This is the place where the loading apparatus will be resting on... hehe... it's actually a pipe that runs through from one side to the other side...
Bird's eye view of the truss...
Isometric view or simply said, it's by viewing at a certain angle onto the bridge la... nice right?? hehe...

30 May 2008

Finally the day has arrived!! the testing day.... hehe... this here is the platform where we'll put out truss~ it's 450 mm apart... L=450 mm while H=175 mm... these are the constraints and requirements la
This is the loading apparatus i talked bout lo~~ u see the pipe on the top left corner? tat'll rest on the place i previously shown la... then the weights will be resting on the platform on the right... this thing weighs about 3.6 kg lo... and i tel u... there are some groups reli kinda unlucky la.. haha... they only hang this thing and before the count to three, the whole truss fail dy~~ haha!! aiyoyo... sad la...
The weights!! scary eh?? looks vy big hor?? the right one (silver in colour) weighs about 10.2 kg while the middle two silver ones weigh about 2.5 kg each and the left 3 giants (rusted ones) weigh about 9.8 kg~~ heavy lei?? haha...



Here's a video of my truss test... hehe... my truss actually held 72 kg!!! amazing eh?? but well, i got 4th in my class la... the top one in my class was i think 85 kg la... but well, that's an achievement dy la!! haha...
The green arrows show where the truss failed and the red arrows show where the force that fails the truss acts upon... the blue arrows show where the failed members detached to... so, actually my group's truss can hold more load... juz tat the glue not strong enough la... aiks~~ shud have put more glue since it's free....
Group photo!! hehe... from left, me, Marilyn (hiding behind me), James Fick (my tutor), Jack Tan and out truss held by Jack and Jim (this is what we call our tutor)... William was not there as maybe he's late la... dunno oso~~
Introducing, the latest product!! the ultimate thing that can hold anything!! from hanging clothes to hanging a baby cot.... it is the TRUSS!! haha...

31 May 2008

Here's a lil' souvenir i took back... hehe... decided to hang it on my wall... ta da!! my truss... only it's one sided la...

Well, i'll blog til here la... this is a vy vy long post~ aiks... tired fingers... and cold too... wu~~~ k then... enjoy reading and c ya nex time!!