Tech 2018 - Balancing Toy

Balancing Toy

For the past ten weeks, we have all been working on making balancing toys. The slideshow below is of the plan/diary we kept during the making of it.
(~BEWARE, I forgot to add pictures on some of the days for different reasons which are explained~)



Yeah, yeah, I know- not the best slideshow.😬
As you would have seen- the last few slides I pretty much gave up. I forgot pictures and I was lacking on the actual writing too. But, nevermind that, let's get to how much I actually achieved for the past term.

Did I Finish?
No, I did not manage to get it done. 😔
Why not?
Because almost all of us left welding to the last minute- myself included. Everyone was fighting to get finished, and I didn't weld. I also needed to spray paint it all, but I couldn't exactly do that when I wasn't finished.

What did I enjoy?
I enjoyed the work. Even though only about four of us finished, I still enjoyed working. Our class was working the most that I've seen all year. No one was playing games, no one was messing around (well... not much) like they do in other classes. I actually feel kind of proud. It was cool glancing up and seeing everyone hard at work.

What did I learn?
I learned how to get bits out of my project without messing it up. My music note -for the design- needed to be cut in the middle. As explained below;

What was a challenge?
My music note was the time-consuming part. I needed to get the middle out without cutting anything else. And because saws and hacksaws cannot bend, I needed to find another way around it. I asked Mr Rees how I could do it, and he said I could chain-drill. I drilled holes in a line (resembling a chain) all the way through the middle. I filed a few of the walls and then I managed to use the blade of a hacksaw to cut it all out.

Did I weld?
Nope. As I explained above.

What have I gotten better at?
A bit of everything. I got better and quicker at filing and cutting with a hacksaw, I'm more skilled at drilling now. And even though I didn't weld, I still watched people demonstrate it so I have an idea on what to do. I probably couldn't do it on my own though.

(Also, props to Jill one of our teacher aids, she helped me SO much. Big thanks to her👍)