Vanilla Sharks KNW 2300 Project Blog!

Good evening. Yes, it is evening as we write out this post at 8 pm at night, soon after finishing our cart/catapult. We have had a bit of a rough week, as our team went from 6 to 3 but this has given all three of us the opportunity to work with many more components to the project than we ever would have before. But with only one piece completely finished (after someone attempted to make a fist sized cube in the 3d printer, ahem) we knew going in today was going to be the day we went hard in the paint. We began by immediately getting in line for the laser cutter and hacking away. All of us put in extensive time working at that thing and I can guarantee that staring at it for too long has the same results as last weeks solar eclipse. We all took to a power tool, either drilling, sawing, or sanding away at one piece or another. We then began to get our craftier sides towards the end, using every type of Exacto-Knife offered and hot gluing our hands together. With extensive testing towards...

Welcome back! Last night we hauled our way over to Arnold dining hall and began to brainstorm and come up with diagrams and figures for our project. After copious amounts of coffee and setup, we were all set to discuss. Working Hard in Arnold  Johnny came in with various sketches and we modified them in detail. These plans included an MDF base, with cardboard wheels, a dowel based axle, and a 3d printed catapult. We agreed and decided to add weight to the base of the cart and remove it from the top of the cart, so it wouldn't topple over upon launch. Additionally, we added notches for our tension launchers (aka rubber bands) so that they would hold in place, and we discussed creating a stopper for the launch device. The next day we arrived in the innovation Gym to put our sketches into action. Working even harder in the Gym While we drew even more sketches out, we also began to gather supplies, discussing how exactly we would wind up our cart and attach parts to one ano...

Hello everyone! We are the Vanilla Sharks, but first thing you need to know about us is we are definitely not bringing vanilla ideas and designs. We are a group of five comprised of Lexi Zuck (EE), Johnny Levy (ME), Scott Thoeny (CS), Darriana Druery (CEE), and Sarah Kaiser (CS). This will be our blog for updates on our project, as well as concept images, designs, plans, descriptions, and all of our team updates as well!