10th May, 9:30AM, SPMS
Shawn, Kang Hao, Xinhui
As a part of our M&T training, we attended a 3D Printing workshop conducted by Hanyang, one of the instructors for M&T. He began the lesson by starting up the 3D printer to print a small cat figurine. After briefly introducing what 3D Printing is about, he shared more about what material was used for 3D Printing, the mechanism behind 3D Printing, and the software used for 3D Modelling. For this course, the software introduced to us was Fusion360, and we were given a license to design and draw out parts which we might need for our project. After the theory part, we were free to experiment with the software after Hanyang gave us a guided lesson on how to use Fusion360. We also took a look at the printed objects and realized how versatile they could be in terms of flexibility, size and colour.
Afterwards, we were brought into the M&T Lab, which Hanyang gave us a short tour of. More importantly, he showed us where the 3D Printers were and how we could use them. He then went through with us the procedure to follow for 3D Printing, such as where to slice, what to do during our first print, and what to look out for when we are printing. For future references, here are a few things that you should look out for:
- Look for lab personnel during your first print
- Always check the amount of filament before you print
- After the print starts, stay to check on the first layer of the print
In the meantime, we took the chance to talk to 2 of the students in the M&T Lab for some advice on our project. As people who had seen many M&T projects, they gave us detailed feedback on our ideas, such as the pros and cons of each idea, and whether it would be feasible to complete within 3 months. Speaking to them gave us great insight, which prompted us to settle on the idea of an Automated Sand Filtering Machine and to have a group meeting soon.
11th May, 2:00PM, SPMS
Shawn, Hung, Kang Hao, Xinhui
Today we met Dr Ho to share our idea with him. We explained to him the possible structure of our machine, which consists of collection, filter, and rubbish disposal. After hearing about our ideas, he prompted us to think about as many different ideas to collect and filter the sand and reminded us to make sure that the components were all waterproof and compatible to work with sand. Upon discussion, we decided to have another group meeting tomorrow to brainstorm the details of our idea.
12th May, 12:30PM, Tamarind Hall
Shawn, Hung, Kang Hao, Xinhui
Our agenda today was to discuss the possible ideas for all 3 parts of our machine, as well as how to sand and waterproof it. After a few hours of brainstorming and googling for ideas, we managed to think of some ideas for all 3 parts. For rubbish disposal, we decided to attach a trash bag to a trailer behind the machine, where the rubbish will be dropped through a hole at the end of the filter. For filtering, we decided on either shaking and sieving, or a rotating cylindrical filter. For the collection, however, none of our ideas seems to be feasible.
The first idea was a spiral. Though stable, it needs to be long and wide in order to collect big rubbish, and it needs to synchronize with the wheel. The second idea was a fork-like shovel. Although it can filter out most sand when it’s collecting rubbish from the beach, it has many disadvantages: material has to be strong, the gap must be of accurate size, and items might get stuck. Our final idea was a conveyor belt. It was a good idea, as it would be able to collect rubbish of any type. However, it would also be bringing up a lot of sand, which we do not want.
Additionally, all ideas face the problem of friction. We were stuck and we did not know what to do. The discussion had already taken the whole afternoon by then and we were running out of ideas. We decided that it was best to end the day.
