Reflection
Being in this class for now 2 quarters, I’ve found that creating and assembling these projects isn’t as easy as I thought they would be. There is actual time and effort put into these, they require exuberant thinking as well as attitudes towards the subject. In the process of fabricating my crane strain, I’ve found that research before a project is an effective way to ensure that the project will follow the same steps as ones done before. By looking up other designs of the same product, I was able to piece together a project that not only suited my liking, but the necessary shape for durability as seen online through my studies. The design I chose for the frame of my crane strain were 4 triangles on each side of the structure. I calculated my math to see if the structure would be decently durable, and then proceeded on to the actual process of assembling it together.
The project took a few class periods to finish, as I had several mistakes happen and often my craft sticks would break while I assembled one side of the crane. I even had to spend a class period just waiting for my glue to dry against the opposing sticks. It was a bit of a tedious process, but I managed to get it done anyway. The actual crane itself however, was able to hold much more than I anticipated. I imagined it would only be able to hold a little over 1000mg, but to my surprise, held about 4x as much. I was happy that it didn’t crack at the first thing it held. The crane was put together quite unevenly however, one side was longer than the other, I had glued the block on in an awkward angle so the sides didn’t match up, and the sizes of the triangles weren’t the same, many mistakes. But, with every mistake, I learned something new and was able to try and use it to the best of my ability.
Overall though, I enjoyed the project. It was definitely a learning experience as well as a test of my patience level. There were many ups and downs to this project, as there is to any project really. It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re cutting with just a general basis of what you were expecting it to look. But being able to see my own creation be able to hold more than what you would expect, made me happy. This was definitely an enjoyable experience, but would I do it again of my own free will? Probably not.