Week 6

Last week, we experimented with the K'nex bridge and tried to come up with something that incorporates key elements from all our designs. Our creation was a bit different from our designs because of the limitations of the K'nex pieces. I originally drew the designs with the design capabilities of WPBD in mind, but the K'nex pieces fall short of being able to do what WPBD can do. The K'nex pieces can only be connected in very limited angles, the pieces themselves are limited, and small flaws like overused gusset plates becoming loose can present to be a major problem like we experienced last week. Our design was initially strong but the gusset plates were loose enough to slip out when a weight was placed on it. We had to find and use the full circle gusset plates with less wear on them to create stronger bonds.

Our design philosophy revolves around minimizing cost while maximizing the ability to hold weight, aiming for the best ratio of the two. My approach to this has been to spread the weight out as evenly as I can among all the pieces so too much stress won't be placed on a single joint that can cause the whole bridge to fail. Creating a bridge that can spread out the weight placed on it will allow us to use each piece to its maximum extent and save money on building reinforcements on key parts. This design philosophy held through very well in our WPBD tests so it should do well in K'nex, even with the differences between the two mediums.