Hannah's Cowousel
Hannah is in 8th grade this year. She has been taking a physics class, and for a final project, her class has been assigned to build roller coaster rides. This is an individual project, but Hannah is blessed to have a dad who is creative and has been able to help her with this project. They have been working on this project for a month, and it was due today. We were working on it last night, putting on some finishing touches. It looked really cool!
Steven and Hannah went over to a friend's house (who has a woodworking shop in his garage) to cut out the pieces. We dug out some old toys for the animals, and holes were drilled in the middles and dowels were stuck through the middle.
The round wheel was attached to a copper pipe. Our home teacher brought over a welding torch and let Hannah weld a cap on the end of the pipe. This would rest on a wooden dowel going up the middle and create the pivot on which the whole thing turns.
The wheel is turned by a LEGO crank/gear. Hannah glued a rubbery shelf liner around the bottom edge of the bottom circle so the gear wheel would have enough traction to turn the wheel.
One of the most difficult things to figure out was the track at the bottom which would make the animals go up and down as the wheel turned. They started out with a wire but found it didn't have the stability they needed. Eventually, the wire was attached to a cardboard base, and the bottoms of the sticks with the animals on them had LEGO hubs glued to the bottoms to slide along the tracks, as well as wire supports to help them stay on the track.
The last step was the decorating. Hannah decided she wanted a cow theme, so there are cow spots, both on the cloth covering the top and sides, but also on the base and wheel. She named it "The Cowousel". I think she did a great job!
Steven and Hannah went over to a friend's house (who has a woodworking shop in his garage) to cut out the pieces. We dug out some old toys for the animals, and holes were drilled in the middles and dowels were stuck through the middle.
The round wheel was attached to a copper pipe. Our home teacher brought over a welding torch and let Hannah weld a cap on the end of the pipe. This would rest on a wooden dowel going up the middle and create the pivot on which the whole thing turns.
The wheel is turned by a LEGO crank/gear. Hannah glued a rubbery shelf liner around the bottom edge of the bottom circle so the gear wheel would have enough traction to turn the wheel.
One of the most difficult things to figure out was the track at the bottom which would make the animals go up and down as the wheel turned. They started out with a wire but found it didn't have the stability they needed. Eventually, the wire was attached to a cardboard base, and the bottoms of the sticks with the animals on them had LEGO hubs glued to the bottoms to slide along the tracks, as well as wire supports to help them stay on the track.
The last step was the decorating. Hannah decided she wanted a cow theme, so there are cow spots, both on the cloth covering the top and sides, but also on the base and wheel. She named it "The Cowousel". I think she did a great job!
what a fun project!
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