March brings us to a close of 66% of the school year. With only one term left, we discover just how short life really is (grin).
At the end of January the first semester's Grade 8's went off to Home Ec, and I received new classes of Grade 8's. We have begun the course introductions and are now well into our first project, the Gravity Powered Vehicle. There are pictures of previous vehicles on the GPV page, which will give you a good idea what the project is about. Students design and build a vehicle shaped out of styrofoam to compete in a distance competition, powered by gravity alone. This also should be a really fun semester, as we will end the year with Bottle Rockets!
The Electronics Level 1 students are finishing up their prototype Printed Circuit Board (PCB), and into designing their unique and creative enclosures. We covered the "Design Process," which should enable them to produce excellent, high-quality products. Soon we will work through WordPerfect Presentations (Power-what? Never heard of it) to produce professional slide-shows, which will be presented to the class.
This puzzle I found, reminds me of what I tell my students about making a Printed Circuit: it is much like a connect-the-dot puzzle, except YOU decide where the dots go. By moving parts and their paths, the cirucit is designed. As the students learn how to design a PCB, they stretch their minds to visualize the connectedness of components. This tends to be one of the most challenging aspects of the course - but the most rewarding for students!
The Level 2 students have finished the section on the 555 timer lab, and are now working on their chosen 555-powered project. Many students elect to make alarm systems, or other various noise makers. Soon we will pursue "Robot Wars," which should be awesome! They will be joined with the Level 3 students, who have now completed their Power Supply projects. This is the first year for Robot Wars, and it promises to be a good one!
A huge emphasis has been placed on the planning of the robot, so that success can be assured. Each class will run their own competition, with the final winner from each class receiving a trophy, and then compete against the other class winners for the overall Robot Wars Champion Trophy.
For the less-violent of us, there are also non-violent robots. One
is a simple robot that will play "hide-and-seek" with you (albeit one-sided play). The schematics
have been uploaded to the Electronic Projects Page, so
do take a look! Also, the Power Supply Voltmeter is done,
and has also been uploaded.
I am really stoked about this activity!
The Heinous Honda Page
(or, The Adventures of the Crate that was Trying to Die)
In January I purchased a Jaz Racing Seat for the Heinous Honda, and struggled for three
days to get a seat bracket fabricated for it (All the more reason to practice what I teach -
plan it out first!!!!).
I used another set of seat tracks that I had, and welded up a 3/4" rectangular steel tube
frame that would bolt to the seat tracks, as well as the bottom of the seat. The first bracket
was too tall; my head hit the roof. I cut the frame up, and dropped the center 2 1/4" so
that I had enough head room, then discovered that the seat was too reclined for my liking -
I prefer the NASCAR style seating position - straight up and down. The third version was
totally different. I used 1 x 1/8" flat steel, bent to follow the front of the seat, dropping it
as low as I could go. Then I used 2 x 3/8" flat steel for the rear, going straight across the
back with no drop at all. This was almost upright enough for me, without my head hitting the
roof. 
Once I had the seat set up, I discovered that the seat had no support for your thighs - you were supporting yourself entirely by your butt-bones (that's the technical term?). Very uncomfortable. I carved up a block of 2" styrofoam to slip under the seat covering, so that I had some good support. This was then duct-taped to the seat itself (ahhh, duct-tape...).
So now, finally, the seat is pretty comfortable. It really holds me in place, and is super comfortable with the 5-point harness on. And race season begins this month!
According to my CACC rulebook, a racing seat costs 1 preparation point. Since the seat is considered a "weight" item, you can offset that point with safety items, such as a fire extinguisher which is -1 point. Since this year I am using 1 pont for a 1" Lightspeed Racing rear sway bar (reinstalled since I will be using factory 13" rims - Last year I used the 1 point for my 15" rims), to use the seat I installed a 2 1/2 lb 5BC fire extinguisher. The rules don't specifically say where you can put it, so I put it in a useful spot - in the spare tire well. The added weight there (however minimal) should assist in balancing the car. It is relatively easy to get to in an emergency, but for me that isn't really the point.
Since the snow season is essentially over, I put my mags back on, and took the winter tires off the factory steel rims and mounted the Toyo Proxes RA1 185/60R13 tires. The Proxes RA1 is a street legal racing tire. Exceptionally soft, with marginal semblance of tread suitable only for a light mist of rain. They have a tread wear rating 1/10th of my street tires.
What a nightmare to install. The sidewalls on these race tires are so stiff that the tires would not slip easily into the drop centre of the rim. It took a lot of patience, a tire machine and two pry bars to install the tires. Wow.
And still, in the fall, I want to get rid of the car. Any takers?? It's a wonderful car, really...
