Making Progress

Our teams continued construction of their cars this week after missing last week’s session due to staff commitments.

Watching the teams in the construction phase is very interesting as they look to replicate their cardboard models in their chosen material. Being able to assign roles within the teams to maximise time in the TAS rooms is essential and this is one area that the new teams often struggle with. It is quite common for one person to do everything while the others stand around and watch in the early days of development. This often leads to teams falling behind in the construction phase and struggle to complete the car in time. 

At present our Year 7 teams are working with balsa and this really is the best option for the first attempt. Even this presents its challenges in terms of working the basla into the shape of the design and getting strength into the chassis.

Our Year 8 teams intend printing their cars. They have designed the chassis of each using Onshape and now have to create a mould that will be used to divide the printing job into sections. This process has been overseen by our TAS Coordinator Mr Davidson, who has been very generous giving up much of his own time to assist in this process. This is the first time we will have tried this method of construction and it has been interesting watching the students deal work through the process.