BLOG ENTRY #4 (Egg Drop Challenge)

EGG DROP CHALLENGE

Hi again, welcome back to my blog!! For this blog, I will be covering Practical 5 which is an egg drop challenge and the whole process from start to finish. So why not follow me through this whole experience??

IDEATION

So what exactly is an egg drop challenge?? It is basically creating something to prevent an egg from cracking after falling from a certain height. So, for our case, we had to 3D print something to prevent a quail egg from cracking from a fall of 2m. Initially, it sounded quite simple to me but I soon found out how wrong I was. So we actually had 2 months to complete the practical but my partner, Anna, and I started a little bit too late and thus was in a rush to come up with a design. Therefore, we only had one idea and had to stick with it since we had to no time to change it.

So, Anna decided to take inspiration from this seed which had 'wings' to help it reproduce by flying through the air. I felt that this was a good idea but was comprehensive if we were able to pull it off as it seems very tough to draw something like it using Fusion 360 since my experience with the software was just simply drawing a photo frame and a keychain. And the keychain was drawn with the guidance of Mr Chua. However, since we were running out of time and I had no better ideas, we decided to just go with it.

Obviously, if we were to make this design, the egg would definitely crack since it is in direct contact with the floor despite it having a casing. So, we came up with a few rough sketches of how it should look like. We decided to add the 'wings' to the bottom of the case in hopes that it can help cushion the fall, preventing the egg from cracking.

The sketch of the whole idea

The top half of the idea

The bottom half of the idea

FUSION 360

Like I've mentioned earlier in this blog, my knowledge and experience with Fusion 360 is very limited so in order to do this practical, I had to do a lot of research on the app and its various functions. Anna and I decided to split the work: I drew the 'egg container' while she drew the 'wing'. Initially, I felt that the container was quite easy to do since it was just an empty container but I was so wrong. I tried following Anna's sketch of the container but found it too difficult to draw since the container was shaped like an egg: pointy on the top and flat on the bottom. So after plenty of research, this was what I managed to come up with.

After doing this sketch, I had to use the 'revolve' tool to turn it from a 2D drawing to a 3D drawing. I revolved this sketch into 2 parts: a top and bottom half. After splitting it into 2 parts, I had to then insert a hole into both halves so that the egg can fit into the container. Both halves are then connected with threading so that it is secure and tight. As I mentioned earlier, this had wings so where do the wings go?? That's where the cylinders come in. The cylinders protrude from both the top and bottom so that the wings can be attached to the container.

After revolving, this is what it looks like. The 'revolve' tool is quite similar to the 'extrude' tool in a sense that it makes a 2D sketch into a 3D one. However, for my sketch, I used the 'revolve' tool as it makes the shape more spherical which is what I wanted since this is an egg shape

So after revolving, it came out with 2 parts: the top and bottom half. 

Here is the embeded version of the bottom half:

Here is the embeded version of the top half:

Overall, this whole process has been quite challenging as the shape is quite unconventional since it is neither a circle nor an oval. Combine this with my lack of experience and knowledge made this a tough process. However, it was fun and I would definitely do it again if given the opportunity!!

CURA

After drawing your sketch on Fusion 360, it can't be printed straightaway. You have to use the Cura Ultimaker software. What is Cura?? Cura is basically a software that helps convert your 3D sketch (.stl File) to a .gcode file which can then be put into a 3D printer and start printing. 

There are a few steps before you can start 3D printing your design:

• Saving the drawing in Fusion 360 as an .stl file

• Importing the file into Cura Ultimaker

• Saving the file in Cura as a .gcode file

Firstly, we have to export our design in Fusion 360 as a .stl file

Next, we have to import the .stl file into Cura Ultimaker

Next, we have to convert the design into a .gcode file. 

To start doing so, we click on the slice option

Then, we click on preview

Followed by clicking ' Save to Disk '

After doing all those, just simply save the file into a thumb drive and put it into the 3D printer and you're done!! Now begins the slow and long process of just waiting for it to print....   Here are some pictures of my product midway through the printing process

After a long wait, our print was finally done!! The whole printing process took us more than 10 hours!! Thankfully, it all went smoothly and we managed to have a product that we were happy about. On the left is our egg container: the top and bottom half. The 2 green rings are to hold the wings in place and what's left are the wings

Now, with all these parts, we of course had to assemble it. So let me guide you through our assembly process. 

Firstly, we placed these 2 circles on the top and bottom of their respective halves. These pieces is to hold the 'wings' in place

Once done, it would look something like this

Next, since this is an egg drop challenge, we of course had to include the egg. The egg is placed in the hole and the 2 halves are then combined together via threading to securely keep the egg inside.

Once all that is done, this is our final product

Since this whole blog is on the egg drop challenge, you obviously want to know how well did the print do to keep the egg from cracking. I was actually quite nervous about dropping our print as we had worked so hard on it and I didn't want it to break as we didn't have time to print it again. So, we only had one shot at this and as you can tell, there was a lot on the line. So without further ado, here is the video of us testing our print!! P.s our print actually worked and the egg remained raw!!

Overall, this experience was very fun and fruitful. The whole journey was full of ups and downs but which journey isn't?? I would definitely call this a success without a doubt. I managed to learn a lot of things which I didn't think I was able to learn such as using Fusion 360 and actually using a 3D printer. I would also like to thank my partner, Anna for sticking it out till the end. It definitely wasn't easy and I definitely couldn't have done it without her. 😌

This marks the end of the blog!! Thank you for making it all the way through and see you again soon😀😀 BYE!!!👊