Gum Paste Flowers

Our maker faire project goal was to making a cake and decorating it with gum paste flowers. We wanted to learn how to work with gum paste to make flowers, and we did that by incorporating it into a cake. The inspiration for our project was a cooking show called Nailed It. In the show, there is a cake that someone made and it is a multiple tiered cake with very realistic flowers on it. We thought it would be the perfect opportunity to learn how to make something like this.

Throughout are project we met several challenges but overcame them in little time. For example, we tried to make our own gum paste, but it just turned out all sticky and it wasn’t a gum paste consistency at all. So, we decided to play it safe and buy the gum paste instead of making it ourselves. This turned out fine because we still got to use the gum paste and learn how to work with it. Another problem we ran into was figuring out how to work with the gum paste. This took us some time because if you leave the gum paste out for too long, it hardens and it is hard to work with. But, if you work with the gum paste for too long, it becomes sticky and hard to work with too. So, we tried several ways to make flowers and in the end we decided to make simpler flowers that were easier to make with the gum paste.

We learned many things in are project that impacted how are cake came out. One thing that stood out for us is it is extremely difficult to make realistic gum paste flowers. It takes years of practice to master gum paste flowers. If we had more time, we would most likely bake the cakes a little longer because two of the four cakes did not cook thoroughly in the middle. We would also spend additional time to learn more on how to make our flowers more sophisticated and realistic. If we had to give any advice, we would say to maybe to keep the cake for your family because it can tremendously hectic to serve to everyone.

In total, our project cost around $22 , not including the ingredients we used to make the cake. Overall, we think that our project turned out pretty good and we’re glad we had a final product to show at the maker faire.

Recipes:

https://livforcake.com/mint-chocolate-chip-cake/

https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/mint-frosting/9781bbc4-7f9b-48a0-8e22-f35a79936113

Rose Gold Mask

The purpose of my project is to create a cheap, effective identity concealing mask for DJing with built in cooling (conceptualized by reading about daft punk’s heat problems.) The reason it is identity concealing is because I want to be able to get a job and live a paparazzi-free life if I decide to go anywhere with DJing.

The main inspiration for my project consist of artists like Destroid, Daft Punk and Deadmau5 with their identity concealing helmets. Looking at Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s helmet, I liked the use of chrome gold. Unfortunately though, his helmet was a little too round for me, so I modeled my mask off of the more angular bottom plate of Thomas Bangalter’s silver helmet. The chrome rose gold was inspired from concept art and my grandma’s phone.

My biggest challenge was overcoming proportion problems and butchering the mask to fit the computer fans and my face.

After the laser cutter, I realized that the dimensions were too big for my face, so I had to slice up the mask in to pieces to fit on my face.

My first iteration was blocky and large, a product of hilariously miscalculated design. Eventually, I cut pieces off of the mask and reformed it in to a more proportional design.

Throughout the creation of this project, I learned that careful measurement is required to make something like what I made.

Because I was squeezed for time, I didn’t have enough time to wrap the mask and put the fans in it, but these are my next steps. I will cut out a place for the fans and put them in, then wired it to the battery pack.

My biggest advice is to never lose sight of the end goal and ALWAYS carefully measure the proportions of your face.

The Clay Maker

Our maker fair project was about making action figures out of clay. Our clay figures were made to be an alternative to most action figures that are made out of a cheap plastic. I(josh) really wanted to make this project because I’m always playing with action figures.


And I (Ella Worm) wanted to do this project because I wanted to get better at making things out of clay because I’m pretty horrible, but I feel like I got better in the process of making this project. Also I got better on how to mix colors which was fun. I also got better at learning how to spit a project with someone.

Something that we learned in the process of our project was that if not using a kiln to dry your clay you have to use other things to support the figurines. Some of the things we use were toothpicks, and blending clay together to make it less susceptible to splitting.


A problem we ran into was splitting up the limited amount of clay that each of us could use. To get past this we decided to each pick the colors for the characters we would create and we would equally split the flesh tone color so we each had some. We also ran into the issue of the clay being to heavy to stay together for long periods of time, the way we solved this was what we earlier said which was toothpicks and blending the clay together.

The price of our project would circle somewhere around 10 dollars with the cost of the clay being 4 to 5 dollars plus the time it takes to make them. This would come out to be a lower cheaper price than the average action figures that retail for about 30 to 40 dollars. That would make our project a more available budget action figures, which are anywhere from $10-lots of money.

Recoil Based Cannon

For my maker faire project I decided to work on a recoil based rocket engine model. The way a recoil based engine works is a cannon fires a round at the precise direction, and then, using Newton's Third Law, the rocket is pushed forward. I was inspired by a Kerbal Space Program video made by YouTuber Scott Manley about a joke rocket made out of four GAU-8s (the A-10 Thunderbolt II's gun) pointed downwards, that actually worked until the guns needed to cool down and the rocket came crashing back down. I expanded the idea to include a turret for pitch, yaw, and roll control. I realize that the objective of this prototype was for a more efficient rocket engine, and the discarding of stages efficiency due to each individual "stage" (bullet) being so small that the weight is discarded as thrust remains the same. I had a challenge where the "instance" command wasn't working in Blender and I had to switch to Tinkercad to fix the issue. If I were to do anything next it would be designing the firing mechanism and loading mechanism. The 3D model probably costed around $800 (including cost of 3D printer), but if you already have a printer, then around $2.

Scott Manley's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1wgGRcmxIE (Go to 13:18 for the recoil rocket)

Sonar Measuring Device

For my Maker Faire project, I wanted to make a cool electronic device. I heard about laser and sonar measuring devices, but the laser is very complex so I went with a sonar distance measuring device. This is a device that sends a very high pitched sound (higher than humans can hear) to a target and when the sound bounces back the device receives the sound and based on how long it took for the sound to come back it sends a certain pulse (a burst of electricity that lasts a certain time).

I coded my Microbit to convert that pulse into the distance based on an algorithm. The Microbit displays the distance to the nearest foot on the LED display. The Microbit was being powered by a battery pack and the Microbit was powering the sonar sensor and the sonar sensor was sending back out that electricity as a pulse, but there was a problem. Computers are made of 1s and 0s, which are represented by a voltage. X voltage and below would count as 0 and Y voltage to Z voltage would count as 1 (any above and the computer might fry) (X, Y, Z are random volts where X<Y<Z), but there is a gap between X and Y because any voltage in that gap might just be a vibration so . The pulse that the sonar sensor was sending was in that gap, so the Microbit couldn’t receive it. The sonar sensor was lowering down the voltage by 2 volts to the Microbit’s gap. So I got a mobile phone charger, which emitted more volts than the Microbit which is powered by batteries, connected it to a board and had two wires, one going to the Microbit and one going to the sonar. This phone charger gave the sonar a larger input than the batteries + Microbit, so the output (pulse) would be in the Microbit’s voltage range. But the pulse was above the Microbit’s range (an area where it would get fried), so I added three diodes which decreased the voltage to the 1 area so the Microbit would pick it up.

I had a really fun time making this. I learned from my dad about the range of 1 and 0 and the gap between which is really cool and I have a newfound respect for DIYers who use spare electronics to make things. In the future, I would like to make it more precise and accurate in its distance readings. I should say I want to make it all less messy or at least 3d print a case for it, but I know I don’t care enough about neatness to do so. If someone wants to do this I would recommend using an oscilloscope or something of that sort before plugging it into the Microbit because it is easy and not fun to fry it.

Estimated total cost: $45 (though the sonar sensor I already had from my dad’s old DIY drone, I had the Microbit, which I have used in previous projects, and the rest was stuff my dad had).
Links: https://www.maxbotix.com/Ultrasonic_Sensors/MB1000.htm,    https://microbit.org/code/,   https://www.maxbotix.com/documents/LV-MaxSonar-EZ_Datasheet.pdf

DIY Soccer Goal

Project Inspiration and Overview
Me and Jonas both play soccer and are very interested in the sport so we decided to build a soccer goal from PVC pipes. We also want to create cardboard targets on the goal to make a point system for kids to shoot and score points when they visit our project during the Maker Faire. Our overall goal for the project is to build an easy DIY soccer goal perfect for your backyard. The project could also be easily able to be taken apart, stored and carried around to the park or something.

Challenges and Solutions and Day by Day
At first we had problems picking our project that fit our soccer project desires and would be manageable in our small time period. We went through a full class period on Friday not knowing how or when to begin. We finally picked making the goal that following Monday. At first we did not have enough pipes and were distracted throughout that class period. Because of our lack of communication, no work was completed overnight. We solved this problem through the power of last minute panic and decided on a thorough plan on how to use our time overnight and in class wisely.
On Wednesday we began measuring and deciding for our measurements for the goal so I knew how long of PVC pipes I needed to get while not at school. Jonas began on the thought for the netting we were to make and we decided to weave it ourselves opposed to buying it. We went over the style of how we were to make the net and Jonas learned it for he was to be captain of the knot tying net making. We went over if i was to also buy more string as well but he said it wasn't necessary. At the store, there were no different size pipes so I had to settle for three ten foot long ones.
On Thursday, fifth period a study hall period was kindly given to us so we decided to learn how to cut the PVC pipes down to the size we desired. After that was done, we began the net. It started of very slow and tedious and it was hard. We had to watch the instructional video again to remember how to tie the knots. As we worked, we were so beaten we went over the idea of not having a net at all but we powered through and got much done by the final bell. (we even stayed a little after school)
On the final day of our project, the day of the faire itself I came to school to a desperate Jonas trying to fix the net he obviously messed up while working on it at home. I told him it was fine and we could try to fix it in time and if not it was fine we did not need it. Jonas continued to frantically work on the net as I did a few more PVC pipe cuts and started to build it. After I build it there was a moment of happiness and relief but it all fell apart, literally as the crumbled down when we tried to move it to the right spot. We obvious needed some PVC glue. Luckily, Mason and Zorian where there to help very conveniently with some glue. While Mason and Zorian helped me glue together the PVC pipes  as Jonas continued on the net. We just began to wrap up the project as guests started to arrive. as they flowed in, I even had some time to put up targets on the goal for a point systems and duct tape on the ground so people knew were to kick from according to grade. we did not really have time to admire the final product as more people were increasingly interested in the project. Overall, during the project we both learned that projects takes perseverance and thought. I think what we could have done better or what we would have done with more time would be maybe an electronic point system maybe. For someone who also might want to give this project a go I would say that a secure plan should be established for how the final goal while look like and how you will use all your inside and outside school time wisely. Make sure that you have enough materials for all parts of the project. For example, with us we had about 1/3 of the PVC pipes we needed at first and buying new ones was around $15. Also we have learned to be supportive of your partner and always be on the same page. All in all, our project was a success and we reached our goal and maybe even further. at the faire itself, we were a large attraction of kids of all ages.


Net Making Video

Talking Teddy Bear

Our goal was to create something that was both creepy and cool at the same time. We accomplished that by taking an old talking Teddy Ruxpin (a vintage talking teddy bear that used to be worth a lot), and gutted it, and put more modern motors in its head to move the eyes, nose, and mouth. If we had more time, we would have installed a raspberry pi with a special version of Alexa, along with the code to sync the movements of the mouth with the speech of Alexa. If we were to turn our project into something really creepy, we could have added a camera to the bear and added motion detection and facial recognition. We knew this was all possible and we had the materials and the know-how to build it, we simply just didn’t have the time.

Our inspiration to build this teddy bear was TinkerNut, a YouTuber who demonstrated that it was possible to give a teddy bear Alexa. We looked up to them for how to work on our project. They showed us lots of how we should build our teddy bear.

A challenge we encountered was mostly time restraint and getting the new motors to fit into our teddy bear. On the topic of time restraint, we had very big ideas and dreams of what our project would become, but we did not consider how little time we had to do it. We got over having trouble with the motors by starting with a new motor and ripping up the case less so it still fit in the socket.

We learned how to rip apart a Teddy Ruxpin and make it look extremely disturbing. We also learned how to put motors together and we learned a lot about how motors and circuits work.

We would advise to not procrastinate and not to plan to do something huge that will probably take more than your whole life span to finish (if you even live an average lifetime; we’ll probably die because of climate change soon enough. Or maniacal talking teddy bears. Lol… we're all gonna die...).

Our total cost: $120

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwHS7F6L13E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34cfkA9HlXk&t=184s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZX9rU9Sbhk