Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

mechanical engineering project

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(edited 11 years ago)

I personally prefer the boat idea, lots of scope in terms of materials and manufacturing methods to play with as well as the design.

Reply 2

Alfissti

Original post by baot7

told tutor that i wanted to design a portable bridge for my final year but he replied saying it would be too complex and i should look into developing a disposable boat?

i did research on disposable boats and it seems like a good idea and its not as complex as the portable bridge?

can anyone give me some pointers or advice about this

# this was my original idea
A portable bridge- especially made for when ground is washed away due to natural disasters(mainly flooding), it would be made of a strong material to carry heavy citizens safely to the other side, huge need for this as it will be a great temporary substitute till disaster is dealt with #

In what way did he say the bridge would be too complex?
What kind of span are you looking at and are you looking into a pontoon style or an anchored and suspended bridge? What loading are you planning for this bridge?

Reply 3

baot7

it was complex as it involved alot with mechanics, design and materials and i can only choose one of these to follow?

lets forget about the bridge plz, can i get any pointers on how to develop a disposable boat, atm there is a cardboard type boat.... so any ideas?

Reply 4

Joinedup

I saw a foldable boat on telly years ago.

By disposable do you mean it's made of recyclable material or just so cheap that it's owners will be able to chuck it away on a landfill?

Cardboard is a wonderful material if you can stop it absorbing water and losing it's strength. There's a plastic material similar to corrugated cboard called correx (iirc) that's an extruded sheet of box sections.

Reply 5

baot7

here check this out http://www.thecardboardboatbook.com/

i have been told to try and develop this, i will be doing a design and manufacture analysis and looking for alternative material,
can anyone give some advice on how i could go about on this please?

Reply 6

baot7

Original post by Joinedup

yes its made of recyclable material and once used it would be scrapped but my main market ares is disaster areas through a light flight pack

Reply 7

Joinedup

I suppose you'll be criticising the existing state of the art (say time and complexity of forming the boat or the number of parts) then describing something better.
You could perhaps be looking at primative boat designs like coracles and birch bark canoes for ideas. Maybe you could look at geodesic or pop-up tent designs for ideas since a dome tent is a somewhat similar shape to an upside down boat.