ENGR 1
Final Project
For your final project your team may choose 1 of the following:
1) Turn the Thomson Ring Launcher Demo into a “Toy Gun”
Material cost: about $40 +/- (wire alone is about $20 altho cheaper sources can be found online, also need a
10A switch, steel rod, acrylic, misc parts)
Warning: Highly experimental! I think 22 gauge wire will be enough, further testing needed
Mission: Design a gun-like interface to the coil using parts made from a 12” x 12” piece of acrylic (plus misc
electrical parts). Use SolidWorks to draw the parts, port into Adobe Illustrator and arrange in a 12”x12” square
for delivery and fab at Desert Star in Marina.
2) Design a spinning Top to maximize spin time
Tops are very simple but demonstrate amazingly complicated physics. A general guideline for top stability
“figure of merit” is Rg/Ycm or Radius of Gyration (how far mass is from center) divided by height (Y) of
center of mass.
Material Cost: depends: wood: very cheap, metal: can get more pricey
Mission: Design a top profile using Matlab to maximize the top figure of merit. Adjust profile based on numeric
score. Draw profile in SolidWorks and perform a “revolution”. Save file and bring to Carmel High (with
material to carve). We will be demonstrating how to do the Matlab portion in a future class.
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3) Design a miscellaneous 3D project out of a 12”x12” piece of acrylic
You can look for ideas at www.ponoko.com. This could be a “CD/DVC” holder that maximizes number of
discs while maintaining a minimum spacing for ease of viewability. Or a 3D toy creature. Using 12”x12” piece
of acrylic.
Material Cost: minimal.
All teams will document their projects with drawings, photos, and a 2-3 page
report (double spaced)
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