Like last week, the Structures team is in the process of making a transition from the documentation phase -- during which we wrote the Gran Papiazo (EGP) -- to the final phase of our revised spring quarter plan: prototyping. While we have compiled a list of necessary materials in this preliminary materials list and delegated specific orders to members of the team, we are still waiting on a number of orders to arrive. In addition, COVID-19 has made it harder to get access to certain materials that we would normally be easy to find. For example, Jose made two trips to separate Home Depots but was unable to find the wood board  necessary to construct an initial prototype of our slanted roof design (details available on pp. 12 of EGP).

We did have some success, however, with grommets and finding a new vendor to 3-D print our cuffs (design sketches available on pp. 13 of EGP). Natalie was able to use the General Tools Brass Grommet kit to create a grommet in the corner of the canvas we ordered from Amazon. 

As noted last week, the original 3D printing vendor we had planned to use turned out not to deliver until late June -- too late to be useful. We were able, however, to identify a new 3D printing vendor this week with the help of Professor Debbie Senesky (AA). We will now be placing an order for a 3D-printed cuff through You3DIt Inc, which will hopefully be delivered in the next week or so.

This coming week, we are hoping that Jose will be able to the wood board he needs to begin constructing the roof. Once Natalie and Jose have constructed their various prototypes, they plan on passing photos on to JD and Stephen who will create documentation regarding the prototypes to aid next year's team, integrating that documentation into EGP.

As a final note, we are thrilled to announce that DArcy was pleased ('"it was quite good...it was fine") with our midterm presentation. This was a huge victory for the Peru Structures Team which has suffered significant morale losses in previous weekly check-ins as a result of perceived poor performance. Her positive feedback will serve to bolster our team and propel us into the final stretch of the quarter.      

This week is a little lighter than the previous ones because we spent time reflecting and working on our mid-quarter presentations. That entails compiling what we've been working on thus far, summarizing it in 12-15 minutes (video), then making it digestible for other people in our program, and of course, readers like you. We, the Peru Structures team, were able to get a good grasp on the other ESW projects, which included a data collection system for a company in the Dominican Republic, called Zorzal, and the other being the TCHO biochar team, who have plans of testing their product in Malaysia. Both of those teams' blogs can be read on this site (Zorzal, TCHO). If it is also any interest, their mid-quarter presentations and plans can be found here for Zorzal and here for TCHO. 

Our own presentation, which includes most of the work through winter quarter and and all of spring quarter, can be watched here. We give an overview of El Gran Papiazo, its purpose and use, and talk about how we will move forward with the project now that documentation is mostly finished. We plan to start shifting more into a rudimentary prototyping phase, while making final adjustments and organization on documentation where we see fit. Two of our team members have ordered materials to make parts of our design a reality. In particularly, we wanted to focus on the interaction with the support structure and cuff. Our preliminary materials list has everything we think we need, and more things will be added if our members realize that what they ordered is not enough. Also, we plan on finding new ways to 3d Print (or maybe prototype in different ways) as the company we found prior has changed their shipping times drastically, from a couple days to now over a month. The 3D print order isn't viable anymore since it would arrive in June. 

At this point in time we have received these materials: 

1. Everbilt 1/4 in. x 12 in. Zinc Threaded Rod
2. General Tools Brass Grommet Fastening Kit with Case, Includes (6) 1/2 in. and (6) 3/8 in. Grommets
3. Everbilt 6 Ft x 9 Ft Medium Duty Canvas Drop Cloth
4. 1/4 in.-20 Galvanized Hex Nut
5. Screws and dewalt drill bits

and we are waiting on the rest of them. 
​
​- Structures Team

We are almost at the end of our documentation project to help next years structures team. El Gran Papiazo's first draft is finally complete and ready for a just a few quick edits. We are hoping that with this document, next year's structures team can save a few weeks of trying to figure out the project and what works / what doesn't work and can get straight to designing and prototyping. It is the best we can do given the current Covid situation. All of our team members have also been preparing videos that should be ready soon to supplement El Gran Papiazo (Los Granes Videos perhaps?). 

This week we also finished editing and revising last quarters project statement. We hope that now it is crystal clear. The document should now be fully robust in describing what the purpose and specifications of the roof that will eventually be built are.

​We also finished our bill of materials and are ready to order and ship materials to two of our team members' homes so that they can begin whatever minor quarantine prototypes they can manage. We plan on having one team member prototype the connection from the poles to the canvas. This prototype will involve a 3D-printed model of the cuff. Another team member will make a wooden prototype of the cuff and its connection to the poles.