Week of 4/7 - 4/11

This week, I started by testing my spinning device, and every time, it would slide off the slider I put in the way so that it would not get too close to the electromagnet. This was because the spinning magnet didn't have any guidance while on the flat acrylic, but if it had something to keep in the middle, it could stay steady. This led me to design a spoon-shaped slider that had a bowl-like shape to prevent the magnet from sliding off the sides and would push it back towards the middle if it started to. I printed this out, and while it was spinning, I kept working on my plane project, but I started to think about the shape of the wings. On most planes and RC planes, they use an airfoil instead of just a straight rectangle, which helps it fly better. There are different shapes for different purposes, and I think for mine, a semi-symmetrical shape will be the best fit. I spent some time familiarizing myself with them, and I learned about how they are created and how to implement them. I think I will put them in my project later, but I am still thinking of how to do this. 3D printing seems like a good option, but I think that it might be too heavy for that. After my spoon thing was done printing, I tried to test it, and it worked very well on lower speeds; however, once it started to get too fast, it would spin out of control regardless of the bowl shape. This is an issue, and I am thinking of ways to combat this. I thought of an idea to just make a circular wall around the spinner to contain it until it reaches top speed, and I might use it. This might seem like a failure however, I am working in the right direction and making improvements with each addition or change.