Monday, March 16, 2015

Crank Shaft, Push Rod, CD, Balloon

The three hardest parts about building the engine were attaching the PVC pipe to the side of the can, constructing the push rod attached to the balloon and bending the crankshaft. When I first applied the epoxy to the PVC and the can, the PVC was not straight so I had to quickly adjust and fix it; that was nerve wracking. The crank shaft was a HUGE challenge for me, my first attempt had to be abandoned completely and I went in after school to get some help building it. I had to redo my second wire about 3 time before I finally got the bends right and it fit with my cans. Gluing the CD to the crank shaft was relatively easy. The balloon push rod was also really hard. It was really hard to get it to go straight up and down, it kept pushing at an angle and twisting up my balloon. Again I had to come in after school and tinker with it for a long time before I finally got it straight. It was also hard to attached the rod to the crankshaft and not have it slip around. I also had additional problems with the balloon because it didn't have a complete seal. I ended up having to take the balloon off, with the push rod attached, and put it back on with a better seal. Miraculously, the balloon didn't rip (Mr. O'Keefe didn't have any extra balloons left either) and my engine ended up working that afternoon. 

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