Mobile Sculpture: "How the Titanic Really Sank"
September 2019 - October 2019
This was my first major mechanical team project. The theme was "underwater" and the goal was to create a moving sculpture that utilized at least four mechanisms: gears, a slot-slider, four-bar-linkages, and a cam. Additionally, the entire sculpture needed to be driven by a single small electric motor.
My team of four decided to make a sculpture depicting our re-imagining of how the unsinkable Titanic could have sunk--it was split in two by the Kraken! The first half of this project was done in person, as a team of four. We dubbed ourselves the "Conspiracy Fabricators" as suited the lighthearted nature of this project and its focus on design and fabrication.
But after the initial design review, the Conspiracy Fabricators were split up and sent all over the world. With one of us in California, one in Minnesota, one in the Netherlands and one in Taiwan, we knew that completing this project was going to be a challenge. But it was one that we were prepared to handle.
Through many meetings at unusual times of day and lots of asynchronous work, we developed the CAD for our sculpture in Solidworks. We divided up the major mobile components of the sculpture. I focused on the Kraken, which used 4-bar linkages to wave the arms around. I also took the lead on assembling the CAD parts.
The Conspiracy Fabricators were disappointed that we weren't able to fabricate our sculpture, but through determination and creativity, we were able to make a virtual sculpture that we believed even Jack Dawson would appreciate.
