JanoschS1

Oh wow we never really thought about that. That’s a good point!We were planning on using a deep cycle marine battery for the build since they handle the inconsistent charge from the sun better over the long term. However we just had a car battery laying around at Hackaberry so we used it for our prototype. The fans would probably help disperse some of the fumes if there was an overcharge but it is still a very enclosed space for fumes. I definitely wouldn’t want to be in there if that was going on. Thanks for pointing that out!

Yes, you guys are correct, it is expensive especially if the labor was calculated. We spent a ton of time building it and the labor cost alone would probably double the cost.We definitely thought about whether it would be insensitive or not throughout the semester and tried our best to make it feel as welcoming as we could. This project like you guys said was built for class as a exercise and will never be put into use, however our professor is not insensitive. He gave us the pipe and told us to turn it into some sort of living space/shelter for the audience of our choice. The big issue with these is that they weigh around 10,000 lbs so they are extremely difficult to move. They can be stacked which is pretty cool and I've seen some really cool concepts of that.

We are using 2 computer fans that are integrated into the back wall to provide some air flow, they are similar to what you are talking about I think, however they are smaller. When they are turned up all the way they can provide a good bit of airflow!

Thanks!!It’s a installation called Scatterfield, my professor Zane Cochran built it. It’s made from i think I’ve 400 ping pong balls with LED’s in them and when you stand in front of it it can display images. He uploads stuff to YouTube so I think he’s got some videos on it. Let me check for you.

https://youtu.be/x5KcN2mQFqIHere is a link to a video about it

Thank you so much!Are you worried about the battery starting a fire? What exactly do you mean by the discharge of the battery?

Thank you for your feedback!Yeah the door can definitely be locked from the outside which can make for a pretty awkward situation if you’re locked inside. We were going to get some door hardware from Lowe’s but we couldn’t find anything that would work for the 1/2” sheet of plywood so we used that clasp as a temporary way to keep the door closed and it kind of became permanent with the end of the semester approaching quickly. The back window does actually open, it’s on a big hinge that allows access to the battery compartment, allows the tube to be washed by letting water run out on that end and also works as an emergency exit. However it is sort of difficult to get off the bed and out the back window. Regarding cleaning, we figured that the homeless shelter would take care of cleaning ...

Thank you for your feedback!Yeah the door can definitely be locked from the outside which can make for a pretty awkward situation if you’re locked inside. We were going to get some door hardware from Lowe’s but we couldn’t find anything that would work for the 1/2” sheet of plywood so we used that clasp as a temporary way to keep the door closed and it kind of became permanent with the end of the semester approaching quickly. The back window does actually open, it’s on a big hinge that allows access to the battery compartment, allows the tube to be washed by letting water run out on that end and also works as an emergency exit. However it is sort of difficult to get off the bed and out the back window. Regarding cleaning, we figured that the homeless shelter would take care of cleaning the tubes by removing the beds and either pressure washing or hosing it down. We hadn’t even thought about bugs living between the cracks, that’s a great point! Not sure how we would combat that.

Thank you!We didn’t really think about weakening the structure when we were doing it but I guess it’s a good point to consider. We drilled something like 120 holes into the concrete but we never saw any cracks and the screws held the board on really well. When they delivered the tubes, they rolled them off of a trailer with a back hoe so they were pretty rough on them. They seem to be very tough. For the wood, we looked at the composite wood that’s used for things like boat docks but that stuff is super expensive. Since this was just a prototype for class, we went with the cheapest wood that we could find.

Everything works really well except keeping the sponge attached to the end is kind of difficult. In the video that I linked you can see I used it to clean off some Fake snow off of wood and I got halfway done but then sponge flew off. It was only hot glued on there so if I had some way of clamping it on there without throwing off the balance it wouldn't have that problem. I haven't tried actually cleaning any dishes either because most of the wiring is just sticking out and the whole thing isn't waterproof.

Thanks! Not sure yet, it probably won't be graded for a couple more days.

Yes! right now I only have a short one of me driving it a little. The rear tires are leaking air like crazy so I need to get new tubes for them before I start driving it again. I am planning on making a full build video and one of me driving it around my campus.

Originally we were going to use a 79cc predator engine but then we saw a 212cc predator for only a $100 we went ahead and used that. Honestly it might be too much because when I drove it I didn't even get close to using half the throttle. I still need to do more work on it and more testing so I can get it functioning the way I want to.

I made it for a final project in my Prototyping class. We have a couple other vehicles at our lab so we might race each other in them and I could try to make a video about that.