LanceMakes

Hello!Thanks for your feedback, and for sharing a photo of the completed project! This Instructable is quite old, but fortunately I just updated it on my site MadeForSTEAM.com. I've also revised the images and some of the text to make it more clear. Hope that helps in the future!

Hi - I'm not sure if the steering mechanism on that car is strong enough. My guess is that it would probably work, but you may need to make the trap trigger extremely sensitive. Good luck!

Hello, thanks for reaching out. I'm glad the project was a hit! This project needs to be thoroughly updated. The video and the pictures show two different ways of building it, depending on the tools and materials you have available. The washer is to be placed between the stand and the base to reduce the amount of friction between the cubes. The syringe adapter can replace the wood cube that's glued onto the end of the syringe. Sorry this is confusing for you and your students. I'll make a note to update this Instructable in the near future.

This used just 2 rolls of tape, one for the main color and one for the accent color. If you make one please share a picture here!

Honestly, it probably costs about as much as a store-bought Kayak (high quality duct tape and dozens of PVC connectors aren’t cheap!). However, what you can’t buy in the store is looks of bewilderment from onlookers. That’s priceless.

Thank you! :)

Thanks for the high praise! I'm glad you liked seeing the prototypes - I think it's important to talk about the process, not just the final shiny product.

Thanks! I think it's interesting and important to show some of the process, and not just the final product.

Hey that's me! I wrote Duct Tape Engineer :D

Thanks for alerting me. It's fixed!

Thanks for alerting me. It's fixed!

The green wood cubes are just 1/2" craft cubes. You can find them here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XV13944?ie=UTF8

Hi - I don't know anything about that, but you can contact Instructables here: support@instructables.com. You can also find downloadable files on my website, https://www.madeforsteam.com/project-plans

Hi - You can hot glue a wooden cube with a hole in it to the syringe plunger instead of using a special adapter, like these ones: https://www.amazon.com/Wood-Cubes-Holes-Unfinished...Happy making!

It depends. For an adult, maybe 10 minutes. For a 6 year old, maybe 25 minutes.

Hello, sorry I don't know of any vendor that just sells the adapters. If I find one I'll be sure to link it here!

Looks like you need to make the sling to hold a projectile. You can find more details here as well: https://www.madeforsteam.com/slingshot

Hey, this is fantastic!! Thanks so much for sharing :)

Hello! I've long since discarded my templates - sorry. To create them, I just printed out silhouettes of images I found online, then traced them onto thin cardboard and cut them out for students to use. Have fun!

I recommend limiting the sticks to 40 or so, otherwise it's possible to make super-heavy robots that are difficult to move!

Hi - you may want to contact the Instructables team about how to download PDFs of Instructables. I don't have an answer for that.

It took about 30-45 hours, including the time to design the frame.

Hi - glad to hear these resources have been helpful! Here's how I support safe glue gun use: First, buy glue guns with an insulated tip and use only 10 watts. Introduce how it works. Point out the parts that get hot (the tip and the freshly melted glue). Demo how to use it (always put glue on the bigger of the two objects being glued together, keep hands clear, wait 15-20 seconds to dry). Explain how to handle burns (put burn under cold water immediately for as long as it hurts). When not using glue guns, keep them out in front of you. I like to draw simple houses on cardboard and tell kids to keep the glue guns in their house when resting.As they start using glue guns, make sure to coach them on proper technique and safety.Good luck!

It looks like the wheels are in stock again: https://amzn.to/2KMqcL3

Hello,The straws need to be about 1/4" in diameter. You can use larger straws and just tape the straws to the craft sticks so they don't slip out. You might be able to use toothpicks, but they could break easily, depending on how thick your straw is. Good luck!

So glad to hear that! Hearing comments like this is exactly why I created these plans for free :)

Yes, you can use plastic bottle caps or wheels or whatever else might work. I prefer buying the plastic ones because they don't require prep, and they're consistent.

Thanks! Ali Phelps did all of the illustrations - she's incredible. Check out her art on AliPhelps.com. The project cost more than I would've liked, mostly because of the 10 rolls of duct tape and the cross-shaped PVC connectors. I don't know how much exactly, but definitely over $100.I have no idea how to kayak, and I didn't flip over! So it's somewhat stable, but I'm not able to evaluate that very well.

Hi - I'm happy to offer my advice. Regarding teams, I suggest having a limit of 2-4 students per team. It gets tricky for 5+ people to be engaged at once. For teams of 3, 30-feet of insulation and 60 minutes is a good place to start. For teams of 2, do 20 feet of insulation. To keep costs and prep down, I just tell kids to use the walls and the furniture around the room to support the coasters. Things like boxes, cups, etc are lightweight and can get shifted around easily, so they're not ideal for supports.

It's not a separate piece, it's part of the pre-assembled propeller. There's a link for the propeller on the materials page.

I typically use about 60-70 PSI. A shorter launch tube may help a little bit.It looks like your compression chamber is pretty large, which can make it challenging to build up sufficient pressure.You can also try wiring up two 9V batteries to the launch button, which will help release the valve at higher pressures.The way the rockets are made is also just as important to the distance traveled. Use card stock (not copy paper), and emphasize attaching at least 3 fins that are equally spaced and as straight as possible. Very small imperfections in the rockets can cause significant reductions in performance.

Whoa, that's quite an improvement! I hope this inspires other makers to take this rocket launcher design idea to the next level!

That does indeed look super fun - thanks for sharing!

Excellent! Glad you're making good use of the project plans :)

Yes! 1/2" PVC pipe fits perfected through the neck of most standard plastic bottles.

Feel free to post pictures and/or share what went wrong. Happy to help if I can.

The video contains the instructions :)

Thanks for alerting me. I'm also having this issue. I've created a bug report in the forums, and will hopefully have this resolved soon.

The syringes I use are 12ml, and filled to 10ml.

30 on each side.

Amazing! Thanks for sharing :)

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Hi - thanks for your feedback. At this time, I'm not selling projects or taking commissions. If you want something easy to build for your son, search for Cork Shooter on Instructables.