engg 123 project report

7/30/2019 ENGG 123 Project Report

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Back To The Future Rube GoldbergMachine

ENGG 123Group 12

15 November, 2012

Abdulmajeed AlqarniNicolene Claassen

Zachary Hass

Brenden MaiBrandon PurdueTanner Thomsen


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Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary ........................................................................................................... 2

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 41.1. Problem Statement ................................................................................................................ 4

1.2. Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 4

2. Background ......................................................................................................................... 52.1. Rube Goldberg Machine ....................................................................................................... 5

3. Design Details ..................................................................................................................... 53.1. Limits and Constraints .......................................................................................................... 5

4. Design Specifications ....................................................................................................... 64.1. Starting task (Marty gets knocked over by an amped up speaker) ...................... 8

4.2. Subtask 1 Doc gets shot in the parking lot. ................................................................ 9

4.3. Subtask 2 Delorean Fire Tracks .................................................................................. 10

4.4. Subtask 3 Biff Crashes into Manure Truck .............................................................. 11

4.5. Subtask 4 Marty gets hit by a car and meets his mom ........................................ 124.6. Subtask 5 Marty catches a ride behind a truck on his skateboard ................. 13

4.7. Subtask 6 Martys dad punches Biff........................................................................... 14

4.8. Primary Task The Delorean connects with the Clock Tower wire as

lightening strikes. ............................................................................................................................ 16

5. Methodology and Procedure ...................................................................................... 175.1. Design Process ...................................................................................................................... 17

5.2. Morphological Chart ........................................................................................................... 18

5.3. Gantt Chart ............................................................................................................................. 19

5.4. Construction Process .......................................................................................................... 19

5.5. Completing the Machine.................................................................................................... 21

5.6. Video ........................................................................................................................................ 22

6. Budget ................................................................................................................................ 226.1. Expenses ................................................................................................................................. 23

6.2. Labor Cost ............................................................................................................................... 24

7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 267.1. Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 27

7.2. Machine Summary ............................................................................................................... 27


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1.Introduction1.1. Problem Statement

Design and construct a functional Rube Goldberg Machine, based on the 1985 movie,

Back To The Future. The machine is to have a specific starting task, primary task,

and a set of subtasks. The machine also has a set of constraints that has to be

followed.

1.2. ObjectivesDesign and construct a functional Rube Goldberg Machine that has the following

components:

Starting Task:

Marty gets knocked over by the power of an amped up speaker.

Subtasks (can be done in any order):

Doc gets shot by the bad guys in the parking lot. Marty catches a ride behind a truck on his skateboard. The Delorean leaves fire tracks on the pavement. Martys dad punches Biff. Biff crashes his car into a manure truck.

Marty gets hit by a car and meets his mom.

Primary Task:

The Delorean connects with the Clock Tower wire as lightening strikes.


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2.Background2.1. Rube Goldberg Machine

Rube Goldberg was an American inventor and cartoonist; he graduated from the

University of California with a degree in Engineering. Goldberg was a Pulitzer

prizewinner cartoonist for his extravagant cartoons. Not only did Goldberg draw cartoons

he designed and built very complicated machines that accomplished a very simple task,

which eventually was termed Rube Goldberg Machines after him (rubegoldberg.com). A

Rube Goldberg machine is a complex device that accomplishes one or more simple

tasks in a controlled, convoluted, and often humorous manner (University of Regina

project outline).

3.Design Details3.1. Limits and Constraints The total running time for your machine must be at least 90 s and cannot exceed

120 s.

The machine must have at least 10 steps and no individual step can take longerthan 15 s.

The project must be free standing.


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After construction, the machine looked like this:

Primary task

Front view


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4.1. Starting task (Marty gets knocked over by an amped upspeaker)

Design: Machine:

Back View


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The finished constructed design of the starting step was slightly altered from the

original design. In the original design, the subwoofer knocks over a little figurine that

represents Marty. In the machine, we replaced the figurine with a marble, and taped a

track the center of the subwoofer. In the prototype of this step the track was taped to the

top of the subwoofer, but we found that the vibrations are stringer when the track is taped

to the center of the subwoofer. When a song is played with the subwoofer, it vibrates the

track and the marble rolls down. The marble in this step represents Marty. We stuck

toothpicks into the side of the track as sometimes the marble bounces quite a bit because

of the vibrations, and the toothpicks ensures that it doesnt bounce off the track.

4.2. Subtask 1 Doc gets shot in the parking lot.Design: Machine:

The finished constructed design is exactly as we designed it. A ball runs rolls

down a track, trough a makeshift gun and hits a figurine (Doc Martin) in the face. The

figurine then falls over, and hits another track with a marble resting at the top, which then


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sets the marble in motion and it rolls down its own track. We taped the figurine to the

side of the cardboard box we were building on top of, to ensure that it always falls in the

same spot. The only thing we changed from the original design was the connecting step.

In the design we were planning on using dominoes, but in the machine we used a track

and a marble, as dominoes are somewhat unreliable and the marble was more convenient

to use.

4.3. Subtask 2 Delorean Fire TracksDesign: Machine:

The fire tracks were built according to the design, though the method of lighting

the fire tracks was changed. The fire tracks were built on an aluminum-baking

pan, and then the tracks were made with strips of aluminum foil. The strips were

bent at the sides to make sure the fluid doesnt spill out. Aluminum was a good

material to use as its inexpensive, durable and not flammable. Nail polish remover

was then poured onto the foil tracks, as it is extremely flammable and burns clean

without any noticeable smoke. In the original design, the fire tracks were to be lit


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using a mousetrap, which would have somehow lit a match. When the design was

actually tested, it turned out to be much more complicated to do. Alternatively, we

build a seesaw, with a lit candle on one end and a container on the other. When a

marble is dropped into the container, it lifts the candle which then lights the fire

tracks.

4.4. Subtask 3 Biff Crashes into Manure TruckDesign: Machine:

The manure truck step was build according to the design, though the scale idea

was changed up for a seesaw, similar to the one that is used in Subtask 3 to light

the fire tracks. The reason for this is that a scale like the one in the design would

be difficult to find, and even more complex to build, whereas the seesaw idea is

simple and reliable. On one end of the seesaw there is a container that contains a

small hot wheels car, which represents Biffs car. On the other end of the seesaw,

there are 5 dominoes taped together, just to keep the car lifted. The manure is


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inside a ziplock bag. The manure consisted of some grass and a rock. The bag

containing the manure hangs from a frame built from old golf club sticks, and is

hanging by fishing line, which is spun across the fire tracks. The manure is

dropped when the fire tracks burns the fishing line. In the first tests of this step,

we used stitching thread, but it broke easily and burned too fast, so we switched it

to fishing line.

4.5. Subtask 4 Marty gets hit by a car and meets his momDesign: Machine:

This step was built completely different from the design, because as the machine

was being constructed it was too hard to build it as it was designed. In the design,

a figurine (Marty) gets hit by a toy car. This causes Marty to fall off the edge and

into a bed with a figurine representing his mom sitting next to the bed. This

design was based very precisely off the movie, as the first time Marty meets his


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mom, he is waking up in a bed after being hit by a car. The problem with this

design was that we were not up high enough to make this design work. What we

did alternatively was to put Marty on the edge of a stack of empty dvd cases,

with 4 dominoes behind him. The dominoes get knocked over when the seesaw

from Subtask 3 gets lifted when the manure drops on Biffs car, which releases

another marble that bumps into a wire that knocks over the dominoes. The

dominoes go off and knock Marty off the edge of the DVD cases (represents

Marty being hit by a car). Marty then lands next to a female figurine, which

represents his mom.

4.6. Subtask 5 Marty catches a ride behind a truck on hisskateboard

Design: Machine:

This step was build different from thefirst design, though it followed the second

design of the rough final design exactly. We used a hot wheels car to represent the


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truck, and a domino to represent the skateboard. The domino is attacked to the car

with fishing line and tape. During the testing stage of this design, a toy skateboard

was used, but it almost always got caught on something, so we switched it to a

domino. The car and domino are resting on a track made of cardboard, and next to

the car is a piece of aluminum foil that ensure that the cardoesnt roll of the track.

The piece of tin foil is tied to some fishing line that is attached to the Marty

figurine in Subtask 4. When Marty falls off the edge of the DVD cases it pulls the

piece of aluminum foil out and the car runs down the track and pulls the domino

down with it. This step happens in parallel to a connecting step that happens right

before Subtask 6.

4.7. Subtask 6 Martys dad punches BiffDesign: Machine:

Primary Design


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Secondary Design

Initially we were going to use the primary design for Subtask 6, but when the

construction period started we found that the secondary design was easier to build

and more practical. We used a tube that has a lid, and cut a slit about 4 inches

from the end of the tube. We then put a card in the slit and put a spring between

the card and the lid of the tube. When the card gets pulled out, the spring pops out

and hits a DVD. The DVD is hanging from a frame that is exactly the same as the

one in Subtask 4. The DVD represents Biff, so as the spring pops out and hits the

DVD it represents Biff being punches by Martys dad. The card gets pulled out by

a mousetrap, which is connected to Subtask 5, by some other connecting steps,

which include a marble rolling through a funnel onto a half pipe constructed from

pipe insulation. The half pipe has a hole cut into the bottom, so as the marble

slows down, it falls through the hole, right onto the mousetrap.


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4.8. Primary Task The Delorean connects with the ClockTower wire as lightening strikes.

Design: Machine:

The primary task was build according to the original design, though because we

started to build the project too late, we didnt have enough time to add in all the

components we designed it to have. In the design, the clock tower would be a box,

that has a light on top of it, and an opening at the bottom. A ball would then roll

through the opening, into a container inside the box, which would lower the box,

which is attached to a pencil with string. As the box lowers it would spin the

pencil, which would then spin the clock of the clock tower (symbolizing time

travel). When the container reaches the bottom of the box, it would complete an

electric circuit that would turn on the light (symbolizing the lighting). In the


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machine, we put a strobe light on top of a box, and build a container to the side of

it. We taped a tube to the side of the box and also made a slit in it similar to that

of Subtask 7. We put a large marble in the tube and a card in the slit. When the

card is pulled out, the large marble drops into the container to the side, which

pushed down the switch of the strobe light, which is tied to a string, and the strobe

light starts to flash.

5.Methodology and Procedure

5.1. Design ProcessOur group has 6 members who all have their own unique perspectives on the project. We

took advantage of this and had everyone brainstorm at least 2 ideas for every task and

subtask that we had to complete. At a meeting we shared our ideas, and ranked them.

Those with primary and secondary ideas then had the responsibility of making a list of

materials required for their idea, as well as to build prototypes to make sure the ideas

work. If a design didnt work we would use the secondary design or simply build

something completely new. Our designs are justified because we made built prototypes

and made sure our ideas worked and were reliable before we started construction on our

machine. We also created a Facebook page, so that we could easily communicate and

share ideas with our group members.


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Seesaw Prototype

Primary Task Prototype

5.2. Morphological ChartTask 1 2 3 4 5

Stating Task Subwoofer

Marble Figurine

Doc gets shot Marble

Fire Tracks Nail Polish

Remover

Manure Truck Bag of Dirt Dirt Bag of

assorted

materials

giving it the

look of


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manure

Skateboard/Truck Toy

skateboard

Domino Toy car

Biff gets Punched Pendulum Spring

Marty gets hit by

car and meets his

mom

Toy Car Figurine Dominoes

Primary Task Light Bulb Strobe light DC circuit Switch Marble

Tracks Pipe

Insulation

Cardboard Plastic

5.3. Gantt Chart

5.4. Construction Process


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Our approach to building the machine was to build it from start to finish. We soon found

that this approach would take too much time, and as such split up and everyone worked

to build his or her own ideas and designs. Those group members that didnt have primary

ideas helped other group members who did. At one point during the construction of the

machine, we had to change the order of the tasks, as we wanted to incorporate additional

steps into the machine.

Order Before: Order After:

Starting Task Fire Tracks

Starting task Martys dad punches biff

The reason that we added additional connecting steps was because our machine was

running too fast (30 seconds to the end). After adding a significant amount of connecting

steps our machine runs for a total of 1 minute and 5 seconds.


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5.5. Completing the Machine

The keys to making our final project successful with the constraints in mind was based

upon the three main parts to our project which includes, design, modification of the

design, and the tweaking of the final structures materials. We did not really take in mind

any other constraints when designing the project because they were easily accomplished

without us worrying too much about them. The biggest constraint that we had issues with

was the time barrier. Time seems to just flow way to fast when you are trying for it not

too. Our machine was very fast at the starting point but was easily manipulated with our

three parts mentioned early.

Our first part that helped us reach the final constraint of time and the completed project

was the design of the project itself, we spent lots of time just doing the designing so that

if for any reason the project went haywire, like it being too fast for example, we could

then fix it with our design allowing for more to be added or to be manipulated. The

design also helped us keep on track with our final goal when building the machine if we

ever got lost and let us open our minds to more possible solutions to problems if we were

to encounter them.

Our second part that helped us reach the final constraint of time and the design itself was

the modification to the design itself. When we looked at the design at some parts it was

either too unrealistic for it to work or we had to manipulate the design because of the

table we used or the materials we had. Manipulation of designs is an important part in our


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final goal as without it, we would have still be on step 1 of our project trying to get it to

work. We had to make things simpler at some steps, add new things in to the design to

accommodate for time and we even at some parts made things more complex to look

more visual stunning for our video.

The last part that helped us reach our final goal was the tweaking of the final structures

materials. This probably took us the longest to do because it seemed that we had it at one

point that everything would work except for one thing when we were trying to film it. We

then thought of small things we could do to tweak our project enough to get it to work.

Although the changes were minor, this was a huge part at achieving our final goal

because if we did not do the tweaking and just kept trying over and over again at trying to

get the project to work when we wanted it to, we would still be there even as I write this

report so the tweaking was definitely a crucial point in us achieving our goal.

5.6. VideoIt took us approximately 45 trials to get a complete run of our project. We were mainly

getting stuck at Subtask 4, as the dominoes turned out to be quite unreliable. Because of

the fact that some of our steps happen very fast consecutively, we used 4 cameras to film

the machine at different places, as doing it with just one camera would have been

impossible.

6.Budget


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6.1. Expenses

Materials Quantities Expenses Purchased or Donated

Thread 1 $1.00 Purchased

Toothpicks 1 Box $1.00 Donated

Funnel 1 $1.00 Donated

Lighter 1 $1.00 Donated

Scissors 1 $1.00 Donated

Marbles 6 $1.25 Purchased

Tin Foil 1 Box $1.55 Purchased

Dolls 2 $2.00 Donated

Rulers 2 $2.00 Purchased

Aluminum Pan 2 $2.00 Purchased

Exacto Knife 1 $2.00 Donated

Electrical Tape 2 $2.94 Donated

2" Plastic Pipe 3' $3.00 Donated

Mouse Trap 2 $4.98 Donated

Fishing Line 1 $4.99 Donated

Cotton Sheet 1 $4.99 Donated

Stapler 1 $5.99 Donated

Tea light 1 bag $5.99 Donated

Duck Tape 2 $6.00 Donated


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Acetone 6oz. $6.99 Purchased

Pipe insolation 16' $7.50 Donated

Dominos 1 Box $8.99 Donated

Wii Gun 1 $12.99 Donated

Flower Pots 4 $23.96 Donated

Sub Woofer (used) 1 $30.00 Donated

Strobe Light (used) 1 $10.00 Donated

Hot wheels cars (used) $8 $20.00 Donated

Expense Total $175.11 $13.24

Labour (20.00/HR) 127hrs $2,540.00

Total Cost $2,715.11 $13.24

In total we only spent $13.24 on our project, as the majority of our materials were things

that our group members had in their houses. If we were to buy everything we used, we

would have spent approximately $175.11. The costs in the table are actual costs that were

paid for the materials.

6.2. Labor CostLabor Cost (in hours)

Abdulmajeed Nicolene Zachery Brandon Brenden Tanner


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Brainstorming 2 4 4 3 2 4

Group

Meetings

4 4 3 4 3 3

Starting Task 2 2 2 2 2 2

Doc Gets

Shot

4 2 4 4 4 4

Fire Tracks 0 2 0 0 0 0

Manure Truck 0 1 0 0 0 1

Skateboard

Truck

0 0 3 0 0 3

Marty Meets

His Mom

0 0 3 0 0 3

Martys Dad

Punches Biff

1 1 1 1 1 2

Primary Task 0 0 2 0 0 3

Videos 3 4 3 1 0 3

Report 0 8 1 1 0 1

Total

(hours)

16 28 26 16 12 29

Total ($20/h) 320 560 520 320 240 580


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7.ConclusionThe design of our Rube Goldberg machine very much strayed from the original plans that

we had for the project. We managed to incorporate all our tasks and follow most of the

constraints. As we began to build the project we noticed that some things just werent

going to work, and had to develop many alternatives on the spot to cater to the problems

we had encountered. We noticed that every person in the group looked at each piece of

the project in a different way. This is a very useful characteristic about working in a

group that we embraced, and realized that someone elses idea might make a tremendous

improvement on the design that another person had developed. We also realized that it

was difficult to make every piece of the project to work in sequence. When we were

building the project we tested each step separately to see if it was going to work and

almost all the time it worked. But when we went to film the final project we soon

realized that it was going to be more complicated than we thought. It was frustrating

when everything would work except for one connector step and we would have to set up

everything again, and even adjust a few of the steps that we had to compensate for these

changes. We did not always agree on every step of the design process but we let each

person voice his or her opinion before making our decision. One of the most useful tools

that our group had was the use of the Facebook group that we had created. This way we

could test the ideas that we had to see if our ideas were going to work and post

pictures/videos and comments. The Facebook group allowed each group member to be

connected to the group even if they were not able to attend a meeting. Every person in

our group had a different skill set and we used these skills of each person to our

advantage. Overall I think our group experience in the designing of our project has had a


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positive effect on our view of group work and has helped everyone in our group realize

that each individual opinion matters and should be taken into consideration in the design

process.

7.1. RecommendationsRecommendations for this project would be to start earlier on the construction, as

we ran out of time and couldnt finish our project as well as we wanted to. Another

recommendation would be to not use dominoes, as they are very unpredictable and

unreliable

7.2. Machine SummaryTotal Runtime: 1 Minute, 5 seconds

Total Steps: 8

Total Connecting Steps: 4

Total Cost: $175.11

Total Hours Spent Working: 127

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