Forget ducks, forget bucks, this is full blown Concrete Canoe season. We've got a very intense build on our hands with our new and improved molds and we need all hands on deck these coming weeks to get em done and start cooking up canoes. This will require a lot of initial manhours to complete the molds and casting set up, but if it is down within schedule (2 weeks), we can make a canoe once a week until we create the one worthy of being a National Champion.
So if you consider yourself a member of the Concrete Canoe team, or if you've been thinking you need something better to do with your time than liberal electives, get down to the Woodring Lab. We don't expect you to spend 20, 15, or even 10 hours a week, but if you can spare 5 hours a week over the next couple months to help get through the construction phases you are welcome as a member of this team.
Week 4 Schedule
Monday: 1p-8p
Tuesday: 3p-8p
Wednesday: 12p-4p
Thurs: Off
Friday: 1p-5p
Saturday: 11a-4p
Sunday: As needed.
There's plenty of opportunity for everyone to get their hands dirty, and that is what it'll take for us to win. So grow some Drexel/Philly Pride and get down there.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Winter Week 2: Goin Strong
This week started off with a bang when a large pile of needed materials showed up all at once. Mixing resumed with fresh pails of admixtures, sieved aggregate, and everyone's favorite, fly ash. Fly ash is a pozzolan, which means it reacts with calcium hydroxide which is produced within cement hydration. The fun part about it is that it is so extremely small (sub 1 micron) that filter masks are required when working with it.
With the necessary materials at our disposal we started on the coffin renovation. The coffin is our transport box for the canoe, and "coffin" was an accurate title considering 2 canoes failed in it over the course of a few months. The issue is that the canoe rested on a tarp which covered packing peanuts -- hull down despite the picture -- and while everything worked at first, the foam bed settled and the boat cantilevered. Essentially the boat see-sawed on the foam and broke in tension (concrete's biggest weakness) right across the middle. Here's the old layout and half of the last boat that it laid waste to.
Our proposed solution this year was to add supportive & segregating ribs. Using cross sections from our hull design, we cut ribs to support the boat every other foot. A total of 10 ribs for a 20' boat. However, we don't want 10 pressure points (although better than 1), so foam will be loaded up to rest the boat comfortably and the foam cannot settle as the ribs will keep it within it's 2' station. Here's Aga and myself cutting the new ribs:
Here's the coffin all ribbed up, now we'll just load some foam in between and she's good to hit the road with our concrete canoe.
Tuesday spelled out more than 20 manhours from this hard crew, helping week 2 become potentially the most productive week yet.
Check back soon for pics of our mold and the lovely mess that is fiberglass work. Next official meeting, Friday at 1pm.
With the necessary materials at our disposal we started on the coffin renovation. The coffin is our transport box for the canoe, and "coffin" was an accurate title considering 2 canoes failed in it over the course of a few months. The issue is that the canoe rested on a tarp which covered packing peanuts -- hull down despite the picture -- and while everything worked at first, the foam bed settled and the boat cantilevered. Essentially the boat see-sawed on the foam and broke in tension (concrete's biggest weakness) right across the middle. Here's the old layout and half of the last boat that it laid waste to.
Our proposed solution this year was to add supportive & segregating ribs. Using cross sections from our hull design, we cut ribs to support the boat every other foot. A total of 10 ribs for a 20' boat. However, we don't want 10 pressure points (although better than 1), so foam will be loaded up to rest the boat comfortably and the foam cannot settle as the ribs will keep it within it's 2' station. Here's Aga and myself cutting the new ribs:
Here's the coffin all ribbed up, now we'll just load some foam in between and she's good to hit the road with our concrete canoe.
Tuesday spelled out more than 20 manhours from this hard crew, helping week 2 become potentially the most productive week yet.
Check back soon for pics of our mold and the lovely mess that is fiberglass work. Next official meeting, Friday at 1pm.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Winter Construction Under Way
Happy New Year all,
2009 has started off with a bang here for us on the canoe team. With much of the necessary materials amassed, we're mixing, building, fixing, and breaking something nearly every day down in the labs.
For those interested in taking part of the team this year, it has just begun and now is the time to join. Monday and Tuesday evenings we get going at 530pm, Friday we get a few hours in starting at 1pm, and Saturday we start at 11am. With a work estimate just shy of 2000 total manhours, we could use the reinforcement. Currently we've got about 8 guys and girls working steadily on the team, with a few more members working their way in. We try to keep everyone on the team busy, but like many things in life you only get as much out of it as you put in and you'll need some initiative.
The hardest part of this team is the fact that it is long hours and often tough work, without an obvious academic benefit. Many schools have Concrete Canoe branched out of a class, but most school just have clubs struggling for funds and volunteers. Drexel Concrete Canoe is much more than some simple club however, we've got a long history of looking out for each other and positive faculty relations. I joined the team because I was frustrated with engineering school being little more than classrooms, books, and pencils; I wanted to get my hands dirty. 2 years and many busted knuckles later, I know more about concrete than most of my peers and I've got better grades compared to years prior. Concrete Canoe is opportunity, a chance to get more out of Drexel than a framed piece of paper that set you a $100K in debt. Power tools, advanced concrete technologies, sweat, and dirt are all just the parts that make the uphill walk home end with a cold beer. The works hard, the hours long, but I know at the end of the year, after a hundred and ten percent, I will say it was worth it, and you will too.
Here's a quick glimpse at next year's christmas card:
It looks like it's snowing in the labs, which it appears to have on numerous occasions throughout break. Our test mixes are moving along, as well as construction for the incoming mold. So we'll be down there quite often.
Next Meeting: Tuesday 530pm, Woodring Lab
Reminder: ASCE YMF Winter Social Monday, at McGillians
2009 has started off with a bang here for us on the canoe team. With much of the necessary materials amassed, we're mixing, building, fixing, and breaking something nearly every day down in the labs.
For those interested in taking part of the team this year, it has just begun and now is the time to join. Monday and Tuesday evenings we get going at 530pm, Friday we get a few hours in starting at 1pm, and Saturday we start at 11am. With a work estimate just shy of 2000 total manhours, we could use the reinforcement. Currently we've got about 8 guys and girls working steadily on the team, with a few more members working their way in. We try to keep everyone on the team busy, but like many things in life you only get as much out of it as you put in and you'll need some initiative.
The hardest part of this team is the fact that it is long hours and often tough work, without an obvious academic benefit. Many schools have Concrete Canoe branched out of a class, but most school just have clubs struggling for funds and volunteers. Drexel Concrete Canoe is much more than some simple club however, we've got a long history of looking out for each other and positive faculty relations. I joined the team because I was frustrated with engineering school being little more than classrooms, books, and pencils; I wanted to get my hands dirty. 2 years and many busted knuckles later, I know more about concrete than most of my peers and I've got better grades compared to years prior. Concrete Canoe is opportunity, a chance to get more out of Drexel than a framed piece of paper that set you a $100K in debt. Power tools, advanced concrete technologies, sweat, and dirt are all just the parts that make the uphill walk home end with a cold beer. The works hard, the hours long, but I know at the end of the year, after a hundred and ten percent, I will say it was worth it, and you will too.
Here's a quick glimpse at next year's christmas card:
It looks like it's snowing in the labs, which it appears to have on numerous occasions throughout break. Our test mixes are moving along, as well as construction for the incoming mold. So we'll be down there quite often.
Next Meeting: Tuesday 530pm, Woodring Lab
Reminder: ASCE YMF Winter Social Monday, at McGillians
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