24 June 2010 Letterbox

It was all about letterbox construction today. I started on 3 prototype letterboxes today. They great thing about doing these prototypes is the amount of learning that takes place........or should i rephrase the amount of mistakes I made while tinkering around with the construction of the letterboxes. Below is a list from the top of my head.

• The measurements for the pattern of the letterboxes was to narrow i had set up the hole where the letters are suppose to slide in at 30mm. The smallest circular bobbin sanding bit is 30mm, so it means that it is to tight a fit when i want sand the hole smooth.......I burnt the sanding bit oops! I brought this to PG attention and asked if the jigs that where made up on the C&C machine could be re cut to 35mm. Thank goodness for me he re cut the hole concerned. Oh and he replaced the burnt bobbin bit :)
• When i calculated the amount of plywood that was to be used to make the letter box i forgot to take into account the partition for the letter box. I am sure that i could use offcuts to rectify this problem.
•  The letter box with the raking roof was unrealistic as the hole that the mail slides into was vertical meaning that it is hard to put a flashing over it to protect it from the rain. PG remade 5 more jigs so that the hole was horizontal thanks PG
•  The order in which the letter boxes are to constructed have been a bit of trial and error. I think i have come up with a system that would work well for the class

I got some neat photos of the process today will spend tomorrow back on the letter boxes, I wonder what other challenges will arise oh well that's part of the fun. Writing up the processes and creating the assessment events around it is not so fun.