We did the measurements to make sure all of the cubes were within a certain amount to make it easier to connect the cubes. We used the dial caliper to measure the width of each cube. The range was .011. Anything above that would be to much of a difference and would mess up the data.
The sketches are of 20 randomly created. They were made to have multiple ideas of what the pieces could look like and to select some shapes that you would like.
I had to use flushes and mates to make the shape not move. The mates make one side of the shape stick to another shape which made it not be able to move on the y-axis. Then i would flush which would make the shape not be able to move on the x-axis making it stay in place.
I let my whole family and Zack try to complete my cube. All were successful but their times varied. My little sister who is 10 took 13 minutes to solve the cube. One the other hand it took my bother who is 17 to solve it in 3 minutes. My dad aged 49 took 6 minutes and my mom who is 50 took 4 mins. Zack solved in in barely 2 minutes. I believe there is a correlation to age especially in the elementary school ages. But in the older ages it just comes down to weather or not you are good at solving puzzles. For example, it took my mom 4 mins while it took my sister 13. My dad took 6 mins while my brother took 3. If i were to change anything about my cube, i would most likely make it more difficult. I used pretty easy pieces but even tho i did it took longer for some people to complete it.
The puzzle cube project was a good project to really test our capabilities to use the design process and inventor. The making of the cube and the ability to use any pieces if they fell between the constraints given is a good example to test creativity. I like making things simple so i made shapes that were simple and did not make you have a migraine. The plan looks good on paper and turned out very well. When people say used the design process to solve a problem, which to me means coming up with a bunch of possible answers, choosing the right ones, deciding which the best is, and creating that solution. Just as we made the 20 sketches and chose five that, we like to make a shape. Then to actually make the shapes with wood and color them. It was cool to see people try to do your cube and do it a completely different way than you did it. To test other people’s cubes was also fun and was a challenge for most. We used inventor which is one of the coolest software I have used to make a 3d model and technical sketches for the cube which some of the things you could do on it completely blew me away.