card design report

							                                                  1
                                                                                Index Card Structure
                                                                                      Design Project
                                                                        Dan, Ben, Andrea, & Stephen
INTRODUCTION

The Field of study:
The project is to build a structure which abides by given requirements, to support as much
weight as possible per unit cost.

Research:
Existing work related to project:
The project has no similarities to other products.

Assignment definition:
There were no improvements or new features added to the product because it is unique.

Claims for the project:
The product is able to hold a large amount of weight (about 1000lb max). The product is
important to brick layers because it holds bricks.

The objectives:
This project is suppose to achieve efficiency by building a structure out of 3x5 note cards to hold
as many bricks as possibly while making it cost efficient.

The scope and limitations of the project:
The requirements of the project are as follows:

                Index cards must be placed on edge.
                A fold in the cards must have no crease (no curves).
                The structure must be able to hold to bricks.
                The structure must be at least 1 ½ in. off testing surface.
                All pieces of the structure must be connected in some fashion.
                Index cards cannot be torn or cut.
                Cost of building the structure will be calculated as follows.
                         Index cards…………$1.00 ea
                         Staples……………...$0.75 ea
                         Folds………………..$0.50 ea



The structure:

      60 cards
      244 folds
                                                  2
                                                                                 Index Card Structure
                                                                                       Design Project
                                                                         Dan, Ben, Andrea, & Stephen
      Cost $182.00
      Held 150 bricks

Outline of the procedures:
        Research carried out before the project was brief there was some research done on
structures. In the structure designed by the group only index cards were used. Each individual
unit of the structure is made of multiple triangles. Four units are used to make a complete
structure to be tested.
        During brainstorming the first question was what shape to use. The triangle shape was
tested against a square design and the triangle preformed better and was chosen. Then should the
structure be expensive and hold many bricks or be cheap so it would need to hold few bricks?
The expensive design was chosen. After that many preliminary designs were made and tested
with small improvements made each time. Then a design with multiple triangles was decided
upon as the main design. After that was decided the question was to use multiple structures and
increase stability or use one structure and stack extremely level? Then the multiple structure
design was tested against the single structure and the multiple structures preformed better.
Finally the end design was made tested one last time and finalized.

BODY
Theoretical Background:
Theory1: The corners are the strongest part of a structure. Hence the more corners there are the
stronger the structure.
Theory2: The more compact the structure the stronger it is.
        The structure works by the theory above. The structure is made of a shell triangle with
four smaller triangles inside with an inter structure inside the smaller triangles. By doing this the
number of corners in the structures were able to be maximized. Also by making inner structures
the structure itself was able to be constructed more densely thus making it stronger. By
combining the maximum number of corners with the high density of the structure make an
extremely strong combination.

Project Description:
        The structure is made of multiple triangles. Each individual unit of the structure is made
of one shell (outer) triangle, four inner smaller triangles with an inner structure in each of them
(Figure: 1&2)The only material used to make the triangles is index cards. By using the inner
structures and multiple triangles the structure was able to be built with many corners and
dense/compact. This was the goal and made the structure strong.
        To use the device place each of the four units about 8-10 inches apart on a hard, flat, and
level surface (Figure: 3). Then place the 1 ½ ft OSB board on top of the structure making sure it
is centered. Now start stacking bricks on the OSB board (max: 150). Make sure to keep the load
level and balanced, this is very important!
                                                  3
                                                                                 Index Card Structure
                                                                                       Design Project
                                                                         Dan, Ben, Andrea, & Stephen
Product Development

        Basic construction started with a single card, folded in half over the cards length.
Problems occurred while trying to evenly bend the entire card. An easy fix was by placing the
card against a straight edge and folding the card over itself. Still using the same card, it then
needed folded in half again by the cards width. This also caused a problem while trying to
evenly bend the card in half as mentioned above. Once completed this card looked like a “V”
resulting in heights of 1.5” and width of 2.5” from point to end.

        The above process was completed six times. Then three of the “V” shaped cards were
interlaced with each other to form a triangle, the remaining three cards were fashioned in the
same manner but along the outside of the original structure to complete a double-layered
triangle.

        The structure also held four smaller triangles inside of itself. Similar to the starting
process, each card was folded over its length and then folded over its width. After the second
fold, the card was opened up and both ends were folded into the center crease created by the
second fold. This left the card divided in quarters. The two end sections were then brought
together, interlaced, to form a smaller triangle. Trouble occurred when trying to make sure all
folds were tight and even as multiple folds over folds made corners uneven. This process was
repeated a total of four times to completely fill the inner structure of the larger triangle.

        The smaller triangles inside the larger triangle housed a brace. The brace has three arms
on it which fit tightly into the three corners of the inner triangles. This adds strength so the
structure is less likely to buckle.

        The entire process was repeated a total of four times to create four double-layered
triangles with four smaller reinforced triangles inside.



Assembly and Testing

        Multiple tests occurred to lead to the final design described above. The basic structure
consisted of a single, large, triangle. Through all tests, the precision and consistency of the
individual folds played factor. Great detail in the actual construction phase was needed.

        Testing the multiple structures also led to stacking designs and limitations. These were
based off of the overall size of the structure and the overall surface area created by the structures
layout. Failure primarily came from a single area rather than failure across the entire structure.
The single triangle structure lacked the strength to stack multiple rows across its width, allowing
for only a single stack directly over the structure itself. Adding more triangles helped to increase
the overall surface area available for stacking, therefore increasing the number of bricks. The
                                                  4
                                                                                 Index Card Structure
                                                                                       Design Project
                                                                         Dan, Ben, Andrea, & Stephen
finished structure ended with four reinforced triangles allowing for stacking over a 4x4 brick
area.



        The use of staples was also a large testing area in the structure design. It was determined
that the structure did not gain any strength from using staples. It would continue to fail either
above or below the staple. Since all triangle pieces were interlaced, there was no need to use
staples as they would have only held the structure in place.



Discussion

        The overall project has taught the significance of quality versus quantity. Improvements
to the quality of the project gained a high efficiency ratio as opposed to packing the structure full
of empty cards. However, redundancy created by the inter-triangles and inner support systems
helped to increase the overall efficiency as well.

       The overall balance of the structure also increased the efficiency by measureable degrees.
The greatest improvement to balance came from the surface area created by the structure itself.
A single triangle lacked the surface area for a large weight distribution from above while a large
surface area allowed for a spread of bricks over the entire structure.

        Testing a structure with staples against a structure without staples shown the same
efficiency as the mode of failure was constant between the two models. For this reason, staples
were avoided.



Conclusion

        The objectives of the project were met as outlined by the project description. The
structure effectively held a subjective amount of bricks compared to its design and style.

        Looking ahead, better brainstorming from all members of the group would have netted
better design results. Creating another structure that has more surface area would have increased
the stacking potential of the project and netted a higher efficiency ratio.

        Design concepts used in this project could be used in multiple applications. Any type of
project involving weight distribution and strength analysis would benefit. The testing shown that
balancing the spread of weight over key folds and creases would allow for a greater weight
distribution. Similar design concepts are sometimes used in bridge design and construction.