Adding To Instructables

In unit 3 of my Rapid Prototyping course, we learned about life hacks, and how they can make someone’s life a lot easier. For FEs we went to the Sullivan Center building in downtown Chicago, where we made lamps from paper and LED lights. We also went to The Wasteshed, where we were able to buy materials for our projects. What was good is we also looked at safety rules when in a workshop, where there are many tools. This was to prepare us for our action project so we don’t get hurt. Leading me to the action project, we had to create anything we wanted using scraps we found and have it be something useful to the new GCE Building. My partner and I wanted to make a laser cutter, but due to time we couldn’t. Instead we decided to make a bike, guitar, and skateboard rack out of pallets that people threw away. This was really fun and very stressful to work on, mainly due to time. Please enjoy our creation and check out the Instructables page and maybe you can make your own guitar and bike racks!

NVA "Bike Rack" (2016) GCE Lab School

Our project was creating a bike rack for students/teachers to use and the guitar rack will be for our after school club, Music Makers. The Skateboard rack will also be used for students/teachers.

When we went to The Wasteshed and talked to Eleanor, she said “Our store gets things that society throws out, that actually are still useful.” Basically she said that we throw out so many things that we can still use but refuse to, and don’t think/realize what they could also be used for. It is kind of like one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. This relates to my project a lot, because we grabbed pallets that a company had lying out in the snow to throw away. We decided to take them and repurpose them. Even though we bought stuff at The Wasteshed, it still counts, because it was originally thrown away and reused.

For a reference/inspiration we used Wooden Pallet - Bike and Scooter Rack by Davinci2K1, this basically has the same concept, but my partner and I just made some personal adjustments.

My timelapse video was originally 6 minutes and 44 seconds but I used an app on my phone called Video Lapse, which will take your video and convert it to a timelapse. My video went from 6 minutes and 44 seconds to 1 minute and 47 seconds. To get the frame rate I would have to divide 404 seconds, which is 6 min and 44 sec in seconds and 107 seconds, which is 1 min and 47 sec in seconds, and that is 3.77, which is the frame rate. One thing thing that was disappointing about it was that it sped up the audio with it, so I went to Wevideo and silenced it and put a track that I personally made over it.

To take apart the pallet boards to get the planks of wood, my partner and I used a crowbar to take the pieces off, then we used a hammer to hammer out the nails, and the backside of a hammer to pull out the nails. All of this involves a lot of leverage, and having to use leverage to make pulling out all the objects a lot easier. We also used screwdrivers to put in screws after pulling out the nails. This process uses this concept called torque, which is leverage, but leverage that is applied to a circular motion. Something that could make it easier is having a longer handle, that will take away the heaviness of the object. Like holding a hammer from the bottom of the handle, rather than holding in the center.

In this project we used X-Acto knives and hammers, and a lot of power tools. All of them can cause safety problems, so it is very important to be careful when using any type of tool. When cutting, make sure to go slow and easy, this way it will protect you more. When using a hammer or any type of power tool, wear goggles to protect your eyes from something flying in there. For working in general, make sure you are very careful and aware, and if you are tired, maybe take a nap and then work. Making sure your health is in the highest state it can be in is most important for anything when working.

I had fun doing this project, and luckily because I followed all of these safety tips, I was able to finish coming out unharmed. I did learn a lot from this project, and here are five suggestions/tips to focus on when working on this for yourself:

1. Be awake, as this is a lot of work and there is a lot of cutting and hammering, so being awake and aware is very important.

2. Wear gloves if the pallets you use are raggedy, so you don’t get splinters.

3. If you use the the side of the crowbar that has a little curve to it, and hold on to the longer end, you have much more leverage.

4. Always wear goggles when using a power tool that is cutting something.

5. Sand down any wood to make sure that, when the racks are in use, no one gets a splinter.