ENVS10003 - Week Two- FRAME – Bianca Censori- 638663

Activity guidelines The aim of this activity was to use strips of balsa wood to create the tallest truss we could We were instructed to only use super glue as a joining mechanism to create a fixed frame structure within the truss Later in the activity we used a pin joint which altered our truss’ to hinged frame structures

Our group decided to create a triangular truss as it proved to be the quickest and strongest option, also fulfilling the criteria it was easy to manufacture triangles within the group to speed up the process. The balsa wood was cut into long thin strips and we realized early that the truss would be a much stronger fixed frame if we cut each strip in half. Thus our truss was much smaller than the rest of the groups but proved to be much more stable.

Our initial structure began as a simple triangle joint (seen in figure 1) by the fixed frame to another triangle, building up vertically. As we were under time constraints our group created a way of ‘manufacturing’ each step of the procedure to speed up the process, making multiple triangles and counter-lever attachments (as seen in figure 2) enabled a quick creation. We used a vast amount of beams to strengthen the lack

of vitality of the balsa wood, thus further strengthening the frame structure.

Figure 2- Super gluing beams Figure 1- balsa triangle

The balsa wood was an extremely malleable and flexible material which had some very strong positives and negatives, it allowed us to learn about how to construct a steady structure, at the end of the activity we were able to push down on the structures to see its

weakness’ and were the wood broke first. Due to this flexibility this also meant it was a hard material to engage with when building, as it would break whilst we were building.

The superglue was extremely messy and incredibly hard to get onto the balsa wood, unlike a fixed joint in practice (eg. Welded steel) the glue lacked the fusion of both pieces of wood, once we switched to pin joints we were able to see the big difference between the use of fixed frames and hinged frames. The lack of reliability on the glue made the hinged frame much more consistent and fluid when faced with pressure.

Figure 3- basic truss (first layer)

Figure 5- Final Product

Figure 4- A Simple Drawn Truss

CONSTRUCTING ENVIRONMENTS

Figure 5 and 6 are photographs of the final product, it ended up being 5 layers high and although not the tallest in the class it was definitely the most ‘fixed’ and ‘hinged’ as the other groups examples where falling apart.

This activity related extremely well to the readings and lecture this week as we were able to engage with the idea of ‘fixed’ and ‘hinged’ frames and structures in a practical sense, it forced our group to explore different building techniques to ensure a tall structure but also

a structure that would hold itself. Our structure ended up being the strongest due to using short sticks of balsa wood and many supporting beams allowed it to withstand pressure. Figure 9 shows where the truss broke on a vulnerable beam.

Figure 6- Final Product

Figure 9- Final ProductFigure 8- pressure upon the truss

Figure 9- the truss broke at a beam

CONSTRUCTING ENVIRONMENTS