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November, 2024

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Engineering

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bayarea8
Posts: 274 - Karma: 68
I need some help coming up with some interesting ideas for an engineering project. It has to be something that I build so it can be very open ended but be realistic

+k for helpful ideas
-k for trolls
Feb 7 2013 2:32PM
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chapz
Posts: 10182 - Karma: 66
quite broad...

what eng are you in? whats your budget? time frame? blah blah....
Feb 7 2013 2:33PM
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accualyisdolan
Posts: 3295 - Karma: -192
Build a bulletproof Lego fortress
Feb 7 2013 2:37PM
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accualyisdolan
Posts: 3295 - Karma: -192
Or a robotic sandwich making machine
Feb 7 2013 2:38PM
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andy_boy
Posts: 4434 - Karma: 107
quadrocopter
automated beer catapulting mini fridge
Feb 7 2013 2:39PM
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bayarea8
Posts: 274 - Karma: 68
I have about 1-2 months to work on the project with a team of 4 people. The budget is around $1,000 and I am in a high school engineering class
Feb 7 2013 2:43PM
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RimJobber
Posts: 3313 - Karma: 10,058
Hovercraft
Feb 7 2013 2:45PM
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Stickity
Posts: 7750 - Karma: 769
magnets
Feb 7 2013 2:46PM
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yuck
Posts: 8384 - Karma: 2,090
you have highschool engg classes...?

is the school actually funding this? damn your highschool sounds intense
Feb 7 2013 2:46PM
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bayarea8
Posts: 274 - Karma: 68
Ya we do and yes our school is funding it
Feb 7 2013 2:54PM
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accualyisdolan
Posts: 3295 - Karma: -192
Intense/awesome
Feb 7 2013 2:55PM
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Darth.Maul
Posts: 2472 - Karma: 652
Damn. My college group engineering project last semester cost each of us $10-15...
Feb 7 2013 2:59PM
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chapz
Posts: 10182 - Karma: 66
i've done two projects, im in mech.

in cegep (pre-uni in quebec), i made a blimp. pretty simple to design actually, and with $1k, you can make an epic one.

last year for my thermo class, we made a mini steam car. idea was also pretty simple to design, it all came down to the ratios. heres a pic Click for larger image
Feb 7 2013 2:59PM
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pat_in_the_hat
Posts: 3019 - Karma: 2,695
I designed a heated ski pole for my junior design class. It really simple. A ski pole with nichrome wire wrapped around the inside of the rubber grip. Batteries inside the handle power it. It lets you use some voltage calculations
Feb 7 2013 3:00PM
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-Alpha2-
Posts: 355 - Karma: 96
cold fusion...
you wont do it, pussy
Feb 7 2013 3:02PM
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Stickity
Posts: 7750 - Karma: 769
this.
Feb 7 2013 3:04PM
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Benji.
Posts: 1146 - Karma: 88
this


$1000 can fund such a nice design.

You could do a bunch of analysis on pressure throughout the system as well as have fun riding it around. You could even work energy transfer equations if you are feeling thermodynamically savvy.
Since you have ~2 months I would definitely suggest analysis on 2 or 3 different designs. i.e. various pressure sources, various skirt designs and various thrust sources.

A hovercraft would make for a great engineering design project and you and your team will be able to make it as simple or in depth as you'd like.

Although, I doubt you have to go that in depth considering you are in high school.. good luck
Feb 7 2013 3:04PM
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O-A_s
Posts: 373 - Karma: 58
Make a microphone with an amplifier. Quite easy, not necessarily expensive, and it shows knowledge of electromagnetic principles. Not that creative though, but its easy to make both theoretical (just a few calculations of currents and resistances) and practical (the amplifier only needs a few nails, cords, a transistor and a plank).

Feb 7 2013 3:11PM
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Darth.Maul
Posts: 2472 - Karma: 652
I woul probably make a guitar pickup and test how the number of coils and stuff effects the sound and tone produced. Should be easy with some neodymium magnets and some copper coils.
Feb 7 2013 3:19PM
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stizzle
Posts: 371 - Karma: 623
We mad ping pong ball Gatling guns in a high school engineering class... Its alot easier than it sounds once you start looking at designs... ours ended up in the $500 price range
Feb 7 2013 3:23PM
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-AM-
Posts: 162 - Karma: 116
Build skis. Kid at my school did and they turned out quite well.
Feb 7 2013 8:06PM
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gyarados
Posts: 1186 - Karma: 399
hit up some cold fusion man, harness the power
Feb 7 2013 8:09PM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,411
Pretty expensive and time consuming. If you have other classes and things to commit to, or you can't work on the project outside of class it would be tough. Very rewarding project nonetheless.
Feb 7 2013 8:14PM
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.Capn.
Posts: 1454 - Karma: 152
Let me direct you to my instructables page... and to instructables in general

Feb 7 2013 9:03PM
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A_Unicorn
Posts: 129 - Karma: 249
Rube Goldberg alarm clock.
Feb 7 2013 9:47PM
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RimJobber
Posts: 3313 - Karma: 10,058
I love instructables
Feb 7 2013 9:55PM
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No.Quarter
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 16,962
Do the people in your group share interests?
Feb 7 2013 9:56PM
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freestyler540
Posts: 13085 - Karma: 18,737
Build a godamn Go-Cart
Feb 7 2013 10:27PM
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GingLife
Posts: 170 - Karma: 67
Arduino chips are fun and you can find a lot of code other people have written online The set I had to buy for my engineering design class this semester was only about $100 through the university so you still have funds to build whatever you want to be powered by the Arduino. YouTube can show you some cool examples.

This video shows what the class I am in is doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgwjnh-HKbw.
3:00 starts talking about programming and the resulting air motor we will machine and run starts around 5:50.

And this is just a cool video of what a guy last year in the class did for an independent project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJbTXaRrqhg
Feb 8 2013 12:35AM
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DANETRON
Posts: 6671 - Karma: 137
Steal the money. Learn engineering in college
Feb 8 2013 1:56AM
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1337
Posts: 31054 - Karma: 29,251
engineering ♥
Feb 8 2013 2:00AM
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timmmay528
Posts: 202 - Karma: 15
Build a rail gun. Make a solenoid(I think that's what it's called) with a ton of loops around a tube and then run a current through it. It'll make a magnetic field and then you can hopefully launch magnets
Feb 8 2013 2:14AM
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bullerboy
Posts: 12 - Karma: 13
That's pretty cool mate.  I did eng a uni and all I got to make was a steel A frame for a point load test as well as a concrete cylinder for a compressive test...

With respect to your project, if you wanted something relatively easy you could always do a little electric car.
Feb 8 2013 3:40AM
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AT-AT
Posts: 3281 - Karma: 3,256
threads for when i get an idea.
Feb 8 2013 12:49PM
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Stickity
Posts: 7750 - Karma: 769
my physics teacher told us his dream is to build a rail gun as a class project. also, he accidentally vaporized a squirrel when he was in college with a hydrogen laser or something
Feb 8 2013 12:55PM
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liamrashotte
Posts: 246 - Karma: 738
that sounds like a sweet teacher
Jan 2 2014 10:37PM
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a_pla5tic_bag
Posts: 9215 - Karma: 5,398
obviously build a multistage model rocket with a payload capable of returning to earth. i.e. the top part ejects and has a chute.
Jan 2 2014 10:40PM
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Errl
Posts: 2082 - Karma: 451
Design and build a solar panel ground mount for solar farms/home installs. Make it one that is low on cost and materials. Make it possible to be assembled by as few people as possible. Eng teachers eat that kind of shit right up.
Jan 2 2014 10:49PM
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Karkoskier
Posts: 2999 - Karma: 4,661
Better than any idea I'd come up with. Do it!
Jan 2 2014 10:53PM
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Phil-X-
Posts: 7205 - Karma: 14,399
Click for larger image



Do it, you wont.
Jan 2 2014 10:53PM
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whoa-dere
Posts: 10596 - Karma: 7,103
come up with a new dildo design
Jan 2 2014 11:44PM
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jsweeze
Posts: 59 - Karma: 89
Build a solar panel or single family wind turbine using mainly recycled and reclaimed materials
Jan 2 2014 11:59PM
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steezysteeze
Posts: 1739 - Karma: 1,012
I am very jealous of your highschool.
Jan 3 2014 12:15AM
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crab_pretzel
Posts: 3919 - Karma: 622
build one of those snow bike things. itll just invovle attaching a bike fork to a snowblade and somehow converting the rear wheel into a cat track
Jan 3 2014 12:17AM
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Darth.Maul
Posts: 2472 - Karma: 652
I just finished helping a nuclear physicist and a nuclear chemist build a biomass reactor that turns wood scrap from logging into a highly combustable fuel that had 80% of te BTU output as coal.

Cost a little more than $1000 though
Jan 3 2014 1:14AM
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Heart
Posts: 6156 - Karma: 3,462
Here are some quick and easy projects for you OP:

-Time machine
-Nuclear fusion reactor
-Machine capable of reproducing absolute zero
-100% efficient internal combustion engine
-Your own superconductor
Jan 3 2014 1:44AM
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