I was hoping we'd have pictures of the hanging this week, but it looks like the cables will not be done.  Students are suggesting that if we don't have it hung by State Symposium we try to take it with us.  I'm not sure that is possible.  We will see.  

ARFCOM, we have a problem.


We just blew motor #2 on the whistle, and we didn't even get to half power on it.    The prop bent, then the blades ate into the housing and fractured.    


We need another option.  The motor we've been trying to use is way too fragile.    I'll post pictures later.

A freshman on 'whistle' duty sounds more and more plausible.

The seniors were all for this idea.

Here is the blown motor with the bent drive shaft and I think I know what happened.  I may have to draw a picture and upload it.  I discussed this with the robotics student tonight while we were both down in the weight room.  I'm sure he was thrilled to have me still pestering him while we were working out.

Here is what I think happened.

The fan is not made to handle any angular pressure from its exhaust.  With the T we used, and the fan not being fully seated, air was allowed to push laterally out the T instead of up towards the whistle pipes.

This angular pressure caused the drive shaft to bend, and failure of the fan blades as they struck the sides of the cowling.



We weren't even past 1/4 speed.



So where do we go now?  What I'm thinking is we need to abandon the idea of the small fans and find a compact fan that we can attach some ductwork to and funnel the flow to our whistle pipes.

I just need to find the right fan.

Update 4/5

Some of the cables the custodian is working with to hang our substructure beam.


The tshirt designs are getting closer.  We are looking closely at these two combinations.  We will also look at a three color option, but costs may make that prohibitive.

Constructive criticism is always helpful, so if you've got an idea, post it.



The mountain in the background is Heart Mountain.


The orange is popular, as our school colors are orange and black.

Update 4/6

Here is a bit of video of more of the details as they get finished up on our train.

I like that t-shirt just like it is. Send it.

The detailing really looks good!

I like the "Powell Locomotive Works 2018" shirt.

I like the locomotive works shirt....SO......

We are getting closer.  There will be some informal voting next week, then an ironed out design.

This is popular right now.

Slightly bigger graphic to show up better.  


We tried many variations of colors.    This seems like a nice combination.  We also straightened the year graphic.

Update 4/6

First off, we are getting closer to the end of the dreaded woodpile.    Students started painting rings on some of the faces of the logs.   I have amazingly patient students.

And yes, my rust maker is still dinging up our poor tender.   It is turning out very nicely and she does say she is almost done.



The rings look good, but what the hell happened to the end of this one?. We need to fix that.
[

Looking back at the tender pile.



The new answer to the whistle.

This is what needs fed.  1.5" ID pipe.



This is very close to the 4" duct fan that we ordered today.   We will fit a funnel to the fan, then flexible hose to the funnel end.   The hose will connect to our whistle.   It's a 100cfm fan.   Our calculus teacher believes we will have plenty of force.

We may have to power this a little differently than planned and we are still working on that.   It should be easy, but we may need another controlling outlet for it to work when we want it to and not just when the light comes on.



Not sure why the amazon link is not working.

Did you remind them how many tiles were on the shuttle?

Yes I have, but most that were involved with that project haven't forgotten.

I haven't heard anyone who did tiles complain too much about bark.

ETA for those that don't know-  Roughly 16,500 tiles applied one at a time with hot glue.

She is a genius, you know this.

Someone needs to get repainting that tender!  It's been years since it was painted last!  Look @ it, it's almost a rusted hulk!  Freshman, slap some fresh paint on there!

FYI, you do not have a problem w/ the fan motor - you have a learning opportunity.  You furnish more of those to your students than the rest of the faculty combined.

Man, it's going to look amazing when it's all done.

Like Disney World theming amazing.

Can't wait!

I told my wife the same last night at dinner.    It only cost me $15 plus a funnel and some rubber tubing to see if it works, and just the fun of seeing if they can make it work is with every penny.  

Setting that piece of cardboard tubing down in front of them, as they gathered around the cab, and watching them start problem-solving was the best part of yesterday.  Brainstorming up an oil fill funnel was genius.

I forgot to tell you all about our other problem.   The Arduino app editor currently won't allow my robotics student to upload the old program back onto the locomotive to get the wheels and light going again.   We had taken it off to try to run the whistle.

My son said he had the same problem last year with the space shuttle.   He used the online website to accomplish it.    Well, the app is blocked now by the Sonic firewall at school.. We had to get admin approval to unblock it, which was instant, but actually unlocking it seems to be beyond our tech departments ability.   They we're still getting errors yesterday afternoon while the student tried in front of them.   Ugg.   It's frustrating.  

Got to love Amazon Sunday delivery.

I need to go round up a funnel and rubber hose today so students can try to put this together tomorrow.

Update 4/9

What a day.

Students were anxious to get going to test out our new motor.    They quickly got this set up together and plugged it in.



Annnnnnnnnnnnnd...........

It didn't work.. Complete failure.   The fan design would not force any air down the funnel out the tube.   It just backed out.   We tried a couple different things with no success.

I was ready to give up on the whistle, but the kids wanted to try a hair blower.  We have one there.   So.........





With our success, we tried to remove the heating element.

Annnnnnnnnnd.........we broke it completely.



With that..........I had to go get a new one.    Tomorrow, we will try it out.

double tap

Because, dang it!  We spent too much time and effort making those whistles, and they sound cool.

That looks much like(just bigger) whats we already tried and destroyed.......twice.

Did I mention my robotics student is still locked out of uploading the old program to the arduino?

Their issued laptops are so locked down they are little more than a word processor.

Supposedly, the tech dept was going to try again this afternoon to make it possible to use the online editor.   Uggggg.    That is very frustrating.  

We already have the 110 for the lighting.    We can plug the hair dryer into the surge protector that can be turned on and off by the Arduino.

Exactly.    No software that isn't pre-approved.    No drivers.   It's very frustrating.

Top_Men had his own Mac   Top_Men is now down at UW majoring in Computer Engineering.  He used my issued laptop when he needed windows, but even the teacher laptops are locked down.

New Robotics student has issued laptop.

We are going to try a teacher laptop tomorrow and see if it makes a difference.

 They can't download from their phone to the little computer?  Doesn't that thing have Bluetooth?

I asked if the arduino can talk android or OS, and I'm pretty sure I was told no.  Wont work.

They can't get into it w/ a terminal app?

Update 4/10

We got it working again and then it locked up again.    I hate arduino.  

At least the whistle is nice and loud.  you can hear it down the hall.  The new hair dryer is pretty quiet but powerful.

Wow that cool when working!  Hope you find a good solution and be trouble free.

More update from today.

The wood pile is very close to full, with endcap painting still a ways away.







The interior of the cab.  You can see the duct tubing for the whistle.



With the new painted hair dryer attached.


New  trees going up in the mural.


Finally, we are making this as close to full scale as possible.  It will fit in the display with our golden spike.


End caps still needed.

Thank you!

This sounds similar to what I'm hearing from Top_Men.  He is trying to talk our new robotics student through the problem.  He's just 6hrs away in Laramie.

@guns762

You guys are getting famous!

Your story is featured on the UP employees website

Hallway or Museum? Powell High School Says Both

"Jim Gilman’s high school art class in Powell, Wyoming, is taking its learning outside the classroom by transforming academic hallways and alcoves into lifelike interactive museum exhibits."

Over the last six years, Gilman’s students created permanent displays featuring space exploration, a unicorn family and numerous other murals and big installations. The Powell High School Panthers’ latest exhibit honors Union Pacific’s role in their community.

Large | Powell HS Mine
The student exhibit features a taxidermy bear, train tunnel and mural background.

“UP was a driving force in creating the transcontinental railroad, and fundamental in creating Wyoming and its industries,” Gilman said. “Wyoming’s history, population layout, towns, industry and even today’s politics are all due to UP’s influence.”

In August 2017, the students started construction on an 18-foot, 1/3 scale powered Baldwin 4-4-0 locomotive with a UP tender. The motion-activated train will hover above wall-mounted tracks emerging from a tunnel with moving wheels, lights, bell chimes and a whistle.

“This is all student-created work in my art classroom, working with robotics, welding, woodworking, math, science, English and, of course, history,” Gilman said. “The kids love it.”

The students plan to hang a display box containing a Golden Spike ceremony photograph and small memorabilia, as well as track and Golden Spike re-creation items.

Large | Students Holding Up Rail
Students connecting the rail that will lie beneath the locomotive.

“We are in the final stages of getting ready to hang our ‘Panther’ locomotive,” Gilman said.

The incorporated taxidermy mounts, murals and tunnel are all pieces of student work, taking thousands of hours to complete.

“We wanted this display to include a Wyoming theme, so of course, our train had to be a tribute to UP’s role developing our great state,” Gilman said. “Our ‘Panther’ could only be from one railroad, and that’s UP.”

The train will be on permanent display in the school.



Very cool

Great news!

Wonderful!
I'd bet that your class is their favorite.
Thanks for having such a good influence on kids and affecting their lives in such a positive and rewarding way.

Thanks for posting that.   . I wondered if anyone from Arfcom would see that on their website.

She said it would hit their social media page soon as well.

One thing about your air hose. A smooth hose is easier to push air through. Something like thishttp://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/sceet.php?clickkey=2663025

You are probably right.   I talked to the kids about that when I brought in our cheap hose.   It was the right fit, cheap, and available locally..

Even on the low setting of the dryer, we get decent tone and volume, so what we have is going to work, but its good to acknowledge there could be improvements to the design with something as simple as a smooth tube.  

That Aircraft Spruce tubing I linked is what we use for air intake and brake ducting on the race car . There are much cheaper versions. You potentially could find something on the air intake of a junkyard car even.

The kids picked these as the designs for the t-shirts.

I'm not quite ready for them to go live yet but hope to get things set up soon.   I was hoping we would be further along with the hanging of the locomotive.

Looks like we might get a chance to find out if both the unicorn and the train will both fit in the trailer.



Couple tweaks in moving the graphics about.

Ill have my motor heads look around.