Another update - 10.26.09

**Brian** · 10-26-2009, 00:49

Hello to all HF'ers. I have seemed to have been off the reservation (that is HF) for the past week or two, but I wanted to announce a few things.

- I've got my grad school application in, and things are looking good that I'll have another year here at the University of Rochester for an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. So for those out there who have been counting on me being 'available' for their gear needs, things are looking up

- My ME242 (Solids Lab) project is going well, and I'll hopefully have an update to release to the masses in a week or two. We're just collecting our baseline data now (see picture below), and already there are some surprising results! We've also got our accelerated UV aging rig almost done, with 80 times the power of the sun ready to irradiate some fabric

!

- 21 credits plus extracurriculars plus research is uhh....a lot of work. Let's just say I'm glad this semester will be over in December. With that in mind, next semester will be 14 (including a 5 day weekend), which will most certainly mean a ton of product development and getting the ideas that have been floating around in my head for the past 6 months into CAD and then under the sewing machine.

I've gotten a few emails of support even in the past week, and really, they do mean a ton and keep me going.

SpinnUL tensile test sample:

**vitamaltz** · 10-26-2009, 06:07

I don't know how you ever sleep, but life sure looks interesting for you. 80x the sun! You should snap a photo of that rig.

**JayS** · 10-26-2009, 06:50

Brian doesn't sleep. He invented a machine that sleeps for you back in his sophomore year!

Good luck Brian - you are an inspiration.

**gargoyle** · 10-26-2009, 06:51

Looking forward to research data. Keep up the good work. Wear your sunscreen when playing on that solar uv machine.

**KerMegan** · 10-26-2009, 09:11

Re: 80x solar out put- get some welders goggles at the very least!
KM (following the trials and travails from afar...)

**Brian** · 10-26-2009, 09:36

Originally Posted by KerMegan

Re: 80x solar out put- get some welders goggles at the very least!
KM (following the trials and travails from afar...)

Oh yeah, we've got the whole system in a plywood box, in addition to UV-face shield and full labcoat/gloves. Instant cataracts if you view the bulb head on...we're not taking any chances.

Sleep? I still manage to get a full 6.7-7 hours a night, I'm not a coffee drinker, and I've been planning the PR for the past two weeks for our annual ASME Pumpkin Launch coming up this Friday.

**KerMegan** · 10-26-2009, 09:38

hmm- pumpkin launch.. Trebuchet?

**Brian** · 10-26-2009, 09:50

I would have absolutely loved to have build a launcher this year, but I've been busy helping three other teams with their design and implementation of said designs, so I'll have to forgo it this year. We've had a bunch of different designs, including trebuchets, air cannons, a pumpkin ballista...anything you can jam into a 4'x4'x4' cube and power yourself.

**KerMegan** · 10-27-2009, 11:26

does this end up on the school website or anything? As an annual event it sounds like something they would publicize- especially for engineering majors...