Rube Goldberg Post #6

TESTS

I’m so excited that now I have completed the building phase of my Rube Goldberg. The next step in our project is to begin to test our machine several times until it works. At first, I thought either building or testing would be my favorite part. Although, building was pretty fun.

PREDICTIONS

Overall, my Rube Goldberg isn’t too complex. I wonder how many tests it’s going to take? Hmmm. Maybe 15-20? Well, I’ll have to see.

TESTING

Now I have finished my tests! Testing took like forty five minutes for me. I thought testing was kind of stressful because every time it failed, you had to set the whole machine up agin. Plus, some parts of my machine would just not hold, so if I went past it to fix the dominoes, you would have to be very careful because sometimes it would fall. This part was towards the end of my machine, which was good because if it was in the beginning it would knock the whole thing down. My machine succeeded on the 31st test. A little off of what I had predicted.

OVERALL REFLECTION

Now I have completed my Rube Goldberg!! I think the idea of a Rube Goldberg is amazing and is super fun. Although, there can be many challenges, and sometimes it can cause frustration. This is what we had to do complete our assignment :

  1. Decide who you want to work with or decide to work alone
  2. Create a sketch
  3. Build
  4. Test (and take a video while testing)
  5. Write about your Rube Goldberg

For me, I think testing was the hardest. My favorite step was either to create a sketch because I like to draw, or to build because I really liked working with the materials and putting them together. Overall, this project was really fun, and I hope one day I can do it again.

VIDEOS

Here are some videos that helped me out, inspired me, and gave me some ideas:

 

Rube Goldberg Post #5

Running Into A Small Problem

As I continued to build, I realized I had a small problem. The problem was, before I started building, I painted a long piece of paper that would fit the table I was working on. I did this to make my Rube Goldberg more decorative. But, the problem was, the next morning (the day after the paper dried) the ends were all rolled up and the paper was bumpy. I needed to put dominoes on the paper, but it didn’t work because of the paper being bumpy and the dominoes being so small. Every time I tried to put dominoes on they fell. I tried several times, it just didn’t work. At this point I was getting really frustrated. I needed to come up with a solution.

Coming Up With A Solution

I had come up with a solution. I didn’t exactly like this solution, but I had to do it in order to build my Rube Goldberg. The solution was to take off the piece of paper. I did this so the dominoes wouldn’t keep falling.

Working With A Solution

After I removed the paper, I tried putting the dominoes back together again. It worked! Yay!!! Now I could complete the process of building, and finally begin my tests!

Rube Goldberg Post #4

Beginning To Build

Now that I have completed my sketch, gathered materials, and got the idea of what a Rube Goldberg is, I will begin to build. Building shouldn’t be too hard since you already know what you are doing.

One week ago, I started to build. So far I have completed almost all of my steps, except for two or three. I was right, building isn’t that difficult. All you have to do is put your sketch together.

The materials I have used so far are :

  • Dominoes
  • An old doll bed
  • A bridge (kind of like a ramp)
  • Marbles
  • A bouncy ball
  • Marble Run
  • Jenga  blocks

I will complete the next few steps very quickly. After, I can begin to test my Rube Goldberg!!!

 

Rube Goldberg Post #3

Gathering Materials

This week, I will start building, which means I will start gathering materials. For my Rube Goldberg machine I’m going to be using materials such as, dominos, bouncy balls, wood, cardboard, books, lensless glasses, tennis balls, etc. Some of these materials I made, some of them were old toys, and some of them I use for activities. While building, there is a good chance that I will not follow my plan exactly, so I might add or eliminate steps depending on how the building process goes. While looking for materials for your Rube Goldberg, I suggest checking your garage, basement etc. You never know what you can find! I also suggest looking through some of your old toys. The next step to my Rube Goldberg is building!! Yay!!!

 

 

Rube Goldberg Post #2

Sketch

Once I got the idea of what a Rube Goldberg was, the next step was to make a sketch. I had a couple ideas for a Rube Goldberg, so this part wasn’t so difficult. Our Rube Goldberg had to be six steps. After looking at a bunch of videos online, I saw many different steps, which helped me a lot for more steps. I decided to have over six steps. Since I had tons of ideas, my sketch took me about twenty minutes. After I made my sketch, I had to look it over again. I saw one thing that wasn’t going to work so well, so I decided to take it out. Then, my sketch was better. My next step is to start gathering materials.

Rube Goldberg Post #1

Just Getting Started

At the beginning of the year, I barely knew what a Rube Goldberg was, until my teacher introduced the class. A Rube Goldberg is basically a machine you build to help you complete a simple task. When I got the idea I thought it was amazing and so cool! I was so excited to get started. I looked up videos online to get some ideas. Quickly, I sprouted ideas. I’m so excited to get started on building!!!