Andrew's CAS

I have just returned from the MMUN conference in New York, where, if you have not been keeping up, I just served on the Bureau as the chair for the first time. My committee had around hundred delegates (students) who were all there to collaborate on creating a resolutions they had been studying from a country's perspective in preparation and my job was to ensure that everything went smoothly and to procedure. I had a great time this year and the ability to pass on the conference experience that I would have enjoyed to the next generation of participants was quite satisfying. I would not say I am the most confident public speaker, so I was often nervous throughout the conference when calling rules of the procedure and speaking to the staring crowd of eyes, but as I went through I became more and more comfortable and am grateful that I have had a chance to practice and utilize these skills. This made me step out of my normal comfort zone as I generally wait for people to approach or ...

All my materials have arrived for my Dice Tower, as well as my leather pen case was almost done getting sewed up. The Carvey and the laser cutter both had long queues (especially the former) and I initially planned on using the Carvey to cut out my tower's outline so that there would be no scorch marks around the edges. Unfortunately, I decided to use the laser cutter to cut my tower due to almost everyone in class signed up to use the Carvey and highly likely event that it would not reach my turn by the end of the term. While waiting for the queues for both machines to get shorter and for my turn to come up, I went to finish my pen case. After a few more stitches, I cut the thread and bam-I had a pen case. I was very pleased with how turned out and look forward to transporting my stationary in my own handmade pouch.  I finally got to do my laser cuts with my walnut. When they were finished being cut out, I constructed the tower and realized to my dismay that my measure...

Laser Cut Time Lapse I first went through designs of dice towers to gather inspiration and information on what I should incorporate into my own. I created cut out the enclosure for of the tower in order to see what placement of the ramps and at which angle they would work best, so that the dice would roll, fall to the bottom, as well as not get stuck inside. The final design of ramps has them being inserted at an angel which allows for the ramps to provide greater structural    support as well as simpler overall looking design. This method also allows for the side of the ramps to be seen as they are actually coming out of the sides, this was a decorative feature that I wanted and I am happy about how this was implemented. Three Iterations of my Dice Tower I went through multiple versions each time changing certain parts and proportions that needed to be tweaked. I also added some decorations so that the final version would not look like a simple box. I dec...

This week, or couple days due to inclement weather, I focused on my second project for two reasons: I needed to figure out what else I wanted to do and the material to finish my first project had not come in yet. I wanted to do a project that would be usable to me and I decided upon doing a pen case due to to fulfilling that factor, as well as being a leather-working project—something I have wanted to work with for some time. Leather Pile To begin, I had to get some leather. After obtaining my material, I set out towards designing my case in Illustrator as I wanted to use the laser cutter to cut out my design. After cutting the leather with the laser cutter, I had to learn how to use the awls to create the stitching holes along the edges, as well as learn how to properly sew them together. Fortunately for me, Mr. Grisbee was willing and able to teach how to use the leather-working tools we have in La Tinkeria to do my project. Designed Illustrator File Sewing the leather t...

For my project, I decided to design and build a dice tower. A dice tower is used to ensure that the dice are rolled without any manipulation or sleight of hand. I am planning on using walnut and padauk (an orangey colored wood) as the materials for the tower, but the local store did not have the exact pieces and they will come in through Amazon later on this week.   Dice Tower AI File I have had previous experience with Adobe Illustrator, the laser cutter, and other tools that we have in La Tinkeria™ and this project was still difficult as there were many parts that needed to be exact and meet up in order to fit together. I will only have one shot when I use my final materials, so I want to be as precise as possible with my final version.

I have decided to take on a project in order to practice and gain some design skills to create real practical objects. For this project I aim to learn how to create material lists and familiarity with design software, materials, tools, etc. through building a dice tower—a tower that rolls dice unbiasedly. To begin I searched for inspiration projects in order to help determine my direction and what aspects were absolutely necessary for this tower. I then researched different materials to decide on which to use. This process was enlightening as I discovered the different attributes of wood types and the limitations of the equipment at my disposal—laser cutter and cnc cannot cut metal which eliminates that material as a possibility.

After visiting the vet, it turns out my dog is a bit overweight due to being fed much more than she should have. To rectify this, in addition to a smaller portion of food, I have decided to begin taking responsibility of walking the dog and doing more often per day than what my family was doing before. I hope that with this plan in the next few months there will be benefits for my dog and for myself as we both embark (haha) on a path towards increased exercise.