Welding

Every new school year brings new things to learn and new challenges. This year the new challenge in my autoshop class was to learn how to weld. The second week of class I was already using the MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welder. My teacher taught me three types of welds, a tee joint, butt joint, and lap joint. At first it was pretty hard because I wasn't accustomed at looking through the mask and wearing such thick gloves. Within the next couple of weeks I began to get better but it still wasn't enough. I wanted to become proficient at it until the point where I made little or no mistakes.

Lap Joint

Tube Roller

In December my shop teacher, Mr. G assigned me to a project two of my fellow classmates were working on. In the alternative fuels class one of their projects called for tubing to be bent. They needed a tubing roller in order to fix several chairs in the auto shop. As we do not have a tubing roller, my two classmates decided to design their own. The first step was to research as much as they could and look at several different designs and come with one of their own. The second step was to draw out their design and see if the teacher approved. After that they made their design out of cardboard and tested for any flaws. The process of testing took several weeks just to make sure everything was well supported. Finally after they finished everything on their prototype model, I was called in to take all the necessary measurements to put it into solidworks. Their original cardboard model is below.

Side View

Front View

Twenty Five Years Later

Twenty five years from now I see myself working as an aerospace engineer maybe for Boeing, Lockheed Martin or maybe even NASA. Aerospace engineers are the primary engineers that research, design, develop, construct, test, study science and technology of aircraft and spacecraft. The branch of aerospace engineering I would like to work in is called aeronautical engineering, these field deals specifically with aircraft. Today's military planes most interest me, in particular one designed by Lockheed Martin called the F-35 Lightning. There are several variations of the plane as it was designed as a joint strike plane for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The most unique feature of the plane is that it is cable of taking off vertically and landing the same way. This is nothing new as another plane is capable of doing the same thing, the Harrier jet designed by the British. What is new is the way the F-35 is capable of achieving lift. The main turbine motor has a designed as a 3 bearing swivel which allows it to point down, also a fan is revealed behind the cockpit that opens when you want to "hover".

Ken Robinson: How Schools Kill Creativity (Ted Talk)

School in a way "kills" our ability to be creative individuals, if we make a mistake we are looked down upon. This is something I learned from a speech about public schools.  I would have to say I agree.  Hello my name is George and this is my review on a Ted Talk. Basically TED conferences bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less).

In the Ted Talk I watched Ken Robinson talks about why creativity is as important as literacy. He also states his opinion on why it should be treated with the same status as the rest of the subjects. One point he brought up was the education system. He believes today's education system is run in a way that mistakes are the worst possible thing you could make. This interested me because if you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with an original idea. Take the light bulb for example.

About Me

"Opportunity's are missed by most because they are dressed in overalls and look like work"-Thomas Edison. This quote has always inspired me to keep working hard and make every opportunity count. Hello my name is George, I'm sixteen years old and a junior in High School. In my spare time I like to take apart anything electronic just to see how it works. Since I was about seven years I been taking old toys apart. I guess you say I'm a curious person, mostly because I enjoy learning how things work. Back when I still played with R/C cars, if I didn't like it anymore I put it to good use and took it apart. I would remove all the screws of the main body until I reached its circuitry. From there I would trace the wires to the small engines that it had and remove them. Then I would take a small battery pack and connect it to the motor to see what it would do. Keep in mind I was only seven taking apart an R/C car. Lets just say I could never put the car together because I broke too many pieces. Although now that I'm older I still do take apart things out of curiosity, for example a small cd/dvd player, a fan, or even a PS3. Off course I don't brake any of the parts now especially on my PS3.