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Timeline and Designs
View the six month process of my Algae Cup
DECEMBER
December is the start of my project. I was challenged to think of an idea that could help better our world. Some of my ideas included an easier way to end wildfires, or a tree that was easy to live in for the homeless, and getting rid of waste in our ocean. I was left to think about general ideas such as these through all of December.
January
January is where the real work began. I started to mindmap my problem. For my problem, I ended up selecting plastic pollution in the ocean.
I researched what solutions there already were and how effective they were. I researched how much plastic there is, and how much people contribute.
After all this research was complete, I created a project proposal (view in docx tab). I decided that my project would be a cup, specifically a coffee cup, that is more environmentally friendly.
I then started to research my material and methods that I could use to achieve my goals. I found my filament, which was an Algae PLA based material that was safer for the environment. And once I started to design my cup, I created a poster for it.
Project Proposal
February
I worked a lot on my cup designs and continuing to modify them to be better. I also started to prepare for the Professional Review night, which was on March 3rd. Along with continuing to work on my project, I created a slideshow for the review night.
March
March had my professional review night. From this, I got tons of feedback about my project. This feedback helped me progress my project further than I could've done on my own. It helped me to think of new aspects of my project, as well as to answer questions that I haven't thought of before.
I also switched programs right around now for my 3D printing. I was using TinkerCad, but switched to SolidWorks for more detailed designs.
April
In April, I continued to work on my cup and my lid. I constantly had set backs and had to continue figuring out how to work through the set backs. Not much accomplishment to note was done in April unfortunately
Other than working on my designs, I also started researching on microplastics and the nitrogen cycle for the STEAM expo.
May
May was the busiest month for this project. I had only a few more weeks to get my final cup design done and t create all my posters for the Expo. I ended up getting sick with COVID-19 the week before the showcase, which put a major dent in what I was able to do. I ended up having three days, including the expo, to print my last cup and make my posters. I also ran out of time to make my lid since I prioritized the cup so much.
I ended up being able to get a great final print of my cup, as well as all of my posters done.
ALGAE Cup Trailer
Cup Designs
These are the images I have of the cups I did, or attempted, to print. The red circles are to mark where the issues were.
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I did intend to give my STL files out on here, but unfortunately I was unable to upload them on here.
 Cup Design 1 |  Cup Design 2 |
|---|---|
 Cup Design 3 |  Cup Design 3 |
 Cup Design 4 |  Cup Design 5 |
 Cup Design 6 |  Cup Design 7 |
Prototype 1
Prototype 2
Problem Definition
Click Here to View
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