• Question: What was the first object that you've made?

    Asked by The Kenno to Aislinn, Fiona, Nathan, Padraic, Sinead on 9 Feb 2015.
    • Photo: Padraic Morrissey

      Padraic Morrissey answered on 9 Feb 2015:

      The first object that I made was a machine to move marbles as part of an engineering project I had to do for my leaving cert in school. The goal of the machine was to move 10 marbles from one point to another…but it had to be done on something that would fit on a table. To do this I designed a pump that would inflate a balloon and lift the marbles up inside a small tube. Then the marbles rolled down a ramp and did a 360 degree loop before landing in a box. I had a laser in the box that would activate a siren when the marbles arrived (kinda like an alarm system that they would use in a bank)…it was really cool! It combined engineering and electronics and was really fun to work on.

    • Photo: Nathan Quinlan

      Nathan Quinlan answered on 9 Feb 2015:

      Wow, good question. I suppose I can’t count lego and early arts&crafts projects! When I was an engineering student we had workshop classes where we made various bits and pieces for practice. I made a screwdriver which was beautiful (if a screwdriver can be beautiful). Sadly, it was useless, because the blade wouldn’t fit in any screw. But at the time, I was amazed that raw lumps of metal could be transformed into any shape you want.

    • Photo: Aislinn Coghlan

      Aislinn Coghlan answered on 9 Feb 2015:

      The first thing I made was a shell and tube heat exchanger. If you can imagine a tube of princes with straws going down it, that’s what it looked like!

      A heat exchanger is used to either cool down or heat up a liquid the hot stuff flows through the tubes, and the tubes are surrounded by something cold or warm, like water. By the time the liquid exits at the other end, heat transfer has taken place and the liquid is cooler, and the water is warmer. When I built mine I was so delighted when it worked! I smiled for the rest of the day

    • Photo: Sinead Quirke

      Sinead Quirke answered on 9 Feb 2015:

      Hi the Kenno,

      The first object that I made was a box which I welded. I was very proud of it but the quality of my welding was not great – Id never get a job as a welder.

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