5: If i built a car, and motors

Kate James

This week we waded further into electronics and motors. We read If I Built a Car, and tried to dream up designs for our own cars and then work on getting them moving with toy motors. We started with each student soldering a motor, switch, and battery pack together, then moved onto designing the car bodies and wheel systems.

With the laser cutter down from the storm, it was an interesting challenge to hand cut or saw the elements. In the end, most of the cars were too heavy to be moved by the motors. We'll revisit the projects for those who wish to, and work with either more powerful motors or redesign the bodies to be lighter. It was an excellent lesson in iterating and persistence!