Experiments
For this week, Kevin and I decided to work on the trailer together because it is more useful to Huang Ayi and needs a lot of complicated work. I'm focusing on improving the design of the wheel and bracket, which is a really important part for moving and connection. For the wheel, the material needs to be really stable and rigid. In this case, plastic bottles cannot satisfy this requirement. After several experiments, we agreed on using bottle caps. We shredded them by using the shredder and then compressed and baked them separately. I found that it would consume less time by using the thermal compressor to compress the HDPE fragments.
However, I failed on making them thick enough. The heat can't be transmitted through the material if I want to make it thicker. When I was trying to cover them layer by layer, the pieces eventually broke apart since the inside layer is not melted. In this case, the only way works is to use the oven to melt the shredded HDPE pieces. The second problem I met was after pressing the melted plastic brick by using oil jack. When the plastic brick was squeezed, its thickness decreased. And it didn't reach our requirement for making a wheel. So i'm thinking about putting another layer of shredded HDPE pieces on it and melt them together again. Hope this will work! At least I find the right material this week!
2nd round meeting with Huang Ayi
Facts:
work responsibilities
Huang Ayi loves to decorate her tool room. She has her own aesthetics standards.
Huang ayi feels respected at NYUSH. She gets satisfaction from solving problems at work.
Huang Ayi said she's not allowed to rest a long time in her tool room.
Feelings:
Surprised but also touched to hear what matters to Huang Ayi at work.
Their working conditions are harsh. They don’t get paid much. It’s unfair.
I felt a lot of respect for the ayis for their perseverance.
Findings:
Very different working conditions exist right in our building.
Ayis in lower floors have their own trailers.
Futures:
Improve the design of the trailer (e.g. handle, base, wheels...)
I plan to understand the working conditions of Ayi we are working with more by getting to know her more. I also plan to document what I find and share with others in some ways.
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