04-27-08 FABRICATION

The fabrication process:












Derek....."how much will it wrack?"

Wash. U./MIT Team Named Finalist for Chase Competition!

4-26-08 polygal

Back to the shop. Making the final cuts.

making the cuts on the table saw.

making the last official cut of the polygal. It is much cleaner to just do it by hand so all the diagonal lines had to be cut with an exacto knife.

proof that leigh showed up.

measuring out the roosting bars.

measuring out the holes after the polygal was cut.

the last hours in studio.

4-25-08 12:00am

This is our 11:00pm-2:00am meeting. What are we doing again?

Figuring things out........again.

This is how it needs to be put together.

What about.........?

(the discussions last for a while)

Not another issue that needs to get resolved......why didn't we just think about this earlier?

Well, just do it anyways.

Frantic measuring.

more measuring

a nap.

thats it, I'm done!

4-24-08 Last official day of studio!

Studio. Progress is far slower than expected as many things must be figured on the spot but all is coming together.

figuring out the metal cuts, roosting bars, and other details.


Cutting the corrugated sheet metal with a band saw. We realized that the guides were slightly slanted and had to guide it by hand.

Making the first practice cuts.

After many hours of figuring out the correct way to cut. Three pieces finished, four more to go.





Aaron building the goose coop.


The nesting box built.


We realized the bolts are too big, which means another trip to home depot, one of 20 or so trips that have already been made.


Taking apart the nesting box.

Now that the frame is figured out, we have made the necessary markings and we have cut all the pieces to size. Here is what the process entailed:

translating the drawings, checking the dimensions

marking each angle

cutting and reorganizing

hosing down the angles





A meeting with Derek and Leland to figure out the louvers





The nesting box is concurrently being drawn up to be cut.

The base of the coop will be made of these concrete feet that will bolt to the frame according to the proper leveling of the coop.

Back to the Chicken Coop

Now that we have all of the materials, we are making minor changes to the dimensions as well as checking that everything will connect well.

While the polygal corrugated plastic is fairly light, together it will have some significant weight.