Finalized...

It has been quite a road to get to the finish and I have to say that the backpack looks pretty good for what we had to go through to get it all together and working. Ali did great work getting the guts of the radio Rickey donated into the backpack and Ankhoa did some soldering to make sure the wires all stayed together. Jon, Jen and myself did the final bracing and drilling this past week to make sure the backpack won't wobble when worn and to get the LED panel attached to the backpack. The following are some pics of the various stages. We also applied another coat of paint to the panels to give a smoother finish. The speakers were also attached and everything was tested to make sure it works.

Onwards!

Productive day, in my mind at least. The advanced group as a whole had to present our progress to the class. Ali led off with a general synopsis of what we have all been working on followed by individual input on the areas we've all worked on and ideas we have discussed.

Afterward the backpack group huddled together and discussed the next phase: construction. We've decided to meet next Monday and Wednesday to assemble, map out fastener/bracket placement and decide on how best to paint the beast of a backpack we are working on. I made some basic sketches of how the doors will go on with the new idea out forth today. There will be hinges on the ends and a short wooden piece in the center to hold magnetic fasteners so the doors will be able to swing open in an outward direction.

Adhesiveness

Stopped by Home Depot today with John and Jen. We picked up some mdf board, enough for one complete prototype (hopefully), and I bought some glue to assist in the construction. We should be able to start construction next week, cutting, measuring, gluing and once we get that done we will figure out what kind of brackets/bracing we need to make sure this thing doesn't fall apart.

Another idea

I've also been toying around with the idea of using magnetic fasteners for cupboards to hold the lid of the cross in place. I went to Home Depot and took some pics of the fasteners they have for purchase. Once we get the a prototype of the backpack put together then we can see how well some of these fasteners might work. I'm not sure about the strength of any of them, I didn't see that kind of information anywhere.

So without further blabbing here are the fasteners and prices (I hope this is ok...)

Some sketches...

...that I had in my bag concerning the overall designs that the group came up with, I'll add some description to explain what I remember. I'm also including some of the stores I contacted concerning the ALICE pack frame (aka the rucksack frame). I used the tried and true method of calling to see if any of these stores had what we needed, no use wasting gas only for disappointment right? It is a good thing I called too since the stores either did not have the frame or they had it at a higher cost than I was willing to pay. So on to the pics!
I'll start with the sketches of various designs.

Advanced group project

In my Art 106 class I am in the advanced group and we managed to cobble together some designs and got accepted into this competition, check it out, its pretty cool sounding. So now the group has split into different smaller groups in order to gather the materials we need in order ot construct the outfits we came up with and so far I think the backpack group (which I am a part of) has a plan A and B and C! The first involves using a large amount of acrylic, the second is primarily masonite and the third plan combines the two. What are we making you ask? Well let me give you a brief description: it is large backpack that is pretty much the Red Cross symbol approximately 5' by 5' without the white areas, just the red cross.

My group is primarily composed of Ricky, Jon, Jen and me. We've drawn up plans for how much material we need and this next week we plan on making a prototype (which may turn into our final product...). I will be acquiring a backpack frame, specifically this one. I think it will serve our purposes perfectly. It is light weight and I believe our cross design will attach to it nicely and will make it easier for our model to wear it. I'll post up some pics of the stuff I've sketched out and what others have done as well over the weekend. I think our design will come together well as long we stay focused.

The group in its entirety is composed of Ali, Shilpi, Rickey, Ismael, Anhkhoa, Jen, Jon, David and myself.