Grayson Blanchard Bench Swing

  May 24, 2021 Today I worked from 12:30 to 3:00. During this time I designed and made a plaque. This plaque has my name and graduation year on it. I went to the metal shop and grabbed a piece of stainless steel. I cleaned the metal and put it on the belt grinder to give it a brushed finish. After that, I brought it to the tech center in the library and used the laser engraver to put my name and graduation year on it. Once the laser was done engraving I brought it back to the metal shop and cut it to length. I then drilled four holes, one in each corner. The plaque was complete, all I had to do was install it. In the process of installing the plaque, I stripped one of the screws and snapped another. After getting more screws it is installed and finished. The total amount of time I have spent on this project has been over 65 hours over the past couple of weeks.

 May 23, 2021 This past week I have made lots of progress. I began work on the bench part of the porch swing. I started off by cutting the pieces to their rough length. Then after that I did multiple dry fits to make sure everything will go together properly. Because of the dry fits, I found some issues that may have otherwise gone overlooked. This includes changing the angle of the backrest to make it more comfortable and general changes to make the overall project more structurally sound. After double checking that everything went together properly, I started assembly.  After a couple days of work the bench was finished and ready to get mounted. Greg and I found the ideal height and got lengths of chain and other hardware to attatch the bench to the stand. IT"S COMPLETE!!! Weelllllll, not quite. ALthough it is "finished", there are still a couple of finishing touches that I would like to add such as removing pencil marks, sanding any rough enges, adding grease to the c

May 21, 2021 Today I started working at 8:45 and finished at 3:30. During this time I took the entire bench apart and sanded everything to make sure no one will get splinters. After reassembling, I set the bench on top of some buckets underneath the stand to find the rough height. The reason I did this was to be able to find the length of chain needed to hang the bench at the proper height. After finding the length needed. Greg and I picked up the required chain and hardware to attach the bench to the stand.  After attaching the bench to the stand and testing it out, the swing was perfect and stable if used properly. Taking into account that this swing is at a high school, it is not going to be used properly. Kids will try and see how high they can swing and that could lead to possible tipage. In order to counteract this, I made leg extensions that bolt to the bottom of each leg that widens the footprint, and in turn, adds more stability. 

 May 20, 2021 Today I got to work at 10:50 and worked until 4:15. During this time I worked on assembling the bench. Because of the multiple dry fits, I had done previously, it was really easy for me throughout the entire assembly process. I started by adding the slats that people will be sitting on. After that, I added the slats to the backrest. The reason I did the slates first was that if I had the armrests attached, I would not have been able to fit the drill to screw the slats down. After everything was assembled, I gave it a once-over with some sandpaper to knock down any noticeable rough edges.

 May 19, 2021 Today I worked from 8:40 until 1:30. In this time I continued to work on the bench part of the swing. After completing the backing of the swing yesterday, I started progress on the armrests. These too were made out of 2x4's and were also planed down to the same width as the others to save weight and give a nice and clean finish. The armrests were also dry fit to see how they would look. I had about an inch of overhang on the front of the armrests and decided to round them over to give a cleaner look.

  May 18, 2021 Today I started the day at 9:30. I started work on making the bench that will attach to the swing. I changed the design a little bit and gave the backrest more of an angle instead of being 90º. I did this because it will be more comfortable to sit on. After I made the change to the backrest, I rough cut the rest of the pieces I needed in order to have them ready for the next day. I ended work at 4:30 Today was a lot of measuring and cutting with no building other than the dry fit.

  May 17, 2021 Today I started working at 8:10. I started on building the bench that will attach to the stand and become the swing.  I followed the plans I had and rough-cut all the pieces to length. This allowed me to lay out the pieces and see if there are any issues with the design. Although the pieces would fit fine, Greg was concerned about the weight of the bench. The bench will be made out of 2x6's for the frame and 1x6's for the slats. Taking Greg's concern into consideration, we planed the boards down to make them thinner. Not only did this reduce the overall weight, it also gave the boards a better/smoother finish.

       This week I have made nice progress on my porch swing style bench that will be placed on campus near the firepit for future students and faculty to enjoy. I started off by coming up with designs and having Greg (my mentor) check over them. After the designs were approved, I had the required lumber delivered to the school. Once the lumber arrived I quickly started work on making the stand. After I completed the stand I tested it for stability. I realized that although the stand was sturdy enough if treated properly, it stood no chance to the wrath of students to come. Taking this into consideration, the best option was to completely redesign and rebuild the stand from the ground up. Although it is a setback and took a while, I am happy the issue was caught at the beginning vs being a problem later on. After this issue was recognized, an entirely new stand has been designed and constructed. I am now able to start progress on making the swing Bench

 May 15, 2021      Today I started work at 9:50 and finished at 2:00. In this time I thought out how to best reinforce the new stand so it is able to handle the years of abuse to come. After talking with Greg (my mentor) we found where I needed to add extra supports. After figuring out the locations, I then took measurements for how long the supports needed to be and cut them to length. After cutting I then installed the supports onto the stand. The stand is complete and now I am able to start progress on making the swing bench to add to the stand.

 May 14, 2021      Today I started working at 9:30 and finished working at 4:00. I started off by testing the stability of the stand that I had made and found it to be sturdy, but if pushed too far could tip over. (we all know high schoolers will push it too far). I was thinking of multiple different ways to make the stand more stable. After lots of thinking, it was decided that the best option was to rebuild the frame from scratch. For my new design, I decided to go with an A-Frame style which will provide more stability in all directions. I started work on the frame and got a rough outline of how it will be.

 May 13, 2021 Today I worked from 9:30 until 3:40. During this time I further continued on completing the stand for the porch swing. To do so, I had to cut some more support pieces and bolt them into their corresponding places. I ran into some clearance issues and had to resize some support pieces before attaching them to the stand.

  Today I started at 10:30 and worked until 2:45. During this time, I Worked on assembling the self-supporting stand for the porch swing. I started off with dry-fitting everything and making sure that all of the pieces were made properly. I then started assembling the stand starting by fastening the two legs to the top beam with 4" bolts. After double-checking they were square I added bracing for more structural rigidity.  After bracing the top beam, I worked on attaching the support feet to the legs. After double-checking this was square, I also added more bracing.

  Today for my senior project I worked on a couple of things. I started at 8:55 and worked until 2:40. First off, I finished cutting the required parts for building the self-supporting stand. This will allow me to do a dry fit by putting everything together without assembling it. By doing this I was able to see if anything needed to be changed or adjusted. Once I was finished checking the fitment on everything, I went around the structure and made a list of the required hardware to be able to put the stand together.     

          Today I worked from 8:15 to 2:30, over the course of this 6 hour period I printed out the plans for my Porch swing style bench. After reviewing the plans with my mentor, Greg, I began work on the self-supporting stand for the chair. I started by taking one of the 4x4'' posts that I have and notched it at each end so another 4x4'' will be able to slot into place. I did this by taking the skill saw and making a bunch of cuts right next to each other, then chiseling the remaining "fins" until flush.            Along with making the top support beam, I also started work on making bracing for the legs of the stand. I took sections of 4x4'' and cut a 45º on each end. These will end up being bolted onto the bottom of the legs for more structural rigidity.