Ben in the News!

Upon returning from summer break, The Edge Team was pleasantly surprised - and proud - to learn that The Lake George Mirror (a newspaper operating out of Lake George, NY) had honored Ben.  It had composed an article covering the trail-building work he performed over the summer.

Take a look for yourself through a post on Ben's blog.  If you haven't subscribed yet, take a minute to do so.  He will continue to post updates in the months ahead.

https://benbairdportfolio.wordpress.com/2017/09/11/article-in-lake-george-mirror-about-my-work/

Ben's Performance Task: Part 2 (Final Video # 2)

To showcase his terrain park, Ben elected to create two performance tasks using filmmaking.  Please see the second of those below as Ben processes his work with the help of his park testers and The Edge Team: (also, please check out and subscribe to Ben's YouTube channel)

 

Ben's Performance Task: Part 1 (Final Video # 1)

To showcase his terrain park, Ben elected to create two performance tasks using filmmaking.  Please see the first of those below: (also, please check out and subscribe to Ben's YouTube channel)

 

Ben: Meeting with Jay Rosenbaum

"When we went up to Killington as a school, Mr. O set James and I up with a meeting with Dave Lacombe. We learned about what he does and what the guys in his shop do. At the end of the meeting I asked Dave if I could possibly meet with the park manager. He gave me his phone number so he could coordinate something the next day. However, it didn't work out.  Something came up on his end. I asked Dave if the next time I was over we could try again. So, over the break, I went to practice for a contest at Killington and was able to meet with Jay Rosenbaum."

Interested in reading more? See the rest of Ben's post on his meeting by clicking here.

Ben: Fake Snow Event

- Contest type and contest information.

 - Advertising for getting people and athletes young and old for the contest, and after the contest for next year.

- A way to draw people in besides snowboarders and skiers.

- Comp specifics includes features, skill/age categories, and number of competitors.

- Prizes, overall estimated cost, estimated prophet, and admissions cost.

Ben: Preparing the Rails

One of the most popular features in a park is the hand railing.  You can use it in a number of ways, such as by grinding or sliding across it, tapping it, jumping or spinning on it, or hopping over it. 

I really wanted to be able to have a few rails in my own park.  So, I just started asking around trying to find someone who would have some old or unwanted railings laying around.  I talked to people at the transfer station, people from town, and finally, people from the library.  The library in my town said that they were getting new railings because the ones they had were old and breaking.  They said that I could take the old ones when they got them replaced.

I waited around for a phone call so that I could come and pick up the railings.  I sketched out how I wanted to cut the rails and where.  Then, I drew how I was going to weld and repair them.  Next, I talked to both my uncles about welding some bases on the railings so that they would stand.

Finally, I got the call.  The next night, me and my father went down to the library in his work van.  We cut the railings into about five foot sections with his band saw. (Five feet is the maximum size that will fit in the car for transportation.)  Then, we took them back to the our garage.  The next day, I cleaned them up by cutting them to the exact length of 5 feet with the band saw.  I scraped all the paint and rust off the rails with a sander and a rotary wire wheel brush bit.  Then, I cut legs with the extra rails I had.

Reassessing the situation, I realized that if I welded the legs on permanently, the railings weren't going to fit in the car.  I had to use a mechanical joint.  After talking with my Dad, we came up with the idea of using Unistrut as the feet because it's super durable and strong.  We got the Unistrut, and I cut it to the right length.  When I cut the legs, I also cut out a small piece of Unistrut so that I could squish the bottom of the rail and bolt it down with the spring nut.

After we brought the rails to school, I sanded them down more and painted them with Rustoleum spray paint.  They were ready by the time we got snow!

Ben: Wind Chime Blueprint

Ben's schematic for his park's wind chime.  Picture taken and shared by Ben.

Here are my blue prints for my wind chime.  Unfortunately, the wire I used for the chimes wasn't strong enough because the first time I tapped it, I ripped two chimes off.  I replaced the chime with a log to tap.  Next year, I plan to construct the chimes with stronger wire.

Ben & James: Snow-Making

Hey! It’s Ben and James.

We're here to tell you what's been happening with Ben's snow park project.  The project is mostly about terrain park design.  For those of you who don't know what that is, all ski mountains have jumps, rails (hand railings), and jibs (anything to jump on or tap) to ride.  Please read Ben's post (linked here) to learn more about the parks!

Now, we are trying to build a terrain park here at Kildonan, and we have a little problem this winter in New York.  There is an extreme lack of snow on campus.  So, an idea that we have been floating around since the beginning of the year is to build a snowmaker.  That process may seem easy, but it actually involves several gas-powered and electrical machines. 

A snowmaker forms snow by shooting pressurized water (made using a pressure washer) at a high velocity into the cold, dry air.  That process involves a temperature of at most 28 degrees Fahrenheit (but, if possible, preferably lower).  Then, a fan, positioned behind the snow gun shoots the newly formed snow even farther away, giving it a chance to absorb more water as it slowly falls to the ground.

So...what have we done so far? The gun itself has almost been constructed.  It’s based on several successful models that have been out on the market for years.  It uses three pressure nozzles for spreading the water in a misty state so that it can fall slowly to the ground, giving it plenty of time to freeze.  In addition, we were loaned a powerful air compressor to help break down the water into ever smaller molecules.

Here is where we need your help:  all we need is a powerful pressure washer capable of putting out 3 - 3.5 gpm (gallons per minute).  If you, or somebody you may know, is interested in helping us acquire a pressure washer or otherwise supporting our dream to bring skiing and snowboarding back to the Kildonan campus, we would love to hear from you.  Join us in bringing a long, successful, snowy season to our school by donating to our GoFundMe.

GoFundMe:  https://www.gofundme.com/let-it-snow

Thank you,

Ben & James

To reach Ben and James, please leave a comment below and the Edge Team will make the connection!

Note on photos:  Ben and James working diligently on their snowmaker.  All images taken and shared by Ben and James.

Ben & Ambrose: Collaborating on Jib Tubes

Ambrose preparing a jib tube (and surrounded by his finished pieces).
Photo taken by Ms. Charlap.

Below two Edge Makers - Ben and Ambrose - discuss their partnership in preparing features for Ben's project:  a terrain park.  Their words are a testament to their robust collaboration skills and effective work processes.

Ben:
Finding parts for the wind chime, I came across some really strong cardboard tubes.  My original plan was to use it as a tail tap even though it wasn't going to last long.  It wasn't going to last because the weather would get to it.  Talking with Ms. Charlap, she said we could have a student paint the tubes and then use the leftover NOVA Gel (from the pictures hanging on the side of the schoolhouse building) to cover the tubes.  That way they wouldn't weather.  We chose Ambrose, a fellow EDGE student, to paint the tubes.  By now, I had two long tubes, so I decided to cut them into five sections with a saw.  Then, I needed to seal the tops so that water couldn't get in and ruin it from the inside.  So, I took a plastic garbage bag, cut it to the size, then duct-taped it on.  Next, I took a piece of sheet metal and cut it a little bit bigger than the hole, drilled holes in the metal and tube, screwed it down, and hammered the metal so it was beveled along the edge.  Then, I gave it to Ambrose.

Ambrose:
As this was going on I would paint large sheets of rag paper with different designs, shapes, and images.  After the paintings were done, I covered them with NOVA Gel, a waterproof acrylic medium, and attached them to the cardboard tubes and finished them with two more layers of that substance.  I made five paintings.  The images are all different, but a lot of the paint colors are the same.  I only had a couple colors at hand, but I managed to figure out how to mix some of them to get the colors I was looking for.

Ben:
Now we just need to wait for the right weather to try them out!

Have a suggestion on materials for Ben and Ambrose? Want to know more about the project and/or these students' work? Drop us a comment in the section below!

Ben: Terrain Park Design

Model of the project site (material:  plasticine).  Image and object created by Ben.

Hello! My name is Ben Baird, and I’m a junior at Kildonan. This is my first year in Edge. My plan is to push my education as much as possible and to make a really impressive project with the time I have. My project is based on terrain park design and mountain bike trail-building. For those of you who don't know what that is, at almost all ski mountains there is some kind of terrain park with jumps, rails (hand railings), and jibs (anything to jump on or tap) to ride. Mountain bike trail-building involves clearing wooded areas, building features (like jumps), and moving obstacles (rocks and roots) to create trails for different riders skill levels. This is a career I want to pursue after school.

The first thing I did was research. I started reading articles like crazy. I also watched a bunch of snowboard videos trying to find new features I could add to my park. I realize that I'm a hands-on learner, so I decided I wanted to build something.  Also its an opportunity for me to do something really fun and cool that will make me stick out when I'm looking for a job or college.

A schematic of Ben's tail-tap feature.
Original design created by Ben.

I wanted this park to be challenging but also fun: the amount of manpower I have (just me)...and the time limit I have (winter isn't long and is unpredictable)...factored into this decision. I've learned a lot already, more than I thought I would. Since snowboarding is my passion, I thought I would already know most of it.  I thought I would be just checking my information.   

Anyway, I came up with a plan to draw the park, make a model of the park, make the features, and, finally, shape the snow and complete the park. I talked to Ms. Charlap, Mr Rivera, and Mr. Bisson about my plan, and they were able to get me plasticine: a type of modeling clay that doesn’t require firing. I made a model base at home, and when I showed it to Ms. Charlap she told me it would be really cool if I could add feet to it to make it the exact angle of the hill. So I decided to measure the hill in a few spots. I dug into the hill with a trowel, making a 90 degree angle. Then, I double checked with a level to make sure it was 90 degrees. Then, I took a protractor and measured the angle of the hill. The first time I did this I made a really, really, really silly math error and measured with the protractor incorrectly. However, after I fixed that I found out that the steepest part was 30 degrees and the flattest part was 10 degrees. It worked out perfectly because the base of the model was perfectly 10 degrees (which was the steepest angle possible).

Then, I thought realistically: what can I build? I wanted something fun but challenging. I designed the park to have rollers (snowy bumps to catch speed on), berms (banked turns), rails (hand rails), jumps, and jibs (anything to jump on).  However, things changed after that. For instance, I changed my mind on the type of rails I was making. I also changed my mind on the type of jib. Instead of having an old barrel as the jib, I wanted to make a wind chime so that, when you tail tap, it makes a noise. This was a idea me and my father came to on the phone.

Ben's project site:  the hill (a.k.a. "Big Bertha") at The Kildonan School. 
Image taken by Ben.

After making some changes, I started to lay out the base. Because of the limited space on the model, I designed it so that the most important features would have the most room. I did this because I know this won't be a problem on the hill because it has plenty of room. Then, I added the clay in the spaces at the angle they’re supposed to be, added the jumps and landings, bent paper clips to make rails, and made a mini-wind chime.

Ben at work on his tail-tap.  Image taken by Ms. Charlap.

I started to design a wind chime. I knew it needed to be tall because, if it's too short, it would have to be next to the landing (which you would be coming at too fast). It had to be tall enough to be at the highest point of the jump where you're going the slowest (because you're transitioning from arcing up to arcing down). This is so nobody gets hurt. I wanted it to have legs so that it could be as tall as possible. When you put it in the ground, you lose height overall. I chose steel and copper pipes as the materials of the actual wind chime (tail tap). After I finished the design, I had one big problem: I needed wood, and it had to be scrap wood. One of the goals of my project was to make this whole park by repurposing stuff. I lucked out because Mrs. Charlap had a 9 foot piece of cedar wood that was 5 inches by 6 inches. It even had a notch (“mortise”) in the top for me to attach the arm to the pole. Then, when I came home a little later, my father, my friend, Owen, and I went and got scrap wood. We cut a “tenon” to about the size of the other notch (“mortise”) and brought it back to school to join together.

Currently I am working on assembling my wind chime stand. I have the arm and eye hook fully attached, so all that's left are the legs. I'm also finishing up a proposal for a possible summer job building mountain bike trails for the Village of Lake George (spoiler!). Soon I will be fixing and preparing some old hand rails for the park. Also, Mrs. Charlap and I are going to get some art students to paint some big cardboard cylinders as tail taps. Then, it is just a waiting game for the first big storm!