Thread: Need advice on HSC major

HI Lance,

No problems at all. Good luck with your HSC.

I'm going to highlight some points from the essay above -> as a student in my class, I'd be encouraging you to increase the level of complexity of your project and not build something so large or heavy, as storage in my rooms is limited. Your bench would take up way too much room, and the junior classes would love to be the first to carve their initials in it if it was stored in the room.

Feel free to print out this thread and discuss it with your teacher (please!) Get their ownership before you go too far, or else you may be disappointed later.

In the end, you need to have a project that inspires and motivates you, and be your idea and not someone else's. It's a fine line we tread, as this project is the one you want to make.

Cheers,

eddie

Originally Posted by eddie the eagle

Remember that really small projects also score well. Bigger is not better in the HSC. Quality of joinery, quality of design, quality of execution and quality of folio are the sellers that get you the result. Did I mention quality not quantity?

In my opinion, however, you're setting yourself up for a great workout every lesson lumping things around and this will slow you up markedly in production. At a density of 1000kg/m^3, a workbench top, a'la Roubo, 2m long by 600mm wide by 100mm deep = 120kg. Add another 40kg for the chassis/subframe,

and you've got to move this around yourself.

Expect to lose 30 minutes per practical session setting up and packing away, unless you can negotiate a permanent work area with your teacher.

you'll need a safe way to handle it without dropping it on your feet/hands or damaging your back.

If I was your teacher I'd be encouraging others to work on their projects consistently, rather than assist you for 20" to set up/pack up, and I'd be wondering where to store this project safely.

Practically, I'd be looking at doing something smaller as, to be honest, there's not a lot of skill in building the bench

, and it'd need to be built perfectly to score an acceptable result.

edit: note I used 'acceptable,' not 'excellent' or 'outstanding'

It's essentially an oversized coffee table, just the same as a billiard table is an oversized coffee table with a felt top and rubber bumpers.

THe vice screw is an extra skill that you could demonstrate you have, but you might want to consider making a more demanding project.