PLTW - Spike Cover

This was my senior design project for my PLTW (Project Lead the Way) engineering course in high school. Along with my friends Connor Vance and Wiley Shellenberger, we constructed, tested, and fully prototyped a working model of a specialty show designed to protect track spikes during meets. 

Step 1 - 3D modeling

                                       Iteration 1                                                                                     Iteration 2                                                                               Iteration 3

                                                       Final iteration                                                                                                                                    Displayed together

Showcased above are the numerous iterations of 3D modeling that we did in the beginning of the year. We spent many hours tweaking the designs until we had a design we liked 

Iteration 1 Cons Iteration 2 Cons
Not to the shape of a foot Still not shape of a foot
Back hooks snap off easily Back hooks still snap off easily
Front curve doesn't really fit my spikes Front curve is better but still not perfect
Walls not providing enough room for foam Clunky
Walls still not high enough for foam
Interation 3 Cons Why We Chose Iteration 4
Back hooks still too weak Increased wall size fixes both the strength of the back hooks and give us room to utalize double foam layering
Too short, doesn't cover all of my spikes Curve fits foot extremely well and it comfortable to walk in
Walls too short for foam Slim and not cluncky, shouldn't get in the way while walking

Step 2 - Research and planning

During research, we knew we wanted to use foam to help protect the spikes

 

We tested with many different variants of foam and found that a dual layer of a harder foam on the bottom with soft foam on the top found the perfect balance between comfort and still accomplishing the goal.

While performing research on the best way to make this comfortable - we opted to use a silicon mold and pour a hardening polyurethane polymer to give us a rubber like feel that would mimic a real shoe. However, to do this we needed a waterproof mold to pour the silicon into and a way to suspend the prototype within the box to prevent holes. The waterproof box, along with the suspension method are showcased above. 

Step 3 - Pouring

Sadly, we ran into many problems during this process that we had not accounted for due to lack of experience from both us and the teacher as he hadn't had anybody try this before.

 

While pouring the silicon mold, it floated in the box, meaning we had to put a weight on top causing the large hole you can see in the top of the mold

 

Then while using the mold and pouring the polyurethane, the whole we used to pour was too small and we couldn't fill the entire mold before it started to harden, causing the large pocket you can see at the front of the product

Next Steps

Seeing as we didn't complete the final prototype, our teacher allowed us to take all the material home. Last summer we were busy, but this summer we plan on redoing this process with gained knowledge to make a fully functioning prototype that I can actually use during my track meets.