I had a suggestion from a friend of mine that I show the breakdown of materials in a Squirrel mail order shipment. So here are the details a typical Squirrel order of 10 planes.

This isn’t scientific but it gives a good ballpark.

Total Weight of shipment: 266g

The Squirrels  weighed 20.3,  20.0, 19.1, 20.6, 20.3, 18.7, 18.5, 18.5, 19.1 and 18.2 grams. So that comes to a total of 193.3g. The average is 19.3g

Reused cardboard: 67.3g (check out the box cutting machine).

Shipping label: A label seems to be about 0.9g. There are six per sheet of paper and the sheet came out to 4.5g.  So .75g is probably a good number to use.

Glue (Sides): The weight of the box with clothes pins was 90.6g. The clothes pins were 22.0g. The cardboard was 67.3g. So that leaves 1.3g.

Glue (Seam): 0.65g

Glue (Label): The box was 262g without the label and label tape. So that means there is 4 grams for all that. We know the label is 1.3g so there’s 2.7g for glue and tape. So I think 1g of glue and 1.7g for that tape is close.

Tape: 1.7g for the label and

Squirrel Packaging: 13.2g for 10 bags. So that’s 1.32g each.

Cardboard is recycled but why not get more use of it before it goes to be recycled?

This takes a bit of labor but if you’re organized you can get it under control.

First I try and find a cardboard source where I can contact the people who are using the cardboard. I then try and intercept it before it goes to the curb. That way I can find a point in their process where it’s the same box is coming out of their production.

Then I can line them up, cut them apart (all at once) into flat pieces and slice them to the size required for the “box-o-matic” that makes the boxes. You can see a clip of this machine further down.

Automation is a great way of increasing accuracy and efficiency when making parts.

Many of the steps of making Squirrel kits use expensive and complex equipment.

But sometimes just using your head is all it takes.

Originally I had planned on a system that would pull the elastic out of a box and snip it at regular intervals (and having the elastics fall into another box). That sounded like a fun and reasonably challenging project. I expected to use an arduino microcontroller and some sensors to control the elastic length and alarm when it runs out and finishes a batch.

With the simple method below the elastics are easier to handle because all of them are in a bunch when they come off the template.

Plus this machine needed very little material to make.

I  had some bags of 5″ and 6″ propellers around that lacked nose pieces.

They were purchased a while back when I just started making Squirrel kits and I was assessing different propellers.

Also a batch was purchased at one point when I was low on propellers and needed some in an emergency. It was a pain since I had to buy nose pieces and other hardware.

What was left over of these have been sitting in my “research bin” for quite some time.

I am testing the new 3D printer by making nose pieces so I figure this is a great chance to put these props into use!

I got some .030″ music wire some small beads and presto! Complete propellers with nose piece assembly!

The propellers I have use .0375″ wire which is a little thicker. I will come up with the best size over time.

I will bring them to my next volunteer activity and we can test out the hubs to see if there are any problems with them. I made up about 10. I can already see that the down thrust didn’t come to the angle I intended. I’m not sure if this is a problem yet so we’ll find out next building session!