Throughout this project I will be updating this page with periodic reflections about conversations and experiences that add to the learning experience of my project.
September 22, 2018
I was at the conference championship race. Usually in cross country there are seven runners per team in the varsity race; however, in the conference race twelve runners are allowed to be entered in the varsity race. The team had finished our warm ups and stretches and were getting our spikes on before heading to the starting line. There was one underclassman who wouldn't usually be in the varsity race but because more runners were allowed to be entered for this race he was entered. This underclassman approached my coach and explained to him that his spikes had been worn down and needed to be replaced. My coach became visibly upset as there was not enough time for the spikes to be replaced. The underclassman had to run with the worn down spikes. This experience showcases the the problem I am attempting to solve though this project. I can't help but think all of the effects of this situation on the underclassman's race. He likely didn't run as fast as he could has his energy return per step was diminished due to the worn down spikes. Also there is a psychological aspect to this scenario. I'm sure the underclassman's confidence was undercut due to the coach being upset with him as well as the fact that he was running with less than ideal equipment. In a sport where every second counts how many seconds in a race could be saved by saving seconds in the spike replacement process.
September 26, 2018
My partner, Noah, and I were presenting the first iteration of our problem statement to the class. At the time our problem statement only defined the problem as an issue in track spikes. We opened up to suggestions and questions from the class after presenting. One of the most impact comments was made by one of my close friend's Jacob, a soccer player. He told me that replaceable spikes were also used in soccer cleats. Another baseball player in the class also noted that there were replacement spikes in baseball. And another football player made a comment that this was in football as well. By opening up to brainstorming and collaboration from my peers I was able to retain information I may have otherwise never had access too.
October 1, 2018
I received a voicemail from Mr. Rich Benoy, a former professional 110m Hurdler and owner of VS Athletics based out of Los Angeles. I returned his phone call and we began to discuss our problem. He told me about a solution he had invented and sold for the very same problem. Our discussion concluded with me asking if there was any room for another solution in this field. He told me it was all about the ideas one could come up with and what problem one chooses to solve. There are many problems out there, some with more solutions than others.
October 13, 2018
My partner Noah and I visited Dr. Rafael Bahamonde on IUPUI's campus to discuss his research and our problem and potential solutions. He gave us incredible insight as well as some documents to further aid our research. His research on the energy return of different shapes of track spikes as based on the surface area of the geometry was quite interesting and will without a doubt be beneficial in our design.
November 1, 2018
After coming in contact with Robert Johnson: co-founder of LetsRun.com, a popular public forum for runners across the globe, our survey was posted on the front page of the site.
Overnight our results quadrupled. We received results from more varied backgrounds and origins than me may have otherwise received.
November 2, 2018
While our survey was on LetsRun.com, users had the oppurtunity to make comments on our survey. These comments gave us great insight into what we could improve in our survey the next time we create one. These improvements include...
Considering the age of our audience now vs. their age during the experience we are inquiring about.
Carefully choosing the language we use to be precise in the question we are asking. In this example there was a confusion in what "spikes" we were referring to. The issue lies in the face that the shoes and the small metal pieces in the sole of the shoe are both referred to as "spikes".
Lastly it is important that we preform in depth research in order to provide options for all people so that we avoid offending any group of people by leaving their preferred response out.
November 20th, 2018
I went in to Runner's Forum, the local running specialty store that most local runners visit for all their running needs. I got in contact with owner Michael Smith. Mr. Smith was able to tell me where his spikes that he sells come from. I visited the website he purchases from and discovered that his spikes come from Omni-Lite Industries which was in fact a company that Noah and I found during our previous solutions research. It is interesting to find out where the spikes that I use come from.
November 24, 2018
My last cross country race of my high school career was the Footlocker Midwest Regional Championship in Kenosha Wisconsin. It was the sloppiest race I had ever been a part of. Rain and snow had left the course extremely muddy.
The course was this wet and sloppy throughout. My training partner Alex (pictured above) and I were luckily notified about the condition of the course a day prior to the competition thanks to a runner on the girls team. With this heads up we had sufficient time to find a running specialty store on the way to our competition in Wisconsin and purchase longer spikes. When we got to the course on race day we went to walk the course which was when we were able to gather a first hand account of the course conditions. We knew that we had not purchased enough spikes to be as prepared as possible for our race. Luckily there was a vendor at the race selling half inch spikes so my mother was able to go and purchase a few more spikes for us so we could completely outfit our shoes with the best traction available.
When we got back from walking the course we only had about an hour before our race started. It was at that point that Alex and I encountered the problem I am trying to solve with this project firsthand. Collection of dirt, frozen fingers, and stripped spikes made it nearly impossible to remove the shorter spikes from the sole of our shoes. It took about 10-15 minutes for us both to remove the spikes from our shoes. We hadn't yet installed the longer spikes but we had to start our warm-up routine to prepare for our race. It it wasn't for my mother and step-father volunteering to install our spikes while we warmed up our equipment would have been utterly useless on the muddy surface. A quicker installation process has to exist to solve this problem and Noah and I intend to find it.
Alex and I finished the race side by side covered in mud. Overall it was an extremely messy, extremely slow, and extremely fun race and a fantastic way to end my high school cross country career.
December 4th, 2018
I was able to reach Mike Walker, Vice-President of Research and Development at Omni-Lite Industries. He answered many of my questions about their top of the line spikes. He revealed to me the innovative aspects of Omni-Lite's spikes including the use of an aluminum alloy to prevent rusting of the spike in the threading. The phone call was quite impact and helped me a lot with the project proposal.
December 5th, 2018
I received an email from Mike Walker at Omni-Lite Industries. He gave me the patent numbers of a few of Omni-Lite's track spike patents so that I could go and look at them for myself. Along with this he gave me a few schematics that had complete dimensioning of the track spikes used by athletes across the globe. This information will be invaluable moving forward with our project development and designing.
January 9th, 2019
After a long relaxing Christmas break Noah and I quickly got back to work. We were in the middle of compiling potential solutions when I started tinkering with a Lego toy that we had in class.
I noticed an interesting connecting piece used in the Lego toy and was inspired. I then created our fourth and final potential solution based on the mechanics of that single Lego piece.
January 17th, 2019
I recognized that the upcoming parts of my project would increasingly allow for me to make more and more professional connections. I was to very soon consult with community consultants and I was also invited to a competition at the University of Indianapolis to compete for a full tuition scholarship. I knew that I could really wow the people I was meeting with a business card. I worked with Mrs. Floyd to redesign the business card we were required to create earlier this year. I added my website URL to the card and ensured that the design was eye catching and visually pleasing. I was very pleased with the end result. We printed a bunch out and I used them in my professional conversations. I continue to keep a few in my wallet, you never know when you may need to make an impression.
January 28th, 2019
I was at The University of Indianapolis for their Presidential Scholarship competition. I was one of about fifty seniors invited to compete. I arrived in my suit and tie ready for whatever the competition may hold. The day prior there was a banquet for the contestants where we were informed of information about the Honors College and Study Abroad opportunities. Before the presentation I was visiting with Ronald Wilks, Vice President of Enrollment. We spoke about my running and made a connection over us both reading Shoe Dog by Phil Knight the founder of Nike. The next day I was waiting in line to get my picture taken with the president of the university. Mr. Wilks approached me and struck a conversation. We discussed Shoe Dog some more and I managed to segway that conversation to talk about my track spike project. As my turn to take a photo with the president arrived Mr. Wilks turned to the president and introduced me and said to him "Tyler is inventing a new track spike to help athletes change their spikes faster". This was undoubtedly a fantastic first impression.
Following the competition I gave a business card to Mr. Wilks and thanked him for talking to me. I can't help but think the impressions I made helped my chances of winning the competition.
February 6th, 2019
Noah and I had our first meeting with our community consultant, Acme Masking Co. In this meeting we came to the conclusion that our project presented more of a material problem than anything. We were set on a quest to find the perfect to manufacture our product. In the meantime Acme began to 3-D print our designs. I was again able to make a professional connection through the use of my business cards.
February 11th, 2019
I received a phone call after class from the University of Indianapolis letting my know I had won the Presidential Scholarship! I still believe my discussions about my project lent itself to my success.
February 14th, 2019
Noah and I received an email from Acme detailing the progress of our project. They were able to answer some important questions that we had regarding materials such as Delrin and Tuflite. In addition they informed us that our designs were unable to be 3D printed on a 1:1 scale due to the size and detail of our design. I quickly contacted engineering Professor Suranga Dharmarathne from the University of Indianapolis and was able to obtain permission from them to use their SLA 3D printer which will undoubtedly be able to create a proper 1:1 prototype of both of our designs.
February 20th, 2019
Noah and I went back to Acme to pick up our 3-D printed prototypes. They were only able to make a 3:1 replica due to the capabilities of their printer. The snap fastening male was fitted with a proportional o-ring and the audible *snap* as the two pieces fit together was triumphant. The Lego inspired piece was unable to meet the same standards. It is obvious that in regards to that design material choice will be of the essence. Noah and I moved forward to find a way to create 1:1 scale models of our design and then potentially 1:1 models out of a material of choice.
February 21st, 2019
Noah and I took Dr. Dharmarathne up on his offer to allow us to use the SLA printer at the University of Indianapolis. We sent his colleague our CAD files and our print was underway.
February 25th, 2019
Noah and I reached out to a few local prototyping companies to find some way to make our design through either injection molding for a plastic model or a machining process for an aluminium model.
February 27th, 2019
Noah and I were able to return to University of Indianapolis to obtain our SLA prints. When we returned to the school we were pleased to find that the female piece fit fabulously into the sole of the shoe; however, neither of the male pieces fit into their perspective female counterparts. In the case of the lego inspired piece, the material used was simply not strong enough to bend to fit into the female piece and then rebound into place at the bottom of the piece. It simply snapped into two pieces as we tried to insert it. On the side of the snap fastening piece, the O-Ring was simply to large in thickness to fit inside of the female piece, a redesign may be necessary to fix this issue.
March 4, 2019
Noah and I received correspondence on our outreach to potential injection molding and machining companies. Most of the companies we reached out to did not respond. We did receive contact from Indiana Rubber & Plastics Company, Inc. but they eventually had to defer us to another company due to the size of our design. Noah and I did not hear back from the company we were deferred to.
We took a new approach to creating our design. We submitted our CAD files to a few major modeling companies that were non-local.
March 8th, 2019
We obtained quotes from two companies on the manufacturing of our design. ProtoLabs out of Minnesota quoted our 100 injection molded part request at a little over $12,000. Also, an employee from ProtoLabs reached out to me because I noted in the request that I was a student. He gave me vital information regarding our request. He let me know that though our design required too precise of a measurement to be made by their computer numerical controlled machinery, that doesn't mean it is impossible to create our part and there are machines out there that would allow for a part of such a size and precision to be made. ICOMolding out of Ohio quoted the same request at about $8,000.
This was an obvious dead end for the manufacturing of our design but this does not mean there is a dead end to our project. Noah and I actually received a lot of information in the quotes we obtained. We could see from the quotes that the bulk of the cost was in set up. The creation of the molds were thousands of dollars each while the price per part was mere cents. From this as well as the market research we had conducted earlier we could come to the conclusion that our product could be made and sold at prices that allowed for a great profit if the design indeed worked effectively at solving the issue of stuck track spikes.
We discussed our options and decided that after spring break it would be an exciting and enriching experience to move forward at attempting to obtain a patent pending on our design.
April 11, 2019
Through multiple efforts at obtaining legal council in order to move forward with patenting we were unsuccessful in finding a consultant. Noah and I pushed forward in working with what was available for us. We knew the reasons why our project was viable, marketable, and thereby profitable and decided to compile those reasoning in a document entitled "The Economics of Manufacturing Summary". This document could be used in a presentation when applying for a loan or to sell our idea.
May 21st, 2019
Procrastination was unfortunately a reoccurring theme throughout Noah and I's partnership. This was primarily my doing, nevertheless it effected us a great deal. Noah and I met at my Dad's office to practice our presentation all the way through for the first time ever. This was the night before our final presentation. This left us more nervous than confident; however, we knew our stuff and knew it was simply a matter of presenting the things we had done in the months leading up to that moment.
May 22nd, 2019
Our presentation went much better than expected. To say flawless would be untruthful, but Noah and I were more than pleased with the outcome. Multiple audience members pointed out my obvious nervousness in the beginning slides but I settled in to comfort later on. Following the presentation I stopped to snap a pic with all three of my "grandmas"!
A few of my other classmates and I were also able to persuade Mrs. Floyd to give us extra credit on our final presentations for putting her name on the hull of the Top Gun themed boat we constructed for our AP Physics project.
June 1st, 2019
And just like that, it was all over. Yet, at the same time, it had all just begun. It is amazing how a year can fly and crawl by at the same time. This project rose above any of my expectations or dreams. I undoubtedly wouldn't have been able to get through it without my partner and friend Noah Berryman and of course Mrs. Floyd. Thank you to any and all who aided me on the way though this project. Now into the future to see what the Snap-A-Spike can become!