Aidan's Weights & Measures  4           11-2016
 

 

Here are all the different pieces and a revised materials list.
 

 

 

I used Microsoft Excel to make the printouts so Aidan would know what he's looking at. I put the type of material at the top, next is the hardness, followed by the weight in grams. The number at the bottom of the printout corresponds to the number on each piece, just in case someone can't remember what goes where. These printouts will be placed under the plastic.
 

 

 

I used two coats of mineral oil on this project which should work good for many years. And if it ever dries out, it will be easy to apply more if need be.

What I'm getting ready to do is put the printouts on the base. The pencil mark on the tape is in the center of the screw hole. I'm using this as a 'guide line' to help me get the paper printout in the center. If you look at the printout above, you'll see a line that's in the middle of the paper. When both lines are together, it's in the right place.
 

 

 

After screwing on the printouts, I noticed something I didn't expect. The oil that I used to treat the wood with was bleeding through the paper printout. I didn't think this would happen after three days of sitting, but it did. I quickly removed both printouts and had to come up with a solution.
 

 

 

Here is what I came up with: I'm going to use some clear plastic material (think ziplock bag) that I cut out with a razorblade (arrows). These will go behind the printouts as I made them slightly smaller so they wont be seen. This worked great and now the printouts should stay dry.
 

 

 

I used my Dremel to permanently mark each piece of material because the felt marker might get removed. I placed my hand on the wood block and worked slowly, but they still came out ugly. Good thing the numbers are facing down. I thought about using metal stamps for this but those displace the metal and I didn't want that to happen.
 

 

 

Here are the weights and measures all finished. And as luck would have it, Aidan is learning about this very subject in school at the moment, so making this when I did worked out great. I told his mom if he takes it to school for show and tell to make sure that she keeps an eye on it. I mean you never if someone might take one home or not.
 

 

 

I placed the pockets for the material off center so it would be a little easier to read the printouts. At least that was the plan.
 

 

 

This was a fun project and I'm pretty happy with it. And from what I can tell, Aidan seems to like it too.
 

 

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