With a prototype complete it was time to start working on the real thing. This involved trips to RP Electronics and Rona. At RP Electronics my Dad and I bought sensors, circuit boards, and wire. We also purchased a soldering iron to merge the wires when building the circuit.

I went to Rona with my Grandpa to get the materials to build the actual frame. My original idea was to use wood, but I wanted the zone to be portable and a solid wood frame would have been too big to get to school for the exhibition. Instead I decided to use sections of PVC piping held together with plumbing fixtures. I then had to figure out how to attach the lasers and sensors on to the frame. After thinking about a few different options, my Grandpa came up with the idea of using metal plumbing clamps as this lets us adjust the position of the strike zone. I couldn’t find any way to join a PVC pipe to the bottom of the strike zone, so decided to use a wood stake to hold the lower sensors.

Here’s some photos of my shopping trips, and me starting work on constructing the strike zone.