Blue Sky: Basketball Moon Boot

 

My Blue Sky Design Project

Ok my problem is near and dear to my heart. The problem is I don’t want to ruin the bottom of my  nice basketball shoes by walking outside. Many other basketball players share the same problem. The current solution to this problem is taking off your shoes and wearing slippers. This gets a little annoying sometimes when you forgot your water bottle in the car.  You already have your ball shoes on and you don’t want to untie your shoes grab your water bottle come back in the gym and tie them up again. My solution to this problem is the basketball moon boot. Keep your basketball shoes on step into the moon boot and make your way out the car. Once you grab your bottle walk back in the gym take of the moon boots and you don’t have to untie your shoes.

How did I make it? Well first I have to introduce you to Warren my mentor for this project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z69uCI06th0

Warren was an awesome mentor. He helped me understand what I could and couldn’t do with the materials I had. Warren taught me how to use many of the tools and products I would us to construct my boot. Warren also suggested solutions to problem’s I would face during my design process.

To create my Moon Boot.

I cut a shoe in half.

Made a box for my plaster mold.

Mixed the Plaster.

Submersed the bottom of the shoe in plaster Paris.

Cut the plaster out an inch around to make the plaster replica of the moon boot.

Sand it down to make it look nice.

Suspended the plaster moon boot over 24 hour set silicon to make a mold.

Next I used the mold to make the actually moon boot which I made of silicon as well and that was my final product.

My product worked ok but I had to use Velcro to keep it on. It would be better if it was just a friction fit on the shoe. If I were to make a second prototype I would make the moon boot smaller so it fit on the shoe tight so I wouldn’t have to use Velcro to keep it on.

I learned a lot while completing this project. I learned about a silicon molds and construction of molds. This was an awesome experience one of the best I have had school related as everything was new to me so I was learning every moment.