Boxford Resources System

Mazes have been made in schools for years this maze adds the lucky discovery that if you use a 45 degree chamfer tool the groove in the bottom of the track causes the ball to stick on the junctions thus if you put three junctions together, the centre one being the path, the it is almost impossible to get it to go up the middle as by the time the ball is moving it is going to fast past the middle to stop.

At keystage 3 I would start with a paper template where the students block out the areas that are to be wall and the pass the maze round to try out how hard they are. Learning the tricks that make good mazes takes a few goes. Learning to make blind runs and long diversions takes time.

The template must be worked out on the final project to know how many blocks you can have in your grid each axis can be calculated with this formula. Number of Blocks = (width of block in mm - (Margin in mm*2) ) / width of tool in mm.

At keystage 4 I would repeat the template task and then move on to trying to make a new maze design idea. I would perhaps link this to the Bert project and if programming wasn't good enough perhaps add a small camera to the robot to make the maze first person with the robot under user control. The logic required to solve mazes is quite powerful and should keep any number of pupils stumped. Watch how Kato even runs up the diagonal after it has solved the maze.

Robot Mice Solving Mazes

Robot Mice - Decimus

Robot Mice - Kato

Maze Project

Above is the final maze with the improved route and Perspex top.

The first maze (Below) was made before the sticky nature of the V cut grooves was understood and the top was vacuum formed onto the finished maze with a view to it auto sealing the project.

Unfortunately not wanting to over soften the plastic so that it deformed into the maze paths meant that it didn't entirely form well round the sides either. However the head did weld it to the varnish and the two are now inseparable.

Maxe Complete

Many Maze projects have been done over the years in schools and the fundamental thinking and design messages that it teaches are undeniable.

The design process can be followed and then repeated as improvements tot he maze are suggested.

I have seen CNC machines used for maze projects but often acrylic, a material that does not lend itself well to high speed machining, any heat generated in the cutter will quickly cause a blockage of the flutes with the result that the whole process can very quickly become a disaster.

On a milling machine i once saw a very clever swarf removal system the teacher has placed a piece of electrical tape around the cutter with the ends stuck together like a flag and at the low speeds of the milling head the swarf was easily swiped clear of the job.

However of we are to accept the pressures of the new "Larger" class sizes speed does become a factor in the projects success. Wood is a far greener material than plastic and softwoods are far more being seen as a renewable source.

Again in the hands of a CNC router shaped cutters can be used to make far more that just their linear edging shapes. The chamfer tool with its vertical cutting blades means that it can also do quite deep trenching work this lends itself to making paths in a maze, the groove also adds a level of style that a flat bottom looses.

The V shaped tracks make the junctions very jumpy and the ball sticks, this would make a well designed maze where the path is made of mostly T junctions very hard as the ball accelerates and shoots past the entrance you are trying for and a well designed maze would be extremely frustrating.

A lid / container was also made using the vacuum forming machine to hold the ball in place, the jumpy nature of the track was so effective at some points that the ball launched itself out of the maze.

Paths

Maze