Building a Sandbox

Design specifications are online

Putting it all together

Materials that you need

Special metal parts (e.g. McMaster-Carr

rubber sheeting You can request small

amounts of rubber from professor Cooke at the University of Massachusetts, cooke@geo.umass.edu

Aluminum plates

Materials that you need to buy

Wood MDF suggestedGlass windows 1-1/4” screws

For the head screw mount support

A handle for the crank

Putting it all together

MSAD and ISD were able to using their shop facilities

Indiana School for the Deaf students with the shop teacher

Putting it all together

The same students were making the sandboxes in shop class and using in earth system class

Can you build it yourself?

Yes!You need some

carpenter equipment but not specialized power tools Saw Drill Taps for screws Any others Mary?

Mary Ellsworth built one herself

Other things that you need

Colored Sand e.g http://www.dickblick.com/

Fine play sand 3M Duct Tape or Superglue

talcum powder Glass cleaner (e.g. Windex)

Water repellant for glass (e.g. Rainex)

Duct Tape screwdriver

to remove metal plates Rulers (metal is convenient)

Protractors

Exacto knife or scissors to cut the rubber.

flat trowel For spreading the sand into

flat even layers

Flashlight provides low-angle light to

facilitate observing the extensional faults

Problems that have arisen

The sides of the sandbox bow out during the experiment

The moveable wall tilts Can add another anchor

point for bar behind the moveable wall.

Other things that you might want

Latex gloves if using super glue

Disposable Masks Digital camera Tripod for camera

When you assemble a movie from the still images having each image taken from exactly the same spot makes the movie smoother.

Photo manipulation software Lab coats

Your clothes stay clean and you can look professional

Sieve Shaking the colored sand through

a sieve (same size as average sand grain) helps make even layers of colored sand next to the window.

Mylar Slippery mylar along the bottom

of compression experiments 'decouples' the sand from the base of the sandbox. This is one variation of boundary conditions that your students can explore.

Large sheets of sandpaper The high friction of sandpaper

placed underneath the sand can cause higher ratios of wedge height:length than the regular sandbox base.