The awards are really cool, untill the marbles fall out all over the place on the bus… oops. They’re all back now. So, its cool again. I’m curious about how that was made? Injection molded? Thanks for making them Andy.
I remember the Dean said that the Woodie Flowers award winner got the big trophy for a year, and the smaller one, which had been made by Andy Baker, for life. As an Electrical Engineer and a lousy machinist, I can’t imagine how you made this. Was it cast or machined, or did you sculpt it by hand out of the very living rock? Please share.
Rumor has it, Andy made 20+ technokat students sit there all night sculping big chunks of metal into the trophies. I heard DJ supervised them too. 
Yeah thats one of the advantages of not being a student anymore…I still get the long hours with no pay, but at least I get to whip the kids instead of getting whipped myself
I won’t comment on the slave, err, I mean student experence on the Woodie Flowers Award, but I was wondering, do the marbels move, like those on a caster, or are they just fixed?
The “marbles” from what i observed while they were being placed into the award at the nj regional do move. They are more like a ball bearing and are placed into the award from one point on the award at the event where its being awarded at.
Yes they do. Its fun to play with.
I’ll tell you guys, this was a fun thing to make. How this thing came about is a long story, but I will stick to the technical details for this post.
I was involved in the “Woodie Flowers Award Committee” this past year, and it was my job to design the award.
This design is about the 5th iteration of mobius designs. Early on, we figured out that one of these is fairly impossible to machine. So, we decided that the best way to do this was to make a CAD model that could be turned into an SLA (Stereolithography) model. This model would be put into a frame that would receive fluid silicone. The silicone solidified around the mobius model, and a cavity mold was made. The SLA was removed and not used again. Urethane was then poured into the silicone mold, left to cure, and then removed from the silicone mold. Each silocone mold could make about 25 mobius urethane models.
After the urethane was removed from the silicone mold, it was painted to appear metallic bronze.
The design process was neat. First, I made a dumb CAD model and sent it out to the committee. They liked my first stab, but they wanted many changes. Woodie wanted the design parametric, so I worked at making it that way (which took a while), so design changes could be made easily.
Once the design was made, I worked with Bob Hammond at FIRST. He and I got a few quotes from vendors, and we ended up going with Met-L-Flo, from the Rockford, IL area.
Bob had the bases made out of Walnut. When it came down to “crunch time”, Bob asked my team for assistance in assembling and distributing the trophies. Students and adults on team 45 hopped in and helped make the trophies work. They tapped the holes on the mobius and they milled holes in the walnut. Also, they made the spacer plate that covered up some errors in the bases. Chris Byam (teacher on TechnoKats and CD lurker) led this effort.
I liked how the steel balls go in and out of the mobius strip. There is “hole” at the bottom, inside of the track on the mobius. If people turn the trophy over, the balls fall out.
I’ve got much to say on the entire WFA process. It was a great experience, but also an eye-opening one.
Andy B.
At first glance it appears there are two distinct paths, but no matter how hard I try, no matter which initial path I pick, it seems to bleed into the other one. Are my tracking skills poor, or is this thing pulling off a really nice optical illusion?
Well, Joel, that’s what a Möbius strip is (or in this case a Möbius bearing): In short a Mobius strip only has one side and one edge
Great job Andy. It look even better in person. I accidently popped one of the balls out of the bearing when D@ve let me hold his, I was alittle shocked at first until I saw that it popped right back in. It really is hard to see where the first strip ends and the next begins. But that is what makes it so cool.
-Tom
doesnt Dean have some simmilar trophies in his house?
Great Job Andy. I am not sure if I can give you all of the credit but that must have been really hard to draw! Let alone accually make these trophies.
I wish I had a trophy like that to play with and show off! 
Mini models for IRI?
I wish i could get a mini model of the WFA trophy, it would make a great desk piece and also would be a great piece of FIRST memorbilia… Hey Andy could you do a fund raiser for first or something with mini ones???
Don’t do it Andy!
Keep the mystery of the trophy alive.
If everyone has a mini-trophy on their desk, they just wouldn’t seem as incredible. If these guys really want one, let them try to win one (or nominate their mentor, so they win one). 
John
I did nominate someone. After the Philadelphia regional was over I made Fred Harding(Nominee) and the rest of the team listen to the 400 word essay. He did not win 
Can someone atleast post a picture of the awards that Andy made?
The Woodie Flowers Award is in my opion one of the koolest looking awards out there.