Acrylic Letter HolderIn the workshop I made a small letter holder out of acrylic, to get a taste of what acrylic is like and how we can use it when making our final clock. To make the letter holder I first measured out the upright and base of my letter holder, and then cut the two bits apart with a scroll saw. I came away with a piece of acrylic 100mm by 100mm (upright), and another piece 100mm by 50mm (base). I then wrote out the measurements of where to bend the upright to make the holder. Once that was done I placed the letter holder on a strip heater, with the first line I meaured over the heater. I left that to heat up and in the meantime used sandpaper to even out the edges of my base. Once I had finished evening out my base I checked on the upright, which was ready to bend. I bent the first line upwards to make the first part of the holder. I then placed the upright back onto the strip heater to heat the other line. I also placed my base down on the strip heater aswell, and let both acrylics heat. Once they were hot I picked up the upright and bent the last line of the it to make the last part of the holder. I found out that the first line was bent too much so I put it back down the strip heater and heated it until was hot again. As I tried to bend back the first part it suddenly snapped! The corner of the upright snapped right off the rest of the upright. I was devastated. That was a difficult thing I found when working with acylic. You need to make sure that the material is hot enough to bend easily, and to not press down too hard or the acrylic with break.
Next lesson I started again from scratch with a new piece of acrylic and worked non-stop to try and finish the letter holder. I took care when bending the acrylic again, gently nudging and making sure it was heated to the right point. Unfortanately, the lesson finished just I was about to glue the upright to my base. So I did not fully finish my letter holder, but I did come close. However, below you can see the photo of one of my classmate's letter holder, which was basically identical to the one I was working on. Same design and same colour acrylic. You can also see acrylic letter holder instructions, evaluation sheet and the sketch and prototype of the letter holder.
Knox TAS Department
Year 8 Technology – e -Portfolio Unit
Skills exercise – Acrylic Letter Rack
Aim:
To develop practical skills by manufacturing an acrylic letter rack. This will assist in the design of the desk tidy project for the e-Portfolio unit.
Method:
A drawing of the Letter Rack is shown below. You will be supplied with two pieces of acrylic. One piece is for the base and the other is for the upright.
All relevant OnGuard safety sheets must be completed prior to practical work commencing.
Procedure:
1. Marking out:
· All marking out is carried out with the paper intact on the acrylic.
· Some small modification of the existing design may take place.
2. Cutting out:
· The design can be cut out using a coping saw or a scroll saw.
3. Shaping:
· This can be carried out using a combination of disc sander, files and abrasive paper.
· Try to avoid any scratching on the faces of the acrylic.
4. Polishing:
· All edges should be polished with wet and dry to reduce the size of the scratches prior to bending.
5. Bending:
· The bending can take place by applying localised heat along the fold lines by placing across the strip heater.
6. Joining:
· Acrofix (acrylic cement) can then be used to join the base to the upright.
Evaluation:
1. What areas proved difficult in the manufacture of the Project?
When heating and bending the acrylic as it can snap quite easily.
2. How could these be overcome when you manufacture your Desk Tidy?
To heat it best and bend it quickly before it sets. Also to bend it slowly and with care.
3. Describe how you will overcome some of the problems faced when working with acrylic when designing your Desk Tidy?
Drawing and measuring with acrylic can be a bit difficult. To overcome you can easily just make marks on the edges of the acrylic or to just measure it on the cardboard stretched over the acrylic material.
Also below you can see another worksheet I completed which was solely on acrylic research.
Analogue
Analogue
Also below you can see another worksheet I completed which was solely on acrylic research.
Technical Research and Activities
Activity: Clickview Video (Scope – Polymers)
What is a Polymer ?
A polymer is a substance consisting of many identical building blocks. To a Technologist all the materials we call plastics are polymers because that is how they are all formed - of identical parts linked together to form giant molecules
Thermosets and Thermopolymers
A resin is any sticky liquid that is made for a natural living or once living substance that will harden and will not dissolve in water.
There are two distinct types of resins: those that will get soft and can be molded when warmed time after time (thermoplastics); and those that get soft once one heating and subsequently harden and can never be molded again (thermosets).
In the moulding process plastic pellets are heated as they are pushed towards a mould by a ram. The ram stops pushing when the mould is filled with plastic. Once the mould is full, it is cooled and the plastic sets. The mold then opened and the object is removed.
Common uses of Polymers
Ref.p.118. Switched on Technology Stage 4 (Collins. 2006) |
Recycling
Ref.p.119. Switched on Technology Stage 4 (Collins. 2006) |
4. Using the table above, what code would be required for the following uses?
(a) soft drink bottle - PET
(b) Old vinyl record - PS
(c) Yoghurt container - OTHER
(d) Fan blade - PS
(e) Plastic food bin - PP
(f) Kettle - PP
(g) Neon light cover - PET
(h) Plastic Zipper - PS
5. One major problem with plastics is the length of time it takes to “break down” Describe why this is a problem, especially in terms of the environment.
Taking longer means the machinery used to help break it down will work longer, needing more resources and fuel to keep it going which is bad for the environment.
Case Study – Plantic Technologies
Visit the following website and answer the following questions.
6. Outline why Plantic is such an innovative product.
It uses fuels from organic and ‘green’ sources which are renewable and sustainable. Also, it is certified to basically all the European standards when it comes to environmental depositing.
7. List 3 advantages of this product.
(a) Renewable material sources
(b) Certified to European standards
(c) Ingredients are not modified genetically.
8. List 3 disadvantages of this product.
(a) A lot of ‘green’ material sources must be needed.
(b) Expensive.
(c) Takes a while to manufacture
9. List 3 uses of this product
(a) Holding + storing things with moisture protective skins.
(b) Best for fresh produce packaging.
(c) Thermoforming the fill machines.
10. What is the picture above? What is it designed for?
Plantic R1, used for packaging foods with a ‘water activity’ of 35% to 70%.
11. Discuss why this product will have a huge environmental impact? Why does it still remain “cost effective”?
It will make packaging and produce fresher and healthy for the people of the world whose health will hopefully increase for the better. However, it remains ‘cost effective’ because it is expensive to manufacture and produce.
Moulding and Forming
Heating tools for Perspex (acrylic) includes ovens, moulds and strip heaters.
Vacuum formers may also be used. The material is heated and
then shaped. Re-heating allows thermopolymers to return to their
original shape. This is commonly known as “plastic memory”.
Ref.p.126. Switched on Technology Stage 4 (Collins. 2006) |
12. Research a typical product produced from the following techniques.
(a) Extrusion – Plastic containers.
(b) Injection moulding – Plastic materials.
(c) Blow moulding Plastic bottles
(d) Rotational moulding – Plastic bowls
What is a clock?
Basically, a clock is a device that measure time. It is usually in two forms: digital and analogue. Digital clocks are clocks that use cyphers. Cyphers are mathematical numerals so a digital clock is displayed in numbers. e.g Ten forty-five on a digital clock would be 10:45.
Analogue clocks also measure time but in a different way. They have the numbers 1-12 around the edges of the clock and have two time hands that come out of the centre, and point to the correct time. They slightly move as time goes by.
examples
Digital
PMI of Clocks
Digital Clock
Postive
The digital clock is good because has a good design and it rocks neatly on the roller. It is pretty high-tech and a perfect alarm clock.
Negatives
The only negative with this clock is just that there isn't much colour, and its mainly grey.
Interesting
I am quite intrigued by the roller at the bottom; it is not something you usually see.
Positive
The first analogue clock is pretty neat and an easy going clock design
Negatives
The only thing about this clock I don't like is that it isn't very aesthetics aren't very good.
Intereting
Not many things interesting with this clock, maybe just the the glimmer on the top left corner.
Positive
The second analogue clock is really awesome, with the way it is black and a pure green trim. It feels like your are in space and traveling through the galaxy.
Negatives
No negatives with this, it is purely for aesthetics and that's what it does.
Interesting
I love the mix of black and green colouring.
Favourite Clock
My favourite clock would have to be the space clock, solely on the purpose that it jumps out and would like awesome in a dimly light room.
Something unique from me
Since I was making my clock a re-creation of the Assassin's Creed symbol, I chose to research the symbol itself in detail in hope of my re-creation being successful. So I got a picture of the symbol and annotated how to create it in illustrator.
