Blog 5

Today we got to enter the workshop it was a great experience finally being out of the computer rooms we saw all sorts of different tools like files that you use on timber and sand paper and a saw that Mr Andrews showed us and demonstrated a way he would cut our timber on something called a van saw. The van saw is a large saw with a large blade if you get your fingers caught in it then that will defiantly cause damage to them or even cut them off. It is used mainly for cutting timber. We also saw the benches we will be working at while we make our clocks and saw something called a scroll saw that Mr Andrews told us we can use if we need to for our designs. The scroll saw is a small saw that can be used to cut more detailed objects. We also saw the disk sander that looked really dangerous. The disk sander is used to sand off timber to get escpecially smooth edges. There was a problem though all the power went off in the workshop and Mr Andrews could only show us how the van saw worked. The class still behaved well and stayed behind the yellow safety lines just incase.

The vacume former

This is how the vacume former worked the day I saw it. It was heated for about ten minutes.  then a piece of thermoplastic was placed and heated for one minute. This caused the polymer particles that It is made up of moong chain monomers to get exited and become flexible and therefore remouldable. Then the now flexible thermoplastic is placed over the dye. The air is then pumped out of it so it fits easily around the dye. Then the thermoplastic is left to set. Sometimes certain designs are two big to fit inside a vacume former therefore they must be redesigned. It is essential that no parts of your design for your clock are not hanging over the edge of your first layer because when the thermoplastic comes on it will sag over the edges and ruin your whole clock.

 here are some types of vacume formers

Blog 9

Thursday 26/5/11
I have almost finished the 2nd layer of my clock. As you know the 2nd layer is the words imagine in bubble writing it is really hard to smooth the cardboard down to make the letters exact. I have found that different types of scissors work better when cutting cardboard. (And I am not talking about smiggle scissors. It would be easier to use foam though I think that time is running out and foam shrinks in the vacume former reducing the amount of times you can reuse it. Today Mr Andrew gave us an example of what your clock will look lime after in has been vacume formed he used thermoplastic to mak a mold. To get it to work you have to heat the thermoplastic just enough so that it won't all flop of the vacume former, then you have to push that onto the example you make and leave this on for about a minute then you have to take it out and let it cool. Once it has cooled you have to pop your original shape out and you will have a perfect reusable mold of your clock. Minnie who was one of the first to have her clock vacume formed had a bit of trouble popping her clock out. Her clock is a cactus and she had some trouble popping it's eyes and other partsnof it out. In the end it was sucessful but it just goes to show how some designs may be less detailed but more reusable.
Mr Andrews also told us that we were using a special recycled wood that was made out of smaller wood particles all pushed together! He said it was a very soft sort of wood so sandpaper would be perfect for working on it.

Blog 8

Tuesday 24/5/11
Today I continued to work on my 2nd layer i have gotton a relitivly detailed imagine out of the piece of cardboard I am working on and you can just make out what the words mean. I know that once my clock is vacume formed and i paint my lettes in it will be much easier t understand. I am working on filing my wood down because the edges are slightly lopsided and. Am a complete perfectionist. It is okay though because my clock is coming along nicely and I have nearly finished. Today I also wanted to use the hot glue gun to glue my imagine onto my board but thought twice about it because I still think it needs bit of work. I'm getting quite anxious because I really have to get this done soon!

Blog 7

Friday 17/5/11
Today I changed my mind again I moved back to the idea of my imagine clock because it looked the best and would be the best idea. It is the clock I wanted to do from the start so I am sticking with it. At least I got to work on my second layer today I traced my imagine design on this really thick cardboard that we are using to make our layers with and then I got to cutting it out with these pluses that Mr Andrews showed us that seem to be to big for my hands. These pours cut the cardboard easily but are not very useful when is comes to fine detail. Ou must use scissors for that today. I found that it is extremely hard to cut this particular cardboard with scissors.

Blog 6

Thursday 16/5/11
Today we finally got to the workshop! It was an exiting expirience for everybody to finally be out of that computer lab! Unfortunately I changed my mind a lot today which always happens when I am making something fun like this clock. At first I went back to my lady bug idea then I decided to invent a whole new idea! I stuck with the new idea for that lesson. The newnidea was meant to be a pocket with smiley faces inside it as in to represent a pocket full of sunshine. I'm thinking of sticking with TJIS idea because it is simple and fun and will work properly and be easy to have as a mold when it goes on the vacume former.

Thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics

Thermosetting plastics and thermoplastics
Thermosetting plastics and thermoplastics are similar in some ways yet different in others. The one major thing that sets them apart is that thermoplastics can be recycled and thermosetting plastics cannot be. Thermoplastics can be melted Down and reused again and again. This is what makes then recyclable. How this happens is all the particles and polymers in the thermoplastic start warming and start to melt down. Thermosetting plastics are,in three different places, cross linked. This causes the bond holding the particles together is tough causing the particles to set so that they cannot be melted down again which therefore makes them unrecyclable. The chemicals in thermoplastics change when they are heated. This is one thing that causes the polymers to react the way they do when heated. Some types of thermoplastics are

some types of thermosetting plastics

non stick surfaces are made from thermosetting plastics

some types of thermoplastics

Polymers and monomers

There is a significant difference in polymers and monemers polymers are bigger than monemers a few monomers that are joined together form one polymer that is the difference. Monomers are the same thing just much smaller. When monomers are deprived from oil they become carbohydron ethylene. A long chain monomer is caused when singular ethylene monomers join together. A long chain monomer is also known as a polymer tha is where these two things link together. When many polymers join together they form a type of thermoplastic called polythene. Polythene is a thermosetting plastic.

Thermoplastic

Thermoplastic is flexible and can change forms when it is heated it turns into a liquid and when it cools it becomes a substance much like glass. Thermoplastics are handy because they are able to be remelted which makes them recyclable. Every thermoplastic had a different weight and also differs in crystalline. The only thermoplastics made today are poleythane polypropethene and polycarbonate. Today thermoplastics are used to make guitar picks.

The imagine clock layers

The first layer of my clock is going to be a border around. It will be blue and will be in the shape of a cloud. The 2nd layer of the is the imagine lettering they will be made out of cardboard and will be white. Then the 3rd layer will be some decorations on the letters and of course the clock hands coming off the a in imagine. I. Am really hoping that the class with be able to finish our clocks!!!

The imagine clock

After a lot of thinking I have changed my clock idea... AGAIN! It is currently an imagine clock that is basically just the word imagine in bubble writing with decorations on the letters and a border around the outside. I really like the way it looks and hope it will be a success if we wind up finishing our clocks.

The lady bird clock

My favorite clock idea so far is the lady bird clock.

This is sort of what I am thinking of but the end product will look much better. this is just a rough example.

The safety tests

The workshop safety test was the first test I did was relatively easy. The good parts of it was the fact that I could review my answers but I stopped using that after a while. I got one answer wrong at first so I had to start the whole thing again. It was annoying having to start again but I guess you just have to deal with it because it is essential that you pass the safety tests correctly so you do not get hurt and you know what to do when you get to the workshop. I found the machinery task slightly harder but it was defiantly a bonus that it wasn't as long as the first.