Some lovely DIY ideas

http://theimaginationtree.com/2013/11/30-diy-gifts-make-kids.html

My 3D Printing Experience

Last night I took a trip to Maklab (a workshop just off Buchanan St) to do some prototyping for my plastic product.

The parts I was getting printed were 3 sets of interlocking parts, all with slightly differing dimensions. My aim was to find what tolerances I needed to work to for printing my final product, making sure the pieces would slide smoothly together and not lock.

The studio is used by students but there were also people who just use the space in their free time. There were lots of examples of gorgeous 3D printed objects lying around

This bike chain had soluble supports which when dissolved in water, allowed the joints to move

However, none of them could really compete with my masterpiece.

As you can see, one of the printers was having some issues. The plastic wasn't properly sticking to the printer base, and was getting lifted about by the nozzle. Not really sure what to do when this situation arises, I just used a different printer.

You can print in a variety of different plastics and colours, by feeding a different type of plastic thread into the machine before you start your print.

Here are the steps you need to follow to 3D print a model:

1. Make a Solidworks model of your part. Save it as an STL file.

2. Load it in Makerware (http://www.makerbot.com/makerware/) This can either be done at home or at the workshop. It is important to make sure your model isn't too big for the 3D printer! This software checks dimensions and allows you to move your model around on the base.  

Try to make your parts have as much of their surface area on the board as possible

3. Save the file on an SD card (the workshop have these) and put it in the 3D printer

4. Scroll down the menu until you see your file name, press start. The machine will take around 10mins to heat up to starting temperature (220deg).

5. With this printer, the nozzle height has to be adjusted manually once printing has started. The printer faffs around a lot before it actually starts your model so there's plenty of time. Rotate the base of the thread to raise or lower the nozzle.

6. Have a cup of tea

7. Remove print with tweezers

8. Peel off raft. The raft is a sacrificial layer which the machine prints first. It encourages the model to stick to the printer base.

Some of the completed prints: 

The marks are from clumsy tweezering while the plastic was still hot

Dymo Embosser Junior Labeller

This label maker is simpler than other label makers on the market. It still uses a mechanical printing method; This involves turning the front dial to the letter you want, then to print you squeeze or press down on to the handle, this then presses a letter in to tape which discolours to white.

The product is made of ABS, with nylon gears and dial inside. The cartridge for the tape is made of polypropylene and the tape itself is made of an adhesive vinyl. There are no metallic parts at all in this product and the design makes use of living hinges as well as snap fix.

The design is very chunky, considering it is marketed towards children. In my opinion there is a lot of unnecessary curving in the design and it is inefficient with space. The noise it makes is very distinctive and I like the fact it incorporates sound as an interactive feature.

Plastic Product Analysis

Koziol Kai Dental Floss Holder, Red

Injection Moulded 
Weighs 91 grams 
Currently unavailable to buy
Was $14 on http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/koziol-kai-p-piranha-dental-floss-dispenser

Polymorph - Ideal for Rapid Prototyping?

I discovered this material whilst researching plastics, it seemed like the ideal way to mock up quick plastic designs.

The Facts

• Polymorph comes as pellets
• It melts at 62degrees - so can be melted in a teacup!
• Hardens in about 5-10 minutes
• Similar mechanical properties to nylon - only at room temperature

I found this material fun to use, sort of like a Play Dough for adults.  It can be easily coloured with powder paint and things like glitter.

It is also a relatively cheap material considering it can be REUSED!! :)

Some issues I found were that you have to be careful with assemblies, especially since the material only sticks to other pieces when BOTH pieces are mouldable, so planning is essential!

Water Proof Camera Case

Water Proof Camera Case 

The case holds a compact camera such as a GoPro protecting it form weather and form it smashing. It is water tight due to a rubber seal and the main body made form transparent ploy-carbonate. 

Features are illustrated below 

As the buttons for the camera are inside the case access buttons have been designed for the top. These are water tight sealed and extended through the case. A spring controls the travel.

The latch mechanism connected the two parts of the clam case and hold tight the water seal. The mechanism allows the user to place it in position before applying the force.

Pictures of the object.

The product is, unlike lots of other plastic products, a high quality product. The design and functions have been thought through as this product looks good and provides are very valid function. The material choice of plastic is perfect for this product as it provides both strength, impact resistance and transparency. The metallic screws on the bottom and on the side provide a very nice contrast providing an aesthetic sophistication.  

Michael Tougher

Spudnik Potato Masher by Üutensil

This is the spudnik potato masher, by a British design company called üutensil.

I thought I'd have a look at this, just because I thought it was quite interesting, not immediately obvious what it is when you first look at it.

Why isn't it Designed like a traditional potato masher? 

The unique shape means that the masher can be rotated around the bowl/ pan, instead of having to pound the bowl. This makes it easier on the hand/ wrist (think of old folk) and apparently (having not used this, I can only go by what the reviews on amazon are saying...), makes the mash perfectly fluffy.

Due to the shape it also means the masher doesn't clog, and it's a lot easier to wash.

Materials and How its Made?

The main part (the white bit) is polypropylene. The coloured ball on the top is made from Santoprene.

For manufacture, my guessing is that the main component is injection moulded (I was thinking rotation moulded to begin with, but its a very solid shape that feels like it isn't hollow, plus the flower section on the bottom would be very tricky to do using rotation moulding). The coloured handle is probably overmoulded over the main component.

What would it look like if Ramsay was stuck in a toy cot?
This.

BBC article - are kids given too many toys?

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24759728

WIRED

Interesting article online plus bits'n'pieces from the US October edition

http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/free-thinkers/

Imaginative plastic toy - Bilibo

http://www.bilibo.com/en/enter/default.aspx

Free Apps for 3D printing

free-apps-to-easily-make-unique-3d-printable-creations

Plastics Trip: ICL Tech

Helen Campbell, Eilidh Gibson, Hannah Kirkbride, Matias Rinne, Robert Turner, Heather Walker, Erin Wallace

   ICL Tech Ltd has been a Glasgow based business since November 1973. It is part of the ICL Plastics Group which was formed in 1961 incorporating three distribution companies and three manufacturing companies located across the UK.
  

   They manufactures a wide range of products, including general fabrication, display work and specialist equipment for the oil industry, police forces and finance industry.


 


  
   We were shown around by Andy (who looks suspiciously like Jessie from Breaking Bad) who was a PDE student at Strathclyde university and went straight in to working for ICL Tech. His main role is to receive designs from customers and advise them how to best manufacture the product.

PROCESSES

    The plant consists of ~20 workshop staff and 5 administrative positions. We weren't allowed to photograph the inside of the workshop but we were shown the Vacuum forming process. This process consists of carving hardwood moulds first of all so that measurements can be altered easily. This is then used to form a cast to make an aluminium mould (sometimes aluminium filled resin but the best for moulds is just plain aluminium). We then saw the plastic sheets being heated up and the mould raised to cast the plastic, with each cycle taking approximately 6 minutes to form.

   These objects are then put to the CNC (computer numerical control)machine which trims the vacuum formed objects automatically, with an approximate cycle time of 3 minutes.There is also quite a bit of manual work that goes on, with some manual cutting and hot bending.

 INSIGHTS

   The main problems they come across during some of their processes is that their sister company, Abbey Screen & Digital Print, screen print the plastics before any moulding on bending so the design has to compensate for the change in shape of the plastics due to vacuum moulding and also the ink must be able to withstand the heat of the moulding and bending.
 

Some plastic samples that we were shown

    Also the cycle times mentioned above are presuming that the objects are fairly simple and made in bulk, if the objects are more complex or at a smaller scale the process can often take up to a day per unit to complete. For example they had been working on cash machine covers to try and win a contract which cost £450 per unit, much more expensive than normal, but this cost would be covered and justified if the contract was won and they could start making them more cheaply in bulk.

    He mentioned that they were constantly being updated on new plastics such as biodegradables but said that they would need to have a very high output to consider using these types of plastics, as the process would be different ultimately costing them more in setup.

Make your own bio plastic

http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-BioPlastics-Environmentally-Friendly-Plast/

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/374-cooking-molding-bioplastics-at-home-recipes,-results-tips.html

http://www.gobookee.org/make-your-own-plastics/

Green Toys

/http://www.greentoys.com/

LEGO® Advert: Let's Build

http://www.youtube.com/v/rwQqkX3qZak?autohide=1&version=3&attribution_tag=XGC1ua3pfdTcvi--_koSXQ&autoplay=1&feature=share&showinfo=1&autohide=1