Assignment Questions

1. Choose 2 machines that you used in the fabrication of your desk tidy. With these machines in mind, outline WPH&S considerations that must be adhered to when using these machines. Include photographs of your chosen machines (OnGuard may be an excellent resource for this question).


Band saw
• Long hair must be tied back.
• Safety goggles must be worn to prevent small pieces of objects from flying into your eyes.
• Never leave the machine operating when it is unattended.
• Use two hands at all times.
• Don’t have too many people near the machine.
• Always rest the material you are cutting on the table – do not hold it above the table.
• Keep hands away from the blade.
• Closed in shoes must be worn when using the machine.
• Material smaller than 3cm should not be cut using this machine.


Belt sander/disc sander
• Long hair must be tied back.
• Safety goggles must be worn to prevent small pieces of objects from flying into your eyes.
• Never leave the machine operating when it is unattended.
• Use two hands at all times.
• Closed in shoes must be worn when using the machine
• Material smaller than 3cm should not be sanded using this machine.


2. The material you are using for your desk tidy is called Polymethylmethacrylate (ACRYLIC). It has specific properties and uses. Choose 2 other common polymers and in table form give their industrial name, common name, properties and uses.



3. Extrusion, injection moulding, compression moulding, vacuum forming and laminating are examples of common manufacturing processes used with polymers (Plastics). Choose one process and with the use of diagrams and bullet points outline the process.

Vacuum Forming:
-Firstly, a mould is made using a material such as wood of cardboard. The edges are made at an angle that will make it easy to remove the plastic after it is formed.
-This mould is then placed in the vacuum former.
-A sheet of plastic is clamped above the mould.
-A heater gradually melts the plastic so it becomes pliable. After a few minutes it is ready for forming.
-The heater is then turned off and a lever is used to lift the plastic until it is in position.
-The vacuum is the turned on, which pumps the air out from beneath the plastic sheet, causing it to form around the mould.
-After the sheet has cooled down and become solid again, the vacuum is turned off and the sheet and mould are removed from the vacuum. The sheet would have taken the shape of the mould.

4. Extension Work - Using processes acquired from your maths lessons, calculate the amount of acrylic sheet that your FINAL desk tidy represents. Show all calculations; answer needs to be in square metres.





Therefore, the amount of acrylic used in my desk tidy is 0.1096 square metres.

Desk Tidy Evaluation

Aesthetics
The design of my desk tidy is simple, but looks nice. It is simple enough that it isn’t crowded, but at the same time isn’t boring either. The only thing I would change about the aesthetics of my desk tidy is the colours. Originally I planned on using lack for the base and the cylinders, and red for the stand. However, when I started making it I realised I had accidentally used a transparent black sheet instead of a solid black one for the base. I kept it as this, as it looked fine, but later I found out that there were only clear cylinders. Due to this, there are many colours on my desk tidy that don’t really match, but also don’t look too bad. In my opinion, my desk tidy looks nice, but if I were to do it again I would change the colours.

Ergonomics
My desk tidy is easy and comfortable to use, as it is small enough to not get in the way when it is on a desk and easily holds the items it is meant to. It is small so it doesn’t take up much space. The ergonomics of my desk tidy could be improved if the cylinders had a larger diameter. This would make it easier to get items out of them, and they would be able to hold more things.

Economics
The economics for my desk tidy are very good. Seeing as the average price for a sheet of acrylic is $95.7 for 3 square metres and my desk tidy only uses up 0.1096 square metres, the materials for my desk tidy only cost $3.50. This is a lot cheaper than it would cost if it was purchased from a shop. The acrylic sheets were also shared between classes, so not much of it was wasted.

Function
My desk tidy solves the problem that was presented. It works effectively as a desk tidy that caters to my own needs and is smaller than 200mm x 200mm. It can be used to organize my desk, and holds pens, pencils, my keys, my phone and other small items. The function could be improved if the cylinders had a larger diameter, or if there were more of them because then they would be able to hold more things.

Completed Desk Tidy

This is my completed desk tidy which I finished a few lessons ago. I have had a lot of fun making it, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out!

Reflection 09/05/12

For the last few lessons I have been continuing work on my desk tidy. I cut out all the cylinders that I will be using with the band saw, and then sanded them so that they were smooth. After I finished cutting out everything I would be using I found that I won’t have to alter my design after all, as it will all easily fit.

A small problem that I came across was that my phone is quite heavy, and the stand would need some support or it would snap off. I then decided that I could just cut out a small rectangular piece of acrylic and glue it behind the stand so that it will stay up. I sanded the edges of this piece on a diagonal slant so that it would be easier to glue to the stand and the base of the desk tidy.

At the end of the lesson today I began gluing everything together. So far I have glued the two small cylinders onto the base, and I have glued the stand to its support. I don’t have much left to do, and hopefully I will finish making my desk tidy in the next lesson.

Reflection 30/04/12

Today I continued work on my desk tidy. The piece I was going to use for my iPhone stand ended up being slightly too small, so I needed to remake that. After I had done that I used the strip heater to bend the acrylic being used for the stand. I may need to alter my design slightly in order to fit everything on the base. This would involve either placing the iPhone stand at the back or at the front instead of the middle. I’m not sure which of these I will do yet, but after I have all the things ready to glue on I can fiddle around with it and see which design I like best.

Starting on My Desk Tidy

So far I have had two lessons in the workshop making my desk tidy. In this first lesson I cut out two squares of acrylic and glued them together for the base. In the next lesson I sanded this down into the shape of a circle and cut out and sanded the piece I am using for my iPhone stand. So far everything has gone well, except for the colour of the acrylic for the base. When I chose it I thought that it was solid black, and I didn't realise that it was transparent until the end of the lesson. I have decided to keep working with this colour as I don't want to waste time remaking the base.

Isometric Drawing of Desk Tidy

This is the isometric drawing of my desk tidy design that I drew in class today. I am happy with how it looks, and it will be able to hold the the nessicary items. The front two tubes can be used to hold small items, like keys and coins, while the back two tubes can be used to hold longer things, like pencils and pens. I'm looking forward to starting to work on my desk tidy and hopefully it won't be hard to make.