Evaluation

Did you solve the problem?

I solved the problem I have successfully constructed a clock.

What do you think of the overall design? What changes would you make?

I think my overall design was pretty good and if I could, I would change the smudged paint on my clock and make it prettier.

Was your project well planned and organised? Did you allow enough time to complete all of the steps?

I think my time management was pretty well, apart from the start when I missed 2 lessons of filing my timber but I fixed that problem up by reducing the amount of timber I had tto file.

Did you select appropiate materials? Would you change materials next time?

I think I selected appropiate materials and no, I wouldn't change the materials next time.

What manufactering problems did you encounter?

I encountered problems such as the size of the layers not matching with the timber and other layers, filing the timber and painting the plastic. I solved the layers not matching problem by using baking paper to trace over the layer and then transfer it onto the cardboard, the filing timber problem by reducing the amount of timber I have to file and the painting problem by being more careful and using a smaller paint brush.

What are the views of other people regarding your design? What changes have they suggested?

The view of other people is that my clock is really cute and they suggest I could've filed the timber a bit more.

I used the following things in my clock:

• Timber
• Cardboard
• Thermoplastics
• Paint
• Glue

My design and my completed project:

P.S. Sorry about the picture of the completed project, I don't know how to switch it to horizontal

Sustainability

I have used the following materials in my project:

• Timber
• Cardboard
• Paint
• Thermoplastic
• Glue

Plastics are very bad for the environment because some people throw things such as plastic bottles out when they can be reused, this causes a huge impact on our environment because people burry them underground in the hopes of them decomposing by themselves but they actually take over 50 years to do so! Imagine what our planet would be like in 50 years time, plastic would be EVERYWHERE. Another important reason is because some of the plastic bags we throw out get carried away by the wind and into the ocean. Sme animls such as turtles will mistake them for jellyfish and they will actually eat them! Therefore the bag would block their airway, causing them to suffocate to death.

Steps My Family and I can take to Reduce Plastic Consumption and Protect the Environment:

• Not littering plastic
• Reusing plastic and other materials
• Bringing lunch to school using a container
• Buyinge reusable water bottle instead of plastic

Painted Clock

During the weekened, I painted my clock so it was ready for putting the mechanisms in this week. I encountered some troubles such as paint smudging and not knowing where the head and tummy are but I overcame all these problems. But some of the parts of my clock still has a bit of black thing smudged onto it.

P.S. I painted around the clock so when Mr Andrews cut it out, the border wouldn't be see-through

 

 

Thirteenth Lesson

Today I got my clock vacuum formed!!!!!!!!!!!! When the plastic was heating up, I was panicing because I was really scared that my layers were going to get stuck but it turned out better than I thought. Only one eye got stuck in there, I wasn't really surprised because I had a lot of trouble glueing it down so it was a bit unstable but I'm very happy that the other one didn't fall off :)

Night Before Thirteenth Lesson

Throughout the last few days at home, I have finished cutting my layers and have also glued them on. For that I really have to give credit to my dad because he supplied iron filers, stanley knife, sandpaper and even a hot glue gun. This enabled me to cut out my layers and glue them on without stressing that I have to glue it on really quickly at the start of the vacuum forming lesson. A difficulty I encountered while cutting out my layers was that the shape of garfield's face on my mold was different to the actual picture so I had difficulty when I was glueing the eyes on. But in the end I solved the problem by drawing garfield's face onto the mold and then using baking paper to trace out the eyes and finally I traced around the eyes, onto cardboard. Another thing that I had to watch out was that the layers cannot be bigger than the layer and timber beneath it, this is because when the thermoplastic sets, you cannot pull your clock out entirely because the layer jutting out will be stuck. The last problem was glueing the eyes. The eyes were too small to use a dab of glue because the eyes are smaller than the dab so after it dries, there will just be glue jutting out from under the eyes. What I did was I quickly put someone glue on a piece of cardboard and then using a toothpick, I took a tiny aount of glue and stuck the eyes on. The process was very hard and time-consuming but it was better than having glue sticking out from the bottom.

I hope my clock tomorrow won't encouter the 'layer stuck' problem.

P.S. I'm sorry about the picture of garfield, I don't know how to turn it horizontally.

Twelfth Lesson

Today was the last lesson before the vacuum forming lesson, I tried to finish as much layers as I can so I didn't have to do it for homework and also because we have 3 tests on Friday this week so I have to try and make time to study. During the lesson today, I made garfield's arm, hand and the first layer of his eyes. I am pretty happy with my progress, I only have 2 layers of his eyes, 1 layer of his leg and the stars and stuff on his hat. Since we are vacuum forming next lesson I think it will be useful if I researched about it now.

Vacuum forming:

Vacuum forming is the process of heating thermoplastics and then securing it around a mold by applying vacuum pressure.

1. Sheet of plastic is clamped into place above the mold
2. Plastic is heated until pliable (soft)
3. Plastic is pulled down onto the mold
4. Plastic is pulled down around the mold by vacuum pressure

Examples of vacuum forming:

• Packaging
• Acrylic bowls
• Shop fronts

Eleventh Lesson

Last lesson for filing today, thank God I didn't have to file right to the edge of the picture otherwise I am certain I wouldn't be in the position I am in now. Today I just have to perfect the legs, other than that I only have to check the other parts to make sure that they are in the correct shape. We have camp next week so that means we will miss 2 lessons so Mr Andrews told us that our layers have to be prepared and ready the second lesson on the week after camp.

Have to work extra hard now!

Tenth Lesson

We got told today that we had to include pictures of our clock during the making process, I have an Ipad one and the email on my phone doesn't work so I have to borrow someone else's Ipad. This is another reason that I need a new Ipad!!!!!!!!! ;) Still filing my timber today, making more progress than last week :) I think I just need 1-2 lessons more to finish filing. Yeah!!

Ninth Lesson

I managed to not get distracted this lesson. I have finally filed my timber for a whole lesson! Yeah! Although I managed to file the whole lesson, I still have a lot of curves left to file and with the rate I'm filing right now, I'm seriously doubting if I can finish the project on time. Luckily Mr Andrews said I can't cut to the very edge of the template otherwise the vacuum forming will 'pop', I didn't really understand what that meant but I was relieved that I didn't have to file so much.

Hope I can be half way near finishing next lesson.

Eighth Lesson

Finally I got to file my timber today! Yeah! I found it pretty easy but it was time-consuming and I had to be careful not to press too hard to avoid splinters. When I did garfield's hat, there were a lot of sharp corners that you had to use a triangular file to go into and someone else was using the triangular file so out of curiosity I put my first layer of the hat onto the timber and found it was too big:( so I ended up fixing my hat layer.

I have to be careful not to get distracted from filing next lesson.

Seventh Lesson

Phew. This lesson Mr Andrews found a bigger piece of timber and cut garfield out for me but unfortunately I did NOT file my timber at all because when Mr Andrews was cutting my timber out, the files have all been taken so I ended up having to cut my layers out AGAIN. By the end of the lesson I cut a leg and arm out, Mr Andrews said the tin snips will help when cutting cardboard but it didn't work as well for me, what I found easy was cutting a rough outline of the shape first with scissors and then cutting the details in. It was very weird how we had to get Mr Andrews to use the stanley knife for us because in art we can use it by ourselves.

Please God, let me file my timber next lesson!!!

Sixth Lesson (for me)

I finally got to go into the workshop today, I have never been into the workshop so I was surprised to see lots of big machines there! Well my first lesson was a bit of misery, I was lost and didn't quite know what to do, I heard Mr Andrews telling people to line up to cut the shapes of their clocks out so I went as well and found out that you had to stick your template on a piece of wood and he will cut it out on the big machine for you. Remember when I was worried that my template was going to be too big, well there weren't any pieces of wood that could match my template so I had to wait until next week to cut it out. That means I will be 2 lessons behind on all the other students and some of them are WAY ahead of me:(. I tried to lessen the distance between me and the other people by starting to work on my layers, in the end I only had a piece of garfield's hat cut out which was really depressing. Oh well at least I got something done.

Praying that I will make more progress next lesson.

Sixth Lesson (sort of)

:( I missed our first lesson in the work shop:( I was sick. STUDIP GERMS >:(

I guess I'll make use of my spare time and research polymers.

Polymers:

All plastics are polymers and they are created by bonding molecules together. Polymers are formed when monomers combine chemically to other monomers. There are mainly two types of plastics thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics.

Thermoplastics:

These plastics become softened and liquid like when heated but hardens when cooled, it can also be frozen which results in a glass-like object and becomes very fragile. Thermoplastics can be reheated, reshaped and refrozen repeadetly.

Examples of thermoplastics:

• Acrylic
• Polyester
• Nylon

Thermosetting plastics:

Thermosetting plastics cannot be remolded after their initial heat-forming. Althouh these plastics cannot remold they are very strong which makes them more suitable for permanent and long-lasting objects.

Examples of thermosetting plastics:

• Rubber
• Cooking equipment
• Plastic bags

Fifth Lesson

Today was our fifth and final lesson in the classroom, next lesson we are going to be in the workshop yeah! During today's lesson I adjusted the size of the picture of my clock so the mechanism was going to fit into his belly but Mr Andrews said the clock had to be a certain size for the vaccum forming to work so it was pretty hard making the picture bigger so the mechanism can fit while keeping under the limit size. My layers for garfield are 2 layers of his hat, 1 layer of the stars and things on his hat, 1 layer of his eyelids, 1 layer of his inner eye, 1 layer of his eyeball, 1 layer of his mouth, 1 layer of his nose sitting ontop of his mouth, 1 layer of both of his arms and one layer of his leg that's in the front. I don't know if that's enough but I don't want to do too much layers since I might not finish it on time.

Night Before Fifth Lesson

YES!!!! I have finalised my design! Mr Andrews said before that you need to have a design before the lesson tomorrow and now I finally have one! My mind has been battling against each other for a long time and now the official winner of Jianing Kwok's 2012 Design Futures design is........................ GARFIELD!!!!!! I chose this design because garfield is really lazy and likes to eat and sleep so that really suites my personality. I think I'm going to put the clock on his belly because I like how his half asleep so he needs an alarm clock to wake him up. I can't wait until the lesson tomorrow to work out the layers and really finalise my design.

DF Fourth Lesson

Today was my fourth DF lesson, I finally found some suitable cartoon characters to use for my clock but the problem is I don't know which one to choose! I love them all and I need to decide fast, I don't want to be the cause of our class getting into the workshop late. One thing that's really annoying is there is always a nagging voice at the back of head saying "That probably isn't the best option, try another one!" I have seriously though about it, Snoopy won't work because the colour is too plain and my instincts tell me not to as well so which one do I choose?! Obviously the pictures on the left and right are Mickey Mouse and Garfield, the pictures in the middle of Mickey Mouse and Garfield and the one under Mickey Mouse are characters from a Chinese cartoon I really like.

DF Third Lesson

Unfortunately today we didn't have our DF lesson today because there was a UNSW English comptetion. Through last week, I have thought about my design and I still think the house idea is still too boring so now I think I should do a cute, imaginative design based on cartoon characters.

DF Second Lesson

DF second lesson today, I changed my mind about my design, I think it's too hard to put words on it because the cardboard is to hard to cut into letters so instead of words, I'm going to do signs. I also changed my mind bout homework time, dinner time etc. because if I had dinner time at 6 o'clock and it's 6 in the morning then it doesn't make sense so now I'm going to put things that's important to me in signs around the clock. I think I need to find a different shape for the clock because the house shape is too boring, I'm having trouble in coming up with ideas :(

DF First Lesson

Today was my first lesson in DF, my teacher was Mr Andrews. During the lesson he talked about safety rules and what we will be doing this term, I found out we were making clocks but Mr Andrews said that he isn’t going to mark it on how well it’s made but more on the design of it. I think i have an idea, I want to do a house with the signs homework, chores, school etc. on it. A clock like this but with things like homework time, dinner etc. on it