Focus On Metals

Gravity Die Casting

Daften Die Casting Ltd use the gravity die casting process to manufacture sarcrificial anodes for marine vessels. This is a low-tech process is well suited for the batch production of simple forms without undercuts

Mazak, an alloy of zinc and aluminium, is first melted in a crucible furnace. Molten metal is then poured by ladle into a open steel mould where it is allowed to cool and solidify. The mould is then turned upside down and tapped with a hammer to release the finished casting.

Sheet Metal Punching

For components requiring a series of holes to be cut in them, it is often quicker to punch rather than drill.
Holes are punched in 12mm mild steel plate. This operation is carried out on a hydraulic press using a hardened steel punch and die set.

Post Modernism 1978 - Present - Karim Rashid

Natural Timbers

Lumber – When trees are felled (The process of cutting down standing trees) Timber - When trees are cut down and processed - A natural and sustainable source.

Hardwoods

Come from deciduous tress, which means that they will loose their leaves in the autumn. They are very slow growing meaning that they are a lot more expensive than soft woods when they are harvested.

. Examples: Ash, Oak, Beech, Teak and Walnut.

Softwoods

Softwoods come from coniferous trees with needles & cones, (all are evergreen trees.) The needles and cones will also stay on the tree throughout the year.As softwoods are fast growing, they are much cheaper to buy as a finished product (many more can be cut down in the same space of time as hardwoods)

. Examples: Larch, Spruce, Scots Pine, and Douglas fir.

The age of trees can be worked out by counting the annual rings in its trunk. Each ring represents summer and winter. The winter rings are darker because of the bark growing to protect the tree from winter cold. This prevents less light and cold reaching the trunk.

The FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) are an organization that make sure wood is from a sustainable source. Therefore meaning that more than one tree is planted in the space of an old tree.

Conversion

This is the term used when sawing a tree trunk into usable pieces of timber. Conversion can enhance the grain of the wood and help make the materials more stable. There are 2 main ways timber is cut up. These are Plain sawing and quarter sawing. When wood is plain sawn the planks produced are of much lower quality but more planks can be produced as you are taking advatage of the quantity of wood you are getting from the trunk. When wood is quarter sawn, a higher quality is produced but there are less planks .

Seasoning

Seasoning is the controlled drying of timber. This is done by natural seasoning or kilm drying. In both methods the moisture content must be lower than 20%. The perfect moisture content for wood is when it has the same moisture content as the surrounding air. For every 25mm of wood you want to naturally season, it needs to be left for at least 1 year.

I Should Never Have Purchased!

Because of my unhealthy obsession with having to have the best and latest gadgets, the unique, slim, Sony Ericsson W880i phone caught my eye for my previous mobile phone upgrade. The reason I had chosen this phone was simply because of its unique, slim and sleek design (9mm in depth). However, after only 2 weeks of having this top of the range phone, it became quite a nuisance. I had noticed that 2 of the phones buttons had in fact come apart from the phone, one being the camera shutter button, meaning that I was unable to take photographs. This was one of the main reasons in which the phone fascinated me (a mobile phone with an integrated camera). The other button that had come apart powered the music ‘walkman’ feature, enabling the user to listen to music from the built in mp3 player. This was in fact the main feature of the mobile phone and was the other reason why it appealed to me. The mobile was also half made of plastic on the rear and half metal on the front and was joint on the sides of the phone. The joints eventually became very loose and gaps began to appear between them. As a result of this dirt and other unwanted things began to collect underneath the screen of the phone. This obviously obstructed my view of the screen and day to day use of the phone became hard. The phone housing was also non removable so I was unable to clean the dirt from the screen. This is not at all what I expected from a top of the range mobile and as I have now learnt, I should not just go for the looks of things but should actually see which phones are more reliable and practical.