Creative Manufacturing - ID Tag

Today is the last day of making our ID Tag. I've rubbed mine with sandpaper to make the surface and edges smoother. In our lesson for today, I have to polish my aluminum and stamp my initials to it. 

I have a lot of scratches on my aluminum so I really had to polish it really thoroughly.

Here is a  photo of how we polished our ID Tag and the finishing product:

Before shot:                                       

After shot:

                    

The first thing we needed to do was to get aluminum, we had a long strip so we needed to measure it to make sure the width and length were right. The width needed to be 20 cm and the length needed to be 45 cm. We measured this using a metal ruler. Since we needed to cut it we needed to make it one or two cm bigger than 45. Because when you cut the metal it is not going to be perfect unless you are a professional. So using a scriber I engraved a small line on the sides. Then using a engineers square I lined it up to the lines and engraved a line. The engineers square is there to make the line straight. After that, we needed to cut the metal, then we need to file it down to the 45 cm line. 

We then used spring dividers to make the curves on the ends, the way we did this was by measuring where the center of the I.D tag was. Then put one of the legs of the spring divider on the center point. After that lengthen the space between the legs to your choice. Then kind of scrape it to make the curved lines do this on both sides. Now you need to file it down to those lines, this part is optional. But for me, I had sandpapered it and one of the mistakes I had made was the I also sandpapered the faces. Which cause scratches which didn't make it look appealing anymore. 

I then needed to bluff my work, but before that, we had to drill a hole into the top of our I.D tag. Now using another type of drill we created kind of bowl shape over the hole. Which gave it some style. Now talking about the bluffing,  since it would be too hot for us to hold it by hand when bluffing. We need to hold the I.D tag using pliers, even if I could withstand the heat, like by using gloves. I would still use pliers because the bluffer spins so fast and it's scary. After that, you need to stamp maybe initials or a name. Using metal stamps and a hammer, you put the stamp over the I.D tag with the letter facing the right way. Then in one strong go, hit the stamp with your hammer if you hit the stamp more than once. It might make it look like two letters over each other. Which doesn't really look nice, another tip is to make you bluff before you stamp in my personal experience. 

I enjoyed this project and thought it was really nice, plans did change throughout the working of this. Because I was going to give it to my dog but we ended up needing to sell him. So now I gave it to my mum, probably the hardest to do overall. Was get the right measurements and then needing to polish. I get that because I am not professional, but this was an interesting experience. 

Equipment

Aluminium 

Engineer Square

Ruler 

Bench Vice 

Soft Jaws (for the bench vice)

Spring Dividers

Engineers Blue

Centre Punch

Hammer

Scriber 

Hawk saw

File

Sandpaper

Digital Metric Gauge

Bluffing machine

Pliers

Face shields

Creating Manufacturing - My Sign

In creative manufacturing for that last week or so we have been working on signs, to be specific the mandatory, prohibited and hazardous sign. Since last week we had been told to create our personal sign for our workshop. You were allowed to pick the kind of sign between the three, we started our draft on paper but it was optional so you were allowed to do digitally. Both my friends had picked mandatory signs and I had picked a prohibited sign.

At the start, it was a difficult choice you weren't allowed to copy each other, as to the results of having two of the same signs which aren't really ideal. My sign was based on food since it was a prohibited sign you needed to make it obvious on what it is trying to tell you. With mandatory signs, it is fine because it still tells you what to do but with a visual image as well. A hazardous sign also needs to be obvious since it is only a picture on a yellow triangle.

Mine was "no eating or drinking in the workshop" it is obvious since it has a red angular line through it, making people see it is something not to do. It has a burger in a drink bottle as the icon in the sign, everyone has a reason why that sign. Mine was because there are different kinds of chemicals in the workshop. if you touch those chemicals and then eat there is a potential you are risking your health because once you consume the chemical you could get sick. The same goes for a drink in the class as you might spill it and someone might slip. Or chemicals could get on your drink bottle and then you would drink it.

Hazards and signs - Creative Manufacturing

What is the meaning of hazard:
The meaning of hazard commonly means when you are in danger or at risk, for example, you visit a cave there will mostly be a sign there saying "hazard". Because you may be at risk inside as the cause of natural disasters. Because the worst place to be when there is an earthquake is in a cave. But it really depends on how stable it is. Or there might be a sign near a dangerous machine saying "Hazard" once again. Because you never know if you are risking your life near it because you might think you know what you are doing.


1. Mandatory
You will most likely see these kinds of signs on the road, for example, a mandatory sign is there to keep everyone in order when driving.  Like if there is traffic these signs are there to tell you what to do, Sometime you will see this in workshops. For example, there will be a sign asking you to wear a face shield. unlike all the other signs a mandatory sign is to tell you what to do rather than tell you what not to do.

2. Hazard
A hazard sign is there to warn you about hazardous materials, radioactivity and so on, most of the symbols are really obvious on what they are warning you about. You will mostly see these signs where it is dangerous like construction sites, or workshops. If people have common sense they have to follow these signs and be cautious. Because it can risk lives.



3. Prohibited
Thes kind of signs is where they tell what you are not allowed to do, generally things you cant use and the kind of people. A prohibited sign normally has a black symbol inside of a red circle and a red angular line right across it. mostly you will see a cigarette symbol, that would obviously mean no smoking.

What this!
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