Lesson video

Hey, my name is Mrs. Finley, and in today's lesson, we're going to look at production processes in industry used to make prototypes.

So before our lesson starts make sure you're somewhere quiet, where you can work and you'll need a pen or pencil and paper for today's lesson.

So just to clarify for today's lesson, you'll need paper and a pen.

So if you haven't got those things, pause the video now and go and find them.

Okay, so you may have already done the intro quiz, but what else are we doing today? Well, we're going to look at batch and mass production and these are production methods, and we clarify them by how many products they make and the types of organisation used in the production.

We're then going to look at prototypes and what do we actually mean by the word prototype? And then we're going to look at some specific production processes using our subject.

And then as always, there will be an exit quiz.

Let's look at our key words for today.

So our first key word, is a prototype.

And this is a model or a sample or a part of something that we are creating.

Sometimes it can be very crude and very rough, a little bit like our models we made a few lessons ago, or it might be highly refined and it's going to be presented to a client.

But this lovely word that we use, is prototype.

Batch production.

This is when products are made in small groups.

This might be for an event, for example, a football tournament, and they produce a load of footballs or it might be because the products will go out, will pass sell by dates, or it might be that they're producing small amounts because they're quite refined and quite specific or maybe there isn't, there aren't people wanting lots of that product.

So there isn't the need there.

So batch production is where products are made in small amounts, small grouped amounts.

And then building on from that, escalating those levels is mass production.

And that's where a manufacturer makes a product in large quantities.

Okay, let's look at what we're going to be doing in today's lesson.

What is a prototype? So we already said a prototype is a model.

But can you think, why would we want to model out products? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, so you've had a little think about why manufacturers and designers use models.

Why would they want models? Let's have a look at some of the ones I came up with.

Okay, so to test out material choices.

So it might be that you've designed the same thing but you make it in five or six different types of materials, or maybe even like different colours and things of that material, and you ask people's opinions.

It might be that it would save money.

So it might be that the product that you're actually making is made in quite an expensive material.

And so you're going to use a cheaper more readily available material, in order to mock up so you're ready, you can make those mistakes and you're not wasting materials.

Gain opinions of the clients, so you can very quickly by putting something together.

If I said to you, "Oh, well, it's going to be this high, and it's going to look a bit rustic." And actually, but if I get my model, my product, and then he dropped it.

If I get my model of my product and I'd show you, you'd you be like, "Oh yeah I know exactly what you're talking about." It's a really good aid when you're talking to people and test aspects such as size.

Yeah, this is brilliant.

So it might be that your product has to interact with something else and therefore you want to make sure the things fit.

It might be that you're designing something that fits into the hand.

So say for example, you're designing some scissors.

Well, you're going to have to test out to make sure that somebody's hand can fit in and they can actually use that product.

So all of these reasons are why prototyping is so important.

Okay, let's look at batch production and mass production in more detail.

So mass production is where large volumes of products are made relentlessly.

Whereas batch production is where products are made in groups.

Now these groups might be large, but nonetheless they're made in groups.

And the machinery that's used for this is so flexible and it can be used from one day to make one thing and another to make something up absolutely different.

Sometimes batch production is used for events.

Like I said, like football games and things like that.

And sometimes it's just used for a point in time or because products have sell by dates or best before and things like that.

So we're going to have a look at a couple of three little products and I want you to think about whether you think they have been made in batch or mass production, okay? And I'm looking for the reason why.

So let's look at the first one.

Okay, I have got a football tournament, football.

Do you think that's mass or batch production? So it's a ball that's been made for the games in a football tournament.

In a football tournament, do you think that it's mass or batch production? Think about why.

Okay, let's have a little look, batch production.

Now the reason I think it's batch production is that that tournament is only going to last this period of time, and all those footballs would have been made for all the games in that tournament.

So there is a group of products and that's what I think it is batch production.

Let's look at the next one.

Okay, so this is a disposable mask.

Now this one is tricky.

Do you think it is mass production or batch production? Okay, and why do you think that? Okay, let's have a look together.

Now I have put batch production because I feel that it's made in groups and that that equipment can be used for other things.

However, you might think it's mass production because you could get factories that just produce them day in, day out.

So that's a bit of a difficult one to give you but hopefully, you've come up with reasons why which is what I'm interested in.

Okay, some crayons, mass production or batch production? Yeah, mass production.

Okay, so they're produced all the time, the design doesn't really change, large quantities have been produced, well done.

We're going to look at these four different production processes.

Laser cutting, die cutting, 3D printing and vinyl cutting.

You may have heard of them before.

So to get ready, what I would like you to do is I would like you to set out your page like this with production processes right in the middle.

You might want to do a really cool title, that's up to you.

So pause the video now and do that, please.

Okay, well done.

So how this is going to work, I'm going to go through the four different processes with you.

Laser cutting, vinyl cutting, die cutting, and 3D printing.

And I'm going to give you the chance to sketch in the process and write little notes about them.

And this is helping you to understand the products that are around us and how they are made.

We're going to look at laser cutting.

Now, this is a process where you can make many items from one sheet.

The products are cut out using a thin laser, and the laser is moved across using a series of mirrors and then it's directed down, and it works on an X and a Y axis, is really accurate, incredibly fast and can cut a range of materials.

Cards and boards also thin woods, it can cut plastics extensively.

Let's have a look at the process and don't forget as we're going through, I'm looking for you to make some little notes about it.

And at the end to draw a little diagram to go into your production processes.

Okay, so let's look at this laser cutting.

I'm putting my work into the top left corner and the laser beam comes through the back, along, and then it's flipped down with a mirror, down where the nozzle is.

I'm going to show you that a little bit better in a moment.

So the first thing we're going to do, is we're going to tell the machine how thick our material is.

And it does this by sending a beam across the front of the laser cutter, to a sensor, it moves the bed up and down and when the bed moves the material across the laser beam and the laser beam is broken, that's how it knows how thick it is.

I'm just popping some acrylic here to show you how thick it actually is.

Here's my drawing, so I'm going to do an acorn logo, Oak Academy, and I've made the Oak Academy red and the acorn black because I want to cut through the black and I want to engrave the red or move very quickly.

Now I can do this with feeds and speeds and we'll talk about that in a minute when the laser cutter is actually cutting.

So I'm just telling it how to treat the red lines and how to treat the black lines.

The lid goes down, I've sent the programmes and now I'm going to find what I have printed, and I've called it Oak.

So let's see if we can find it in the queue, here it is.

Drawing one of one, there's Oak.

Now I'm just going to press run nice and quick.

Now I could go away and do something else while this was cutting if I wanted to.

So back to the feeds and speeds.

If I want to cut through the material, I need to make sure that I'm cutting on an intense laser beam, and my speed is pretty slow.

So that beam has time to go through the material.

If I was going to engrave, I don't want the laser beam quite so intense and I don't want it to move quite as fast, because I don't want it to cut all the way through the material.

So that's the difference we can set, we can tell the beam how to behave and we control that through our CAD drawing through different colours.

And you can see, we just came around the outside of our work to start with.

Really, really accurate, only working on X and Y axis there's no Z.

The laser or the bed isn't moving up and down to create relief or anything like that.

So I'm going to speed this video up a little bit for you, so that you can start to see what happens when it works on the red lines.

So nice and slow, intense laser for black.

When I move on to the red lines, I've really set the speeds faster.

So you can see that laser cutter working harder, it's working faster, sorry, and it's engraving it.

And you can also, after this is finished put some white acrylic into the engraving, that really brings out what's been engraved.

Now I've cut this in black, white and I've also cut a little bit of the bottom of the acorn in green, just to show you how accurate is.

And this is me taking it out of the material for the first time, I can slot pieces together so I've got a nice bit of contrast going on there.

So this process is just as accurate on other materials as well.

So if you were to use various materials or card or paper, leather is a bit stinky if you put it in, but plastics, and this is acrylic that we're using, okay? So you can see how easily everything goes together.

There's my little Oak Academy.

Just give it a little jig.

So very accurate, very fast and you can do many products at once.

Laser cutting.

Here's a sketch of laser cutting.

So if you want to, you can pause the video and copy this now.

This is a process used to make products from a large sheet.

It uses a dye to cut and also make perforations which can be folded.

And it's incredibly accurate and can be really fast when used in mass and batch production.

So this is the die and it's very fine but in between it is really sharp blades, and these blades are what cuts our work.

So the first thing we going to do is put a substrate layer on.

And this in this case is card.

We're then going to put a protective layer over the top and we're using plastic for this.

We then put it underneath the rollers, there's a roller in the top there and a hard base, and we turn the handle, it's not too difficult to do this, we turn the handle and then we're going to take that plastic layer off the top.

And then underneath you have got the lovely die cut product.

Now this is obviously flat, but not only cutting, but it also creates perforations, which can be folded and made into products.

So you can see that we're folding along all the perforations.

And so slowly this is going from a 2D item to a 3D.

Things like party bags or takeaway children's food package will be made like this, envelopes will be made like this.

And here we go, that parcel is just going together and we've got a little postal lock there, so it locks in.

Let's tuck that one in, there we go.

And then we'll just stand that up for you so you can see it.

Die cutting.

Here's a sketch of die cutting.

So you may have already sketched out a little diagram but if not, have a go at adding this to your notes.

3D printing creates 3D products.

Instead of the other processes which take material away, 3D printing is an addition process.

It builds on the product and it uses those three axes.

So X and Y, but also the Z axis, the up and down because it makes a product that's actually 3D.

It's incredibly accurate.

Okay, so we're going to have a little go.

So first I'm going to do is we're going to tell our printer to build.

We're going to select what we'd like it to build, you've got lots of stored things on here but we're going to do a little, there we go.

Just a little quick square and I'm going to tell it to print.

Now what will happen is we've got two things that are going to.

First thing is the temperature of the nozzle, second thing is the temperature of the bed.

So let's have a look at our 3D printer.

We've got the bed where everything is built, we've then got the heater in here.

We're working on the X axis and working on the Z axis.

Now this is now going to go down.

You see it moving down away with my camera.

It's going to go down to a position where it's going to heat up.

There we go, it stopped there.

And this is, it's going to stay here until it's nearly nearly hot enough.

So whilst this is heating up and we can start to see the temperatures moving up on the screen there.

So on the right hand side you can see the bed starting to heat up.

Now that's going to get to about 51, 52 degrees, 'ish and then the nozzle on the left-hand side which is currently on 33 degrees, that's going to rocket right up to a temperature that the PLA is going to need it to get to.

Here we go, here it goes.

And it goes quite quickly.

Once it's got to the correct temperature, it will then move the headset, this, nearer the bed to a note, note, note position.

So very quickly, just to show you, we have got filament.

This is very cynic, strewdy plastic.

So the filament goes in the back of the 3D printer, it goes through, there it is.

This PTFE tubing, this waxy tubing, into the top of the heater.

We're going, we're going to go all the way over, past 200 degrees on this.

And then it extrudes out the nozzle of the heater.

Now, here we go.

It's just starting to move down and it's going to move down to it's north, north, north axis.

Here we go and t's moving down.

It looks like it's ready to print, it's telling us it's eight minutes.

So the first thing that the printer's going to do, is it's going to lay down a bed, a spoiler for the first bit and it's almost like a colouring pen, just colouring in.

Okay, if I go in there, you can see it starting to work.

It's starting to fill it in.

We are using purple filament.

Okay, and it's squeezing it out like toothpaste.

I'm nervous, let's see if I can get in there a bit closer so that we can have a look.

Squeezing it out.

Now this will keep going and keep building our box until we have no time remaining.

And when it's complete, the head will go right back up to the top again, it tells you it's done, so, okay.

And then this bed can come off, some of them do some of them don't.

You can see where the heater was.

And we can, should just pop off though.

There we go, lovely.

We've got a little bit of, okay we get rid of that.

And you can see underneath, you can just see the honeycomb finish.

Look at that lovely edge.

Sometimes with 3D printed parts, you can hang it acetone, and it gives you a really nice finish as well.

So that's our 3D part.

Here's our 3D printing diagram.

Same as before, if you'd like to copy it, then you can use that.

You might have already done a drawing yourself and that's fine, but notice the labelling that I've put on it.

So I've got the filament, I've got the axes identified.

I've talked about the nozzle and the bed where everything is built.

Pause the video if you want to have a go at getting those notes down now.

Vinyl cutting.

Now this can cut many items from one sheet, it's an automated process so we use a CAD drawing and that it works by using a single blade, so not a laser this time, or a nozzle with filament.

Using a single blade that moves very quickly to perforate and also to cut through the material.

Vinyl is often used on the side of vans, in sign writing and other products like that.

As all of these processes, because they are used a mass and batch production, It is incredibly accurate.

So just to show you this again, we're going to select whether it's a roll or a piece, press enter.

And then the whole of the head will measure the width of the material, so you know exactly how big the material is.

And this is a really good double check to make sure your drawing fits in with the sizes.

So the head is going to move.

There we go, cut, cut, cut, and around.

So it's very quick, let's just rewind that again so you can have a little look.

There we are.

The cutter going to drop down, go around and you can see the blade is being pushed into the work moving around, doing square in the middle, and then coming back up.

So here's a clip of once the work has been cut.

Peeling, sometimes this is called weeding or plucking, taking the pieces that are not needed out.

It's a jolly tricky thing to do.

So there we go.

That's taking one piece out and then you do the same for the other.

And then we cover the top with some low tap tape and we would put that onto whatever surface we wanted that to go on.

And finally, here is a diagram of our vinyl cutter.

So you can copy this down as always or you might have your own diagram that you've drawn to add to the notes that you've already made.

Well done.

We have looked at those processes together.

Let's see if I'm going to give you three descriptors.

Let's see if you can tell me what the process is that I'm describing.

So, let's read the first one together.

This process is used to create 2D products.

This process follows a computer drawing, so a CAD drawing.

I wonder what it could be, can you think? Okay, let's have a little look, Okay, vinyl cutting.

Now you might have said laser cutting for that actually and you wouldn't have been wrong.

Let's look at the next clue.

This process uses filament, create 3D prototype, lovely use of the word prototype.

This process is really useful for prototyping different products.

Okay, what do you think is? So the ones we've got left are die cutting, 3D printing and vinyl cutting.

Oh, sorry, Laser cutting.

Which one do you think it is? Okay, Yep, brilliant, 3D printing.

And the clue there was this 3D prototype, wasn't it? Because remember 3D printing, the only additional process.

Let's look at the last one.

This process creates 2D prototype, this process uses a die or a stamp to create products.

What do you think that one is? Yeah, the clue was there, wasn't it? Die cutting, fantastic.

Well done, you've done really, really well today.

It's really frustrating I know for you, 'cause you would love to be in the workshop, learning these processes but hopefully you can see where the products that you interact with and you look around, how products are made and you can start to identify all that's been made using die cutting, or that's been vinyl cut.

As always, there's an exit quiz at the end of the lesson.

Take care and we'll see you soon.