Lesson video

Hi, I'm Miss McGoldrick and welcome to today's Design and Technology lesson on tools and processes when working with paper and boards.

All of that is part of the unit Iterative design, where it has a nature theme.

So let's get started.

Okay, today's lesson outcome is I can select and use tools safely to manufacture my design.

Our keywords for this lesson are tools.

So tools are known as devices or instruments used to perform tasks.

Then we have processes, so a series of actions taken to achieve a specific outcome.

And we will talk about manufacturing processes in this lesson.

We've got cutting, so the act of slicing or dividing or removing something using a sharp tool.

And we'll talk about that in terms of paper and boards today.

And shaping, so the process of giving form or structure to something.

Our first lesson outlined today is cutting lines and curves in papers and boards.

Right, so in design and technology, we use many different materials and we choose those materials based on their unique properties and the suitability for what we are creating.

So when we select and use the appropriate tools and processes, it's a really important task to match those tools and processes to the materials that we are using.

Now why? Okay, so let's think about efficiency.

So we've got to choose the right tool because it's gonna save us time.

If we choose the wrong tool, we are probably going to encounter some troubles.

So we might waste some time, we're gonna make some mistakes, we're gonna use up lots of effort doing that.

So in terms of efficiency, let's choose the right tool from the start and that is gonna save us lots of things.

Quality, okay? So if we use the proper tools, they are going to provide us with accuracy and a professional finish.

Safety, a really important one.

If we are using the wrong tools on materials, it can be a huge health and safety risk.

So it can cause accidents and damage.

We're gonna waste material and we don't want to do that.

It costs lots of money for materials.

So if we're using the wrong tools on the materials, then there's a good chance we're gonna do something wrong and we're gonna waste that material.

And we need to protect our tools.

So we're gonna, we want to prevent wear and tear, and if we are using tools on the wrong materials, it can damage the tools.

Okay, time for our first check.

Selecting and using the appropriate tools for a wide range of materials blank and blank is an important task.

Pause the video, have a go.

So, selecting and using appropriate tools for a wide range of materials correctly and safely is an important task.

Well done if you got both of those correct.

Let's talk about processes.

So what do we mean when we say material processes? What does that involve? So it involves marking out, so measuring and drawing on a material.

It involves cutting, so shaping materials by removing the excess material that we do not need.

Shaping, so forming materials into the desired shapes that we need.

And joining, okay, connecting materials together, using methods like glueing.

And finishing, okay, enhancing the appearance of materials or durability like painting or adding a varnish, okay.

So all of those things there are called material processes and they are what we do when we work with materials.

Now, when we work with papers and boards, we need to use these essential tools as a minimum for cutting and shaping.

So when we work with papers and boards, we are probably gonna need a pair of scissors, we're going to need a craft knife, we're going to need a cutting mat, and we're going to need a safety rule.

Now a safety rule is different from a metal rule.

A safety rule has a protective ridge, okay? And the protective ridge runs down the side and when you use it, you put your fingers behind it, which means your fingers are protected when using that ruler with a craft knife, okay? It's gonna help us achieve nice, straight lines, safely.

Now, there's some extra tools here that can support working with papers and boards, things like set squares and try squares.

So they are gonna kind of enable or they're gonna support figuring out perpendicular lines and checking the edges are straight and lines are straight for cutting.

We're gonna use some masking tape, most likely.

It's not essential, but it certainly helps.

You might want to use a tape measure, especially if you're working with large pieces of papers and boards, or you can use a steel ruler.

And then we've got some specialist cardboard cutting scissors here.

So you can use those on paper, but it's a bit easier to use a smaller pair of scissors on paper.

But these scissors are bigger, they're stronger.

They're designed to cut thick corrugated cardboard.

Okay, time for another check.

Name the cutting and shaping tools below.

Pause the video, have a go.

Okay, so name the cutting and shaping tools below.

We have a craft knife and we have a safety rule.

Well done if you've got both of those right? Okay, so having a practise is really, really important.

You might think, "It's just a piece of paper, it's just a piece of cardboard.

I don't really need a practise when cutting this." But it is very easy to cut paper and it is relatively easy to cut cardboard depending on the thickness.

However, because of that easiness compared to something like mild steel, you can lose control quite easily because you are cutting quicker than normal, okay? So it's really difficult to actually maintain accuracy along the cutting line.

It's quite a bit of a challenge.

So having a practise first is really important.

So before starting to use the tools on paper and boards, it is important to be aware of the corrugation direction, specifically on corrugated cardboard.

So those lines that you can see on the surface of corrugated cardboard, they are telling us something, okay? And that is the orientation of the fluted layer.

So that wavy layer in the middle, okay? It's telling us the direction of that.

So here's a little diagram.

So we can see a top layer, a bottom layer, and that is corrugated cardboard there.

And you can see that wavy layer inside that provides that kind of thickness to corrugated cardboard.

So the corrugation direction is along that wave, okay? So as you can see in the image there, that is the direction of the corrugation.

Now that's important when we're cutting corrugated cardboard.

If we cut with the corrugation, it's very easy to cut, but the edge will be quite messy, it'll be jagged and it won't be very clean.

Now that's okay, that's fine depending on what you are doing.

But if you want a nice, clean cut, a really good quality cut, you will cut against the corrugation.

So you will cut across it, okay? And that's important to keep in mind when you are working with corrugated cardboard.

Okay, so another check.

What do the visible lines refer to on corrugated cardboard? Is it the corrugation thickness, the corrugation weight, the corrugation direction, or the corrugation colour? Pause the video, have a go.

So the visible lines on corrugated cardboard mean the corrugation direction.

And that's really important to bear in mind when you are cutting the corrugated cardboard because it gives a good quality cut, or not so great quality cut depending on which way you are cutting it.

Right, okay.

so removing excess material is a really good way to have a practise, and it's really important to have a piece of corrugated cardboard or paper or whatever board you're using that has kind of square and straight edges to start off with.

That is gonna kind of ensure we have perpendicular and straight lines on our design.

Okay, so as you can see here is a piece of corrugated cardboard.

We've got some unsuitable material there where those slots are.

And we can get rid of that, and we can treat that as our practise with our tools.

So here is our set square, we're checking the edges to see if they're square.

So after we've checked the edges of our square, we're gonna use our try square to start off that line.

And then we know it's exactly perpendicular to the edge of the cardboard.

So I'm gonna use a try square there, or I could use a set square.

Then I'm gonna extend that line using a metal rule.

You don't need to use a safety rule at this point because you're just drawing that line on with a pencil.

Then using a pencil on corrugated cardboard sometimes is very difficult to see.

You can use a pen.

If you do use a pen, use a thin nipped pen because the pen is gonna be difficult to remove afterwards, but the pencil is difficult to see.

Now, if that is the case, you can use some masking tape to highlight that line, like in the picture here.

Now, when it comes to cutting, we are gonna rotate that material.

We always want to cut downwards.

We want to pull that craft knife towards ourself, okay? So rotate that material and it is a lot more safe to be working around that way.

So, when you are lining up and getting ready for cutting, you are gonna hold the craft knife in your dominant hand.

So for me, that is my right hand.

And when you are holding a craft knife, you are going to put your finger at the front here, okay? And that helps us keep control.

And you line up your safety rule, you put your fingers behind the protective ridge and you are working from the top downwards, okay? You might have to go over the line more than once, especially with corrugated cardboard because you're cutting through many different layers.

And then you wanna check the quality of the cut afterwards.

So remember, this is still a practise.

Okay, let's look at cutting curves, very quickly.

So here's a pair of scissors, okay.

We're cutting a curve on paper, we're using a small pair of scissors and it's relatively easy to do that.

Avoid using craft knives, okay, to do kind of free form lines and curves.

We want to be trying to use scissors to cut curves on paper and boards, okay? So you can see there's a pair of paper scissors cutting the paper, and then I'm using the cardboard specialist scissors to cut that corrugated cardboard.

Take your time and just take it one step at a time.

Take it slowly to get that curve nice and good quality.

Okay, time for a task.

So, you are gonna select three tools from below.

There they are.

You are gonna give the name of the tool and you're gonna describe the use when working with paper and boards to do cutting and shaping.

So pause the video here, have a go at that.

Pick three tools, what are their names? And then describe their use.

Let's have some feedback for that task.

So Alex here has chosen a cutting mat as the first one of those three tools.

So a cutting mat is used to rest material on for marking out and cutting.

It provides a flat and smooth surface and protects the table underneath.

Very important.

Okay, a craft knife is the second one, used for cutting straight lines on papers and boards.

And the third one is that very important safety rule, okay? It can be used for measuring, but its most important kind of function is protecting your fingers when using it with a craft knife to help you produce straight line cuts.

Okay, so our second lesson outline is cut a design.

So below, there, is a marked out design for one component of an accessible herb planter.

So we've got a design and we've marked out that design, and now the design is going to be cut.

So we're resting on a cutting mat, we're using a safety rule, we're using a craft knife, and we're starting with the vertical lines.

Remember, the best way to use a safety rule and a craft knife is to be using it vertically and to be cutting from top to bottom, pulling that craft knife towards you, making sure your fingers are behind that protective ridge on that safety rule.

Now when it comes to doing horizontal lines, you're gonna have to rotate that material.

This is a really important thing to do, and it happens with any kind of cutting or sawing.

You should always be cutting in a downwards direction or sawing in a downwards direction.

It's a safety thing.

So rotate that cardboard on the cutting mat so that you are pulling that craft knife down towards you.

Okay, time for a check.

An important factor when cutting horizontal lines is.

cutting quickly, rotating the material or pressing down harder.

Pause the video, have a go.

So an important factor when cutting horizontal lines is rotating that material.

Okay, so any lines that aren't perfectly vertical, then we've got to rotate the material so that the lines become vertical so we can saw in a downwards directional cut, in a downwards direction, depending on what material we are using.

Right, so we're gonna use a craft knife now, freely, without the safety rule.

Now this doesn't happen very often, but after you have used a safety rule to cut the straight lines, what can happen is the cardboard can still be attached, usually in the corners.

So what we have to do is kind of move the safety rule out of the way and we have to freely use that craft knife.

Now you've got to do that very, very carefully.

So you keep your fingers out of the way while you are trying to use it just to free up the parts that are still kind of attached to the original piece.

And then you're gonna check for the quality of the cut.

So, now remember the corrugation direction is very important here.

If you have cut with the corrugation direction, so along those visible lines, the chances are those edges are gonna be quite messy.

Whereas if you've cut against the corrugation direction, so across those lines, it's gonna be a neater, cleaner cut.

So time for another check.

After cutting the component out, it is important to check the blank of the cut edges.

Pause the video, have a go.

After cutting the component out, it is important to check the quality of the cut edges.

Really important, regardless of whatever material we are working with.

Now, internal sections that need to be cut out.

So removing those, we are on corrugated cardboard.

We are going to use a pencil first to put holes where there's any kind of corners or kind of steep kind of curves.

And that is just going to help us kind of have a starting point and an end point when using a craft knife or a pair of scissors.

And yeah, as you can see in the image there, use a pencil to help you do that, or something that is kind of sharp, like a skewer maybe, or a scriber or a compass that can help you do that.

But obviously do that very carefully.

And then you're gonna use the safety rule and you're gonna rotate the material so that you are always pulling that craft knife down to remove that internal section.

You might get some corners that stick again, so don't forget to use that craft knife very carefully without the safety rule to free up those corners.

And there you can see the final component has been cut out in that corrugated cardboard.

Time for a task.

So complete one of the following: using the correct tools and processes for papers and boards, mark out, cut and shape a component from a design that you have created.

So you might have a design ready to go, and you can get a piece of paper or corrugated cardboard or cardboard in general, and you can mark it out, your design, on the cardboard or paper, and then you can cut and shape that too.

Or if you don't have a design, you can use the correct tools and processes again for papers and boards.

And you can mark out and cut and shape the components on the orthographic projection found on the following slide.

So here is the orthographic projection.

So you can look at those measurements on there.

You can use the measurements on that front projection and the plan projection and the side projection to help you mark that out.

And then you can cut and shape that using the correct processes.

So pause the video and have a go at one of those tasks.

Some feedback.

So your answer could be: "Here is my marking out." So I've used that autographic projection, I've got a piece of corrugated cardboard, I've looked at the dimensions and the measurements, and I've marked it out on that piece of corrugated cardboard.

I've checked that the edges are square and straight.

I haven't yet removed any waste material that isn't very good on there.

I'm using a cutting mat.

I've used some masking tape to kind of make those pencil lines stand out better.

I've used my safety rule.

And then I've got my pencil, my set square to make sure that those lines are perpendicular and straight.

And I've added my waste lines as well to make sure that I'm cutting out the right parts.

And then the cutting and shaping part.

So there's my cutting mat again, there's the final component cut out and shaped.

I used the craft knife, I used the safety rule very carefully.

I used the pencil to do those corners on that internal kind of section part.

And I did use a set square at the beginning to check the edges were straight, and I checked the quality after the cut also.

Let's have a summary for this lesson.

So selecting and using the appropriate tools and processes for a wide range of materials is a really important task.

It's gonna ensure that the tools that we're using are used safely and accurately.

Material processes include marking out, cutting and shaping.

And the tools that we use when working with papers and boards include things like craft knives, cutting mats, and safety rules.

We're gonna use scissors for cutting curves.

And we're gonna use a craft knife and a safety rule to cut straight lines.

We're gonna rotate that material so that you're always pulling the craft knife down towards you in a downwards motion, okay? And we're gonna check the quality of the cut afterwards, remembering about that corrugation direction if we're using corrugated cardboard.

So that ends today's lesson.

Thank you for joining me today, and I will see you again soon.