Material production

Question 1

what is lamination

Answer 1

a process in which one or more layers are added to a material to form a composite
- often used to increase strength and rigidity

Question 2

examples of when laminations used in material

Answer 2

• foam core board and corrugated card, which are stronger and stiffer than any other types of cardboard with a single layer of material
• plywood - made up of layers of wood that are glued together to resist bending forces
• delicate fabrics - laminated for extra strength, stiffness and protection

Question 3

what are interfacings

Answer 3

• extra layers of fabric stuck or sewn onto the inside of products
• used to improve functionality and aesthetics

Question 4

examples of when interfacings are used

Answer 4

• in collars, cuffs ,pockets or waistbands, anywhere that needs extra strength or rigidity

Question 5

what is webbing

Answer 5

• when a fabric is woven in a way that gives a very high tensile strength
• used in situations where it will be under tension such as in tow ropes, climbing harnesses

Question 6

what is bending used for

Answer 6

• to reinforce and stiffen material
• eg the middle fluted layer of corrugated card is made from a series of bend that add strength which is important for packaging heavy loads

Question 7

what is folding

Answer 7

the bending of flexible material so that the two sides of the bend are flat against each other and a line called a crease or fold occurs between them.
- used to make a material more flexible

Question 8

what is one off / bespoke product

Answer 8

a type of production where every item will be different in order to meet a customers exact requirements

Question 9

examples of when one off production would be used

Answer 9

• making a wedding dress
• making made to measure furniture

Question 10

disadvantages of one off production

Answer 10

• workforce needs to be highly skilled, especially if design is quite detailed so it’s an expensive way to make things
• the type of production is very labour intensive so it takes a lot of time to make each product

Question 11

advantages of one off production

Answer 11

• prototypes for a new product are normally produced as a one off
• so if the prototype works well, the product may then be manufactured in greater volumes

Question 12

what is batch production

Answer 12

where a specific quantity of a product is made

Question 13

advantages of batch production

Answer 13

• you do one process on the whole batch then another process, so it’s quicker than doing one off
• they can be used to manufacture loads of one product then a load of another

Question 14

examples of things that use batch production

Answer 14

• PCBs - cos different electronic products require different PCB designs
• Templates, jigs and moulds

Question 15

advantages of mass production

Answer 15

• designs are less detailed so can help achieve consistency
• workforce doesn’t need as much skill as one off
• less labour intensive than one off

Question 16

disadvantages of batch production

Answer 16

the machinery and workforce used need to be flexible and be able to quickly change
- the time between batches, when machines and tools may have to be set up differently or changed, wastes money as they’re not making anything they can sell

Question 17

what is mass production

Answer 17

making a large amount of the same product

Question 18

examples of things that are produced using mass production

Answer 18

newspapers
magazines
cars

Question 19

when would you use mass production

Answer 19

for a mass market product - when lots of people want the same thing

Question 20

advantages of mass production

Answer 20

• stages of production broken down into simple repetitive tasks, improves consistency
• each worker only does a small part of the process, makes job quicker
• products have basic designs to make production simpler
• most of the staff don’t need to be highly skilled so recruitment is easy

Question 21

disadvantages of mass production

Answer 21

they often use expensive specialised equipment and CAD and CAM

Question 22

what is continuous production

Answer 22

production that runs all the time, without interruption, 24 hours a day
- as it would be too expensive to keep stopping and restarting the process

Question 23

disadvantages of continuous production

Answer 23

• expensive

Question 24

advantages of continuous production

Answer 24

• pretty much entirely automated, meaning very few workers are needed
• can be designed to be very efficient , so the cost per item is cheap
• used to make products such as aluminium foil and chemicals

Question 25

what does quality control involve

Answer 25

testing materials products or components to check they’ve been made to a high enough standard and they meet the manufacturing specification

Question 26

how comes only a sample of the materials are tested when carrying out quality control

Answer 26

it would take too much time to check them all

Question 27

why is it important that the dimensions of components are accurate

Answer 27

if they aren’t, the parts won’t fit together properly when the product is assembled

Question 28

what is tolerance (simple definition)

Answer 28

the margin of error that is considered to be acceptable and won’t affect the product’s functionality

Question 29

why should tolerances be included on working drawings

Answer 29

to show the limits within which the product should be manyfactured

Question 30

what are go/no go fixtures

Answer 30

they are limit gauges which check to see whether the size of a part is within its tolerance - theyre usually double ended - one is machines to the lower limit and the other end to the upper limit of tolerance

Question 31

advantages of using a go/no go fixture

Answer 31

the checks don’t take very long and are much quicker than measuring actual dimensions of a component

Question 32

how does a registration mark work

Answer 32

if the plates are in the right places, you get a single, clear image If not, the registration mark will be printed, a bit fuzzy

Question 33

How do manufacturers check that repeating prints are being printed correctly onto fabrics?

Answer 33

They compare prints to an original sample print - This is much quicker and easier to do than try to measure the dimensions of each part of the repeating pattern one at a time

Question 34

what are depth stops

Answer 34

- long rods that are clamped close to the drill bit of some drills - they allow you to drill a hole to an exact depth in whatever material you are drilling - they nice this depth has been reached, the depth stop will come into contact with the material and will prevent you from drilling any deeper

Question 35

how should a laser cutter be programmed

Answer 35

- needs to programmed with the right information eg. the dimensions of the components to be cut - so the laser cutter knows exactly where to cut - the correct power settings and feed rate

Question 36

what is the feed rate of a laser cutter

Answer 36

the speed that the laser moves over and cuts the material

Question 37

why is it beneficial if a laser cutter is programmed correctly

Answer 37

because then the laser cutter can cut to a tiny tolerance ( with high accuracy and precision)

Question 38

how are PCBs manufactured using photo etching

Answer 38

- in this process, the PCB is exposed to UV light, which removes unwanted copper from the board, leaving behind the copper needed to form the tracks

Question 39

why do exposure times need to be carefully chosen when manufacturing PCBs

Answer 39

- exposing the pcb for too long may cause the copper tracks to be removed - exposing it for too little time will mean that unwanted copper will remain

Question 40

once chosen, why should exposure times be kept the same for every PCB that is produced

Answer 40

to make sure all of them are of a consistent quality when output

Question 41

what is quality control

Answer 41

ensuring products are manufactured to a high enough standard

Question 42

what is a registration mark used for

Answer 42

- normally appears as a cross shape - used by manufacturers to check the quality of colour printing onto paper and board - used to make sure the printing plates are aligned in the right position

Question 43

why should a sample still need to be checked after laser cutting

Answer 43

to make sure the machine hasn’t malfunctioned or been incorrectly programmed