Term 2, Week 9

I was away on thursday last week so i missed out on working on my mould thatd day.
We had our double on monday though and got the long plank of wood thingy to put my moulds on to it. I ruled up the lines where my moulds go on but it was uneven so i'll hav to do it on thursday. I also helped Will finish his mould by helping him drill his moulds into the plank of wood and holding it steady.

Today, wednesday, in the computer labs again doing blog stuff. Terry got the epoxy resin and the fibre-glass today so we're coming closer to finishing the whole longboard. Tomorrow, thursday, i'll be finishing the mould. I'll re-do the lines and i'll drill the moulds onto it so that it will be done.

Term 2, Week 8

On Monday we had our double period and i finished filing my moulds down so they have a good, smooth curve for my longboard. My moulds were too high so i had to saw it down so they shorter. It took ages because the saw thingies we use were all being used. But when i finilly did it my moulds are perfect now so i can put them on that huge plank of wood thing.
Wednesday, in computerlabs to work on our blogs or solidworks program thing or just to catch up on th check-list for term two.
On thursday we will be working on our moulds some more and hopefully get to finish them!!!

Mould Work:

Term 2, Week 7

We had double practical on monday to work on our moulds. Me and Will took alot of photos and i think I've finished filing mine down. Today on wednesday we're in the computer labs once again working on our blogs... Again. I'm going to post up some of the photos that me and Will took because most of them are pointless because Mr. Will HardDick-Smith was being a dick.
Tomorrow I think we're in the computer labs again to work on our blogs some more.

And next week we are going to do all practical work and no work on our blogs. It's gonna be awesome.

Flax Research:

Flax (binomial name: Linum usitatissimum) is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. This is called as Jawas/Javas or Alashi in Marathi. Flax was extensively cultivated in ancient Egypt. (New Zealand flax is not related to flax, but was named after it as both plants are used to produce fibers.)

Flax is an erect annual plant growing to 1.2 m tall, with slender stems. The leaves are glaucous green, slender lanceolate, 20–40 mm long and 3 mm broad. The flowers are pure pale blue, 15–25 mm diameter, with five petals; they can also be bright red. The fruit is a round, dry capsule 5–9 mm diameter, containing several glossy brown seeds shaped like an apple pip, 4–7 mm long.
In addition to referring to the plant itself, "flax" may refer to the unspun fibers of the flax plant.

The cellulose molecules in flax fibers are folded back and forth in a fairly regular arrangement, and they show the properties of crystallinity. The fibers are composed of closely packed "ultimate cells" of the fibrillar structure that are cemented together with holocellulose and lignin.

The tensile strength of elementary flax fibres was found to range between 1500 MPa and 1800 MPa, depending on the isolation procedure. The compressive strength of elementary flax fibres as measured with a loop test lies around 1200 MPa.

Epoxy Resin Research:

Epoxy or polyepoxide is a thermosetting polymer formed from reaction of an epoxide "resin" with polyamine "hardener". Epoxy has a wide range of applications, including fiber-reinforced plastic materials and general purpose adhesives.
Epoxy is a copolymer; that is, it is formed from two different chemicals. These are referred to as the "resin" and the "hardener". The resin consists of monomers or short chain polymers with an epoxide group at either end. Most common epoxy resins are produced from a reaction between epichlorohydrin and bisphenol-A, though the latter may be replaced by similar chemicals. The hardener consists of polyamine monomers, for example Triethylenetetramine (TETA). When these compounds are mixed together, the amine groups react with the epoxide groups to form a covalent bond. Each NH group can react with an epoxide group, so that the resulting polymer is heavily crosslinked, and is thus rigid and strong.
The process of polymerization is called "curing", and can be controlled through temperature and choice of resin and hardener compounds; the process can take minutes to hours. Some formulations benefit from heating during the cure period, whereas others simply require time, and ambient temperatures.

Typical room temperature properties of the unfilled anhydride cured epoxy resin system:

Tensile Strength, psi12,300

Tensile Modulus, psi x 105450,000

Elongation %6%

Flexural Strength, psi12,000

Flexural Modulus, psi x 105425,000

Heat Distortion Temperature265o

Service Temperature255oF or 325oF

Starting my Moulds

Term 2, Week 6

This week we didn't get monday to do our work because it was the Queen's Birthday so we didn't get our double periods to work on. But today on the wednesday we're in the computer labs working on our blogs and posting photos of our work and how for we've gotten on our moulds onto it, and the people who havn't done the 3D SolidWorks skateboards get to do that.

Tomorrow on the thursday I think we are in the class working or possibly finishing our moulds.

Term 2, Week 5

This week was different to what we usually do. On monday we had our double period and did work on our moulds. I cut the wood to make the actual mould but it was really hard to keep it straight. It was a bit wonky so i filed it to make it smoother. On the wednesday it was PLO day or something so we had to do this home learning thing. On the thursday we were in the computer labs but we were making 3D skateboards on SolidWorks which is the same programme we used to make those speakers. It took ages to do and i got it wrong sometimes but it came out pretty good in the end and I posted it on my blog.