How It’s Made – Skateboard Wheels Tech

The first step in creating these skateboards wheels is making a computer design. After this these tools carve into a solid aluminium puck that will eventually become the mold for the wheels. Next once these molds are made large pins are put in the center of them to form a bearing cavity and polyurethane is poured in. Once this liquid is in the mold they are sent to the oven and baked at 240 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes. Then the pins are removed and the polyurethane is removed by blowing compressed air directly in the mold. When this step is over the wheels are put in a machine in which the wheels are rounded more. As the end approaches the design is created and goes onto a printing metal plate in a UV light chamber. Lastly, the design is printed on the skateboard wheels and they are packaged to be shipped out.

These skateboard wheels are very strong as they go through many testing phases to ensure this. They have the ability to bounce very high and not break when they come back to the ground. Additionally, the wheels have a high tensile strength as they seem to be almost impossible to be ripped a part without a machine.

Project Update

We have been working on the project for a while now but I haven’t got much done. This is due to the fact that many people in our class are virtual and not in school, including me, so we don’t have the materials necessary for building the box. Though, soon I will be able to work on the project and then give a more detailed description on the assembly process.

Project Post 2

Since my last post a lot has changed. The middle school went completely virtual  for the time being so we couldn’t assemble our structures until after break ends. Though in the time that we had at home we started using this app called Tinkercad. This app allows us to create 3-dimensional models of the things we are building. It is fun app and can help us figure out the exact dimensions of the wood for the project because it is to-scale. Other than using this app we haven’t done much in class.

Start of Project

About a week ago we started our first project in tech class. In it we have to create anything using balsa wood. I decided to make a box with  a removable lid. To start we all made blueprints of our project that she then approved or critiqued. Next, we added measurements to the designs and told her how many pieces of wood we needed. Also the specifics regarding the length and width of each piece was required. Lastly, I am still deciding whether to use the rabbit joint or basic butt joint to hold my structure together.

Cutting Wood

In class a couple days ago we learned how to utilize and the safety precautions of two certain tools. These two tools make cutting wood way easier. Specifically, thinner wood was best for the tools. First we discussed the safety aspects of them two ensure that nobody would injure themselves while using them. Next we got straight to it and started. The first tool was similar to a pen but at its tip there was a small ceramic blade. Using the blade you cut in the direction of the grain. Once the cut was deep enough we snapped the wood. Then we used the other tool, this one was more similar to a saw and had very small, jagged teeth. It was definitely it the size of a regular saw since it is meant to cut smaller pieces of wood. As the other one was to cut in the direction of the grain this was the opposite, it cut not in the direction of the grain. Though this saw could, it didn’t do as good of a job as the pen tool did. In conclusion the two classes that we did this in were very fun and I’m looking forward to more similar ones.

Timber Harvesting

So far in Technology class we have been learning all about wood. In fact we learned how to cut a type of wood with two special tools. Logging over time has changed drastically. In the 1900s they used axes to take down trees and many different types of pulley systems. Once the trees are taken down they endure a long transportation process where they first go on a train to a mill. At this mill they are put into lumber ponds. After they go in this pond they wait until the carpenters are ready to cut them. Finally, when the lumbers cut they are transported all over the world. While in the old days cutting lumber can look like a dangerous process, now it isn’t. First large moving machinery with big claws cut down and take the trees to a landing area. This is where the stockpile all the lumber they have so far. Next, machinery starts to load all the lumber into large trucks that transport it to an even larger lumber stockpile where they wait for their use. One big takeaway from getting to see the old and new processes of trees to lumber is that over time the technology changed greatly. It made the process way safer and quicker.

Flashlight Project #2

This is the second and final post for the flashlight project. The next step was to measure and cut three wires. After you cut the wires you would have to strip the ends so that you were able to solder the circuit together. When you were soldering your circuit you soldered the switch, the three wires, a battery holder, and the light for the flashlight. Once you completed soldering you were basically done except there was still some steps left. One of them was to cut your pipes so that the circuit would fit perfectly inside it. To do this we used a special type of saw. I thought that it would be hard but it actually wasn’t. If you had done every single one of these steps than you had to just get Mr. Calvert to put all the parts together and then you had a working and completed flashlight. There was actually one more step except it was optional and to decorate your flashlight. (below are some images of my completed flashlight)

Flashlight Part #1

This post is the first of the 2 posts I am going to do on the flashlights. My newest unit in Technology is making a flashlight. This project is by far the longest and hardest one. The first thing we did in this project was practicing measuring and drawing pipes on a planning paper. After we had some experience in doing this we drew our actually design on a sheet (image below). Once this was finished we drew the circuit for the flashlight on the sheet.