Design walkabout

I went to two exhibitions yesterday since they were both quite close to each other. The first that i went to was Object gallery to see Bombay Sapphire design awards. A very small space, but a very nice gallery all of the 10 finalists displayed was very impressive. I liked the exhibition much more than power house. Took some pics a few turned out nice.

The second gallery that i went too was TAP off oxford street to see SRD Change 08. Change 08 is an exhibition of final year graduate design projects that uphold the values of Society of Responsible Design. Change08 is about making designers aware of the responsibility that we have in creating a product, whatever it may be, from the manufacture to the end of life all these things need to be thought of in terms of its physical and social impact. The exhibitions where different and varied from industrial design, to landscape and textiles.

Both were very good but both quite small, perhaps that is just the way that most exhibitions are i think I'm just used to seeing exhibitions in museums, which means that there are a few small ones all joined together.

Quick casting

Interesting new manufacturing technology that i found... quick casting for limited series. This method enables metal prototypes to be made in a matter of hours. The 'limit' on the moulding is actually not that limiting 1,000 to be exact, so unless you wanted to produce your little zinc part en mass then there wouldn't be a problem. The limitations are that the metals used need to be of a lower melting point such as zinc, pewter and lead.

This is how it works....

"The technique's secret lies in using a silicone mass in the form of sheets that soften when heated and harden when cooled. Two sheets are placed on individual, rigid steel supports that prevent the edges of the silicone from deforming. After the silicone is warmed to between 100-180 degrees Celsius, the model is placed between the silicone sheets and the steel supports pressed together. An impression of the model is left in these silicone sheets. After cooling and hardening, this mould is split and inflow channels, as well as cavities for reducing pressure during the casting process, are prepared. The mould is then ready to be used for die-casting new models or jewellery and industrial components that will be copied and replicated. "

So this means that only one form needs to be made in a hard material, then it can be casted again and again.

Interesting process, but not sure if it is beneficial to my project.

info from: http://www.ntnu.no/gemini/2000-01e/8.html

Bidri zincware...

Let me introduce this to you, bidriware and it comes from India. This was the only thing that i could find that used Zinc as the main metal in its creation, so while yes these are alloys of zinc to copper usually the ratio of zinc to copper is 16 to 1. Though this ratio can be changed depending on what the artisan desires. The intricate detail is crucial to this form of art.

Not really sure what else to write about this actually, it's much to hard to try and write when you're sick.

Mind map... i think i got lost along the way

This was me searching to understand the material, what it says and how it can be expressed.

Metal peoples listen up!

There is a newish technology called Selective Laser Melting, this is pretty much 3D printing in metal. What it does is slowly melt a metal powder in layers so that a solid form is built up, then all that needs to be done is to get rid of the metal powder [I'm assuming to be reused] and then there you have the shape!

This method of manufacture allows for super super fine component parts, and can be used to create a structural shape with out all the weight. This is done through making a structure with poles twice the diameter of a human hair. The layers can be as thing as 25 microns so one can only imagine how revolutionary and groundbreaking this technology is... it totally destroys the concepts of metals needing moulds to be formed, and therefore takes away the constraints of how fine you can cast a mould and the issues associated with moulding a piece.

So the metals that it is compatible with is zinc, titanium, stainless steel, bronze, tool steel, chromium cobalt as well as MCP low melting point alloys [not sure what that is, anyone?] it says that it works for almost any type of metal material... but seems to work more with metals of relatively low melting points... [can anyone confirm this? the other groups perhaps?]

Anyways these are the links that i used for information...

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/PressReleases/NewManufacturingProcessHelpsMetalsLoseWeight.htm

http://www.mcp-group.com/rpt/rpttslm.html [<>

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/slm_selective_l.php

The not so long and unillustrated history of zinc

Zinc was widely used in ancient times for both creating brass as well as healing wounds and sore eyes. In the later part of the 13th century Marco Polo witnessed the use of zinc by the Persians.



Romans were also to have been noted to have first created brass at the time of Augustus (20 BC to 14 AD). Brass that was created was seen as indistinguishable from gold.



Metallic zinc was first produced in India in about 1200 AD, seen only as a 'tin like' metal, but did differentiate it as a separate metal from the others... and thus the 8th metal was discovered. At this time there was only a limited amount of commercial zinc being produced. This metallic zinc that was produced was used for brass.



As demand for brass grew zinc production was moved to China [where else]. The Chinese were able commercially extract zinc which meant that it expanded and was imported to the world.



Zinc in Europe was quite accidental and linked to the manufacture of brass, again it was also used as an imitator of gold. By the 1600 European scientists were aware of the existence of zinc, tho it must be noted that this the zinc that they had was imported by either Dutch, Portuguese or Arab traders. From there European scientists learned from the Chinese and others how to mass produce zinc, from that zinc production began to grow.



Hot dip galvanising is the oldest anti corrosion process and was introduced in 1936 in France, but this only became effective on an industrial scale when there was a process to clean the surface of the steel. At first only small objects were coated in zinc... but later continuous hot dip galvanising of materials and products in manufacture came later.

I'm finding it extremely difficult to find early examples of zinc artifacts and that as it was used as an alloy to make brass. So while brass is easy to find... Zinc is not, perhaps it all disintegrated away.

anyone help?

Oh all the information that i used was from a paper by Fathi Habashi titled Zinc protects Discovering the 8th metal : A history of zinc.

Before i forget.... zinc

This will be a fairly dry post as it will be me reciting and summarising what i remember and found significant about ZINC.

Zinc is a fairly widespread metal it is used in a lot of things due to it's low cost. It also has quite a few properties that make it desirable...

1] relatively soft metal, which means it is able to be die cast to very fine details.

2] it does not corrode as easily as iron or steel which means that is it used as corrosion protection.

3] it has a relatively low melting point, which means that it does not need vast amounts of energy to melt it down. This also makes it more 'environmentally friendly' as not poisonous gases are released.

4]Can be found in Sheet, pipe, wire form and therefore able to be manipulated just like every other sheet metal.

What is zinc mainly used for?

GALVANISING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what else is it used for?

EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but tin cans as the fruit acid eats at the metal... not good.

So to sum up zinc.

Zinc is mainly used for galvanising, with low meting point and relatively soft metal it allows for low cost manufacturing of anything.

Origami + sheetmetal + imagination = Awesome

Saw this pencil sharpener... made out of a single sheet.. I'm assuming that it was first die cut then bent to shape.. made of stainless steel i think its pretty neat.

Bet the manufacturers loved it too... less parts to produce, no screws.