Specialist Technical Principles ✅

What are the 5 forces

• Tension - pulling in opposite directions

• Compression - pressing down on a material

• Bending - bending in, creating compression and tension

• Torsion - twisting

• Shear - two parallel forces acting against each other

How to make paper more flexible

• This is done by folding

• Once die cutting and creasing has happened, the net is placed onto a folding paper

• The net is held firmly and the sides are belt into place along the crease lines

 

Ecological concerns with product design

• Deforestation causes loss of wildlife

• Mining causes loss of habitat

• Farming causes loss of habitat

  • Pesticides cause pollution

• Vehicles transporting materials cause pollution

Ways to reduce ecological issues (just papers and boards)

• Farm trees effectively to renew supply and reduce deforestation

• Recycle to reduce demand on raw material

• Use fewer toxic chemicals in processing

How can ‘product miles’ be reduced

• Use less packaging

  • Less packaging means more products can fit on a vehicle, reducing number of journeys

• Reduce length of journeys

  • Use distribution hubs

  • Move processing plants closer to the source of raw materials

What are the 6 Rs

Reduce, Reuse, Refuse, Repair, Rethink, Recycle

Reduce

• Customer: Use less, buy less, throw away less

• Designer: reduce amount of material and energy used in the product

Reuse

• Customer: use your things again, repurpose or modify them if needed

• Designer: make the product multi purpose

Refuse

• Customer: don't buy things you don't need

• Designer: don't choose materials that are bad for the environment, don't add unneeded packaging

Repair

• Customer: don't throw away things, just repair them

• Designer: make spare parts readily available, allow the product to be easily repaired

Rethink

• Customer: think if you actually need the product

• Designer: rethink if there is a more sustainable way to do things, think if there's a way to minimise resources and processes used

Recyle

• Customer: recycle everything you can

• Designer: use recycled materials in the product

How do companies in Britain ensure health, welfare, and safety of employees

• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

• Workers pay is protected due to minimum wage

How can companies reduce pollution

• If products or raw materials have travelled a long way they have a larger carbon footprint, so they try to offset this by:

  • planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide

  • Powering their facilities using renewable energy

How is paper made

• Trees are cut down, debarked and chipped

• Chips are made into pulp by using chemicals

• The pulp is mixed with chalk and chemicals to change opacity and absorbency of the paper - this is called sizing

• The excess water and chemicals are drained by calendaring, pressing the paper to a uniform thickness

• The finished paper will be dried and wound into large rolls to be sent to factories

Why are certain materials used for flyers

• Expensive, glossy paper is used to make the company seem more professional

• They are usually A4 or A5

Why are certain materials used for card-based food packaging

• Tetra Brik is used for fruit juice and milk because it acts a barrier, extending the shelf life of the juice

• It is also easy to recycle

• It is often in a square shape so that it's ideal for transit in larger boxes

Additives

• Chemical additives can be added during manufacture to coat paper

• This prevents moisture transfer

3 ways to cut paper

• Guillotine - used to trim paper accurately

• Perforating tool - cuts perforations, allows tearing

• Craft knife - used for cutting and scoring

What are the available forms of paper

• Sheet - single piece of paper

• Roll - used on an industrial scale to be fed into machinery for the printing of books and magazines

• Ply - two or more layers of paper combined

How to measure paper

• Length and width (mm)

• Weight (gsm)

• Thickness (microns)

Types of fastener and what they do

• Treasury tag - connects varying numbers of sheets through punched holes

• Binder clip - holds sheets together, can be removed

• Staple - holds sheets together in a permanent way, using a stapling tool

Types of seals and how they work

• Wax seal - wax seal melted over the area, then left to harden

• Gummed envelope - a water soluble gum along the envelope flap. Moisten (lick) to seal

• Self-adhesive envelope - a covering over the glue is peeled off to be able to seal an envelope

Types of binding and how they work

• Saddle stitch - wire on a role is fed through pages and cut to make staples

• Perfect bound - pages are glued at the spine

• Comb bound - combs fit through punched holes. Low cost

The method of prototype, batch, mass and continuous production and why

• Prototype - manual / non-automated processes because it is a one-off representation of the final product

• Batch - When more than 1 unit is made at a time, in a set because there is high demand but only for a limited time

• Mass - Automated production in large factories because the product is in high demand

• Continuous - automated production in large factories 24/7 because the product will always be in constant demand

Why is prototype, batch, mass, and continuous used?

• Prototype - used to make models to present to clients

• Batch - used to produce large quantities of items once. It is cheap

• Mass - used to produce a product in large quantities when automated machines can be used

• Continuous - used to make products that are always in demand with lots of automation

What are jigs and what are templates

jigs

• Devices that hold work in place

• Used for drilling accurate holes in wood

templates

• used when you need to mark out the same point or shape onto a material a number of times

Advantages of production aids (eg jigs and templates)

• reduces costs

• increases accuracy and quaity

• increases productivity

• simplifies processes

What quality control test can you use with papers and boards

registration marks show that printing has lined up correctly

How does die cutting work

• Die is pressed against the card and the steel cuts into the card

• Sharp blades are arranged to produce a cut, while rounded blades are arranges to produce a crease

• The arrangement of sharp and rounded blades makes a net, as the card is stamped by the die cutter

• The dies are pressed or rolled onto the paper, cutting multiple layers at once

How does perforating work

a toothed cutter is used to create a series of cuts, allowing the material to be torn easily

What is the purpose of laminating

• to improve paper’s properties

• makes it waterproof, more durable, less likely to fade

how does laminating work

• a polymer pouch covers the paper

• then it is bonded by heat in the machine

how does creasing work

a blunt tool e.g. creaser is used so that paper can be folded

what is tolerance

• it is the ‘allowable margin of error’ that a part can have

• the part will still function if it is within the tolerance range

what are the steps of offset lithography printing

• Offset lithography printing is used in mass production

• Litho-printing cylinder has a relief image. This is a mirror image

• Litho-printing aluminium is dampened with water to repel ink

• Ink is applied to metal plate

• Ink is transferred to the offset blanket cylinder as it rotates

• Ink is transferred to the paper or card as it goes through rollers

• Only one colour of the CMYK spectrum can be done at a time

advantages and disadvantages of offset lithography printing

advantages

• inexpensive

• prints on a variety of papers

• high speed

disadvantages

• high set up costs

• may stretch paper

what is the CMYK spectrum and how does it print on paper

• It uses a combination of individual colours to block out the white paper background at varying levels

• this creates an image that the human eye will see as a full colour image

what is embossing and how does it work

embossing is creating 3D images on papers and boards

• a male and female die are made with a relief pattern into the surface

• the plates are pressured into the paper using heat and pressure

• this can be used for braille or to improve aesthetics

what is UV varnishing and how does it work

uv varnishing is used to enhance an image or text and also provides a protective finish

• varnish is sprayed onto surface after printing

• protects the print and gives it a high gloss finish

• the varnish is dried out before any other processes - this is done by passing sheets under UV light