New Equipment - Vacuum Former

This year we are fortunate to have a new piece of equipment in our design tech lab. It is a vacuum forming machine from Formech, a UK company. This new piece of technology will extend our creative abilities in exciting new ways. It should nicely complement our 3D printing and 3D routing tools, as those can be used to create molds (tools).  Vacuum forming technology is used widely in many different industries. If you watch the video below, you'll notice that this is how many toys are made. These machines are also used for the creation of Halloween masks, medical devices, chocolate molds and gelatin molds, to name just a few.

The video below explains what a vacuum former is and how it operates.  The challenging (and interesting!) process will be in the creation of original molds. These can be made with traditional tools or with computer aided design (CAD) tools which output to a CNC device like a router.

Boat Project Grade 8 - 2015

The grade 8 students recently finished a multi-disciplinary project where teams of four had to design and build boats capable of carrying one person across the school's pool. The boat could only be built using cardboard and duct tape. Students used Sketchup to design their craft as well as to aid in the calculation of certain mathematical tasks. The project incorporated concepts from math and science classes and it allowed us in Design Tech class to apply the important concepts of light-weighting and creating strength with shape. Good design tries to create the best solutions using the least amount of materials. Light weight vehicles are also good for the environment in that they require less energy to move. The short video below will give you a better understanding of the project.