Homework Schedule

Design a logo on a A4 page for your Personal Alarm.

It must include;

Homework 1

The name of the personal alarm e.g. PA 2000.

A slogan eg. The safe companion
An simple graphic
Be colourful

Produce and carry out a survey to find out what people in

your home think of your logo. You should draw up your
survey and present your results in the form of graphs. You
can use a PC to ensure good presentation

Complete the Net packaging handout for the Personal

Alarm.

Homework 2

Homework 3

You should;
Add in your graphics / shading
Cut and assemble the model.

Produce a Heath and Safety poster based on soldering.

Include all the important issues, discussed in class.

Homework 4

Study some items made from plastic at home and sketch

examples of 3 different uses.

Homework 5

On A3 paper using notes and diagrams show step-by-step

how you will make your personal alarm.
Learn your 10 step guide to using the vacuum former for a
class test

Homework 6

Find out what CAD and CAM stand for and draw up a
table of advantages and disadvantages

Introduction
Situation
Unfortunately thieves are present in society, Stealing personal belongings and
causing injury to people. A Simple solution is to deter such attacks, by using a
personal alarm. However these are a specialised product, which are very
expensive.
Need
There is a need for an affordable personal alarm, which is portable, easy to
activate and reset. This product must produce a loud noise so as to deter the
attacker.
Task 1
Complete your Design Brief below:
To design _______________________________________
_______________________________________________
Task 2
Complete a specification of your product:

Eg. It must be ..
1. __________________________________________
2. __________________________________________
3. __________________________________________
4. __________________________________________
5. __________________________________________
6. __________________________________________
7. __________________________________________
8. __________________________________________
9. __________________________________________
10. _________________________________________

Research & Investigation

Get into groups of 3, and study the 4 out of 8 existing products below which show different types of personal alarms.

Product
1

Product
5

Product
2

Product
6

Product
3

Product
7

Product
4

Product
8

Task 3
Copy out and complete the table below:
Product
Number

Good Points

Bad Points

Improvements

1.

1.

1.

2.
1.

2.
1.

2.
1.

2.
1.

2.
1.

2.
1.

2.
1.

2.
1.

2.
1.

2.

2.

2.

Materials
Background to plastics
Most plastics are produced by industry using water, oil (or coal or gas), air and
salt. There are two types
Thermosetting plastic non recyclable
Thermoplastic plastic recyclable and bendy
Advantages to using plastics;

They dont resist heat very well, so they can be ground down and melted
and re-used this makes them recyclable.
They are water resistant.
Are available in many colours.
The plastic can be easily formed into shapes.
They have a high resistance to corrosion and decay.

Task 4
1. List 10 examples of plastic products that you would have around
your house?
2. Discuss and outline any disadvantages of using plastics?
3. Look at a various types of plastic and draw and complete the two
rendered boxes below ?

Clear Acrylic

Coloured Acrylic

Manufacturing
The manufacture of your plastic casing will use thermoplastic, and use a process
called vacuum forming. Vacuum Forming is an industrial technique which may be
used for batch production or mass production.
This process enables thermoplastics to be formed into complicated shapes such
as packaging, storage trays and seed trays.
The Heater Start switch is pressed ON, and the wooden mould is lightly rubbed
with Vaseline. This is then placed on the platform (which is then lowered). The
Rigid Polystyrene (shiny side up) is placed over the rubber rim and clamped. The
heater is then placed over it.
The sheet of thermoplastic is heated until the plastic becomes soft and flexible.
The air is then sucked out from underneath the plastic using a vacuum pump.
Atmospheric pressure presses down on top of the plastic sheet, which in turn
presses down onto the mould.
The moulded shape will cool and the mould removed. The casing is then cut out
using a Gerbil saw. These cut edges will be applied with wet and dry and paper.
This will remove all the scratches from the plastic.
Read the Vacuum forming stages above and summarise it into a 10 step by
step guide. (refer to the diagram on the next page)

Diagram showing the stages of the Vacuum Former

Task 5
Vacuum Forming (Questions 1-10);

1. Identify the machine used in Diagram 1?

Diagram 1
2. Why is safety important with this machine?

3. What should you do if you burn yourself?

4 Draw a correctly shaped mould and an incorrectly shaped mould, in the boxes
below.

Incorrect Mould

Correct Mould

Task 6
Complete the following sentences by using the words in the box below.

Manufacturing the casing of the Personal Alarm

1. The ____________ is made from ___________ and is rubbed with
______________ before being placed in the vacuum former.
2. The mould is placed on the ____________, this is then lowered with the
__________ _____________ being clamped above this.
3. The plastic is heated and begins to ______________, the __________ is
then switched ON, with the platform being raised.
4. The plastic cools and the mould removed. The plastic is then cut out using a
__________ ___________.

Mould
Gerbil Saw

Vaseline
Rigid
Polystyrene

MDF
Softens

Vacuum
platform

Task 7
Creating the acrylic base

Step 1
Copy this diagram, and explain
the purpose of :
using a template.
The item labelled A

Step 2
Copy this diagram, and explain
which tools/machines could;
Shape the materials
Smooth the acrylic.
Polish the acrylic

Task 8
Creating the Belt Clip
Produce 3 different designs (front and side views) for your personalised belt
clip

1.

2.
Front view

Side View

Front view

Side View

Front view

Side View

3.

Produce an cardboard model of your

final belt clip design

Electronics
Task 9
Safety on soldering
When in use soldering irons are extremely hot and consequently safety has to be
taken very seriously. Anyone soldering should be aware of the need to respect
basic safety rules. The person soldering in the picture below has very poor
concept of working safely. What is wrong with A, B, C and D ?

Task 10
1. Copy and Answer the following questions
a. When soldering how you could prevent the dangerous fumes from harming
you?
b. What is the purpose of Flux? and where is it found?
c. When finished soldering, what must you do?

2. Label the tool shown below:

This is a .
This is a .
3. In the above picture, what is the purpose of A?

Task 10
Complete the table with the missing parts below:

Components
(Symbol)

Component
(actual)

Function
A Thyristor is a little like a transistor. It
has 3 legs Gate (G), ANODE (A) and
CATHODE (C).
Even when the current stops the thyristor
continues to allow current to flow. This is
known as latches on.

A Push to Break switch causes a break in

the circuit.

An output device,
which produces
sound

Missing
Parts
Resistors resist the
flow of current in an
electrical circuit.

A Push to Make switch

completes the circuit.

Task 11
Testing the circuit
Use Crocodile Technology and create the following circuit.

Explain in your own words what happens when you;

Press the push to make switch

Press the push to break switch

Task 12
The Circuit diagram for the Personal Alarm
Now solder your components to your Printed Circuit Board (PCB) . Use this
diagram to help you know where and how they go.

12V Surface Mount

Buzzer

Understanding Resistors

The value of a resistor can be written in a variety of ways. Some examples are
given below:

47R means 47 ohms

5R6 means 5.6 ohms
6k8 means 6800 ohms
1M2 means 1 200 000 ohms

Task 13
Complete the table below

Designing
When designing you are responsible for considering what materials, components
and manufacturing processes to use.
Task 14
Responsibility to the Environment
Questions to answer while you are designing your Personal Alarm.
1. Will using the product harm the environment?
2. Are the materials environmentally friendly?
3. Will the manufacturing processes harm the environment?

What size should this product be?

The product needs to be designed so that their size and shape make them fit the
needs of the user.
Designers use body measurement data to make sure that the product is the right
size and shape for people to use. For example; the casing needs to fit onto a belt.
Task 15
Research and record your findings for the following items
Item
Number
1
2
3

Item
Thickness of a
belt(if any)
Length of hand
Diameter of
finger
(using string)
Width of hand

Length of
hand

Measurement in mm
2
3
4
5

Average
(mm)

Task 16
Badly designed products can create many problems. Discuss possible products
that have been designed badly explain why it is bad?
Task 17
Get into groups of 3 and complete the following tasks;
People have strong views on what sort of products they want. Companies
therefore spend a lot of money and time looking at what people want.
You have been asked to carry out a questionnaire on what people want in their
personal alarm.
Draw up a questionnaire asking people in your class the following;
(Please Tick)
Male

Female

What situations do you think a personal alarm is useful?

Losing contact with parents
Robbery
To deter attackers
Other/s Please State_________________________________
Do you think you would be interested in buying a Personal Alarm
Yes

No

Maybe

What do you think is important when buying a product?

(can tick more than one)
Shape
Colour
Price

Size
Aesthetics
Other/s Please state _________________

How would you spend on a product personal alarm?

Under 1
1 to 5
More than 5
Produce a presentation to your class based on your results.

Task 18
Produce 3 different designs for your Personal Alarm
Try and.
3. Use interesting shapes and ideas
4. Use of colour render to make it look like plastic
5. Label your ideas clearly
Design 1

Design 3

*NB. Explain why you picked your

Final Design.

Design 2

Evaluation
Task 19
Write an evaluation based on your finished product using these guidelines;
6. Compare your final product to your brief and specification. Does your
product satisfy all your points?
7. Ask your friends for their honest opinion. E.g. does it do what its meant
to? How well does it do it? Can they give you any ideas for improvements?
8. Think about how you could do things better. For example;
1.
Time - did you have enough time / was it rushed?
2. Practical work was it finished to a good quality?
3. Design would you change the actual design?
9. Give your personal alarm a mark out of 10 with.
Mark
0 - 1
2 - 3
4- 5
6- 7
8 - 9
10

Description of work
Very poor
Poor
Average
Good work
Very good work
Excellent

Task 20
Include a labelled a modification drawing of your project . what designs
would be changed? Would it be smaller?