Design tech (unit 6) - research paper

i'm thinking of using fiber glass or carbon fiber. i know it expensive but hmm..dunno LOL

Reply 21

If you write down that your going to weld aluminium then youl get penalised. Even if you do "buy" specialist machinery, the joints are going to be very weak and youl compromise on the safety factor in your specification. But fair enough in a mass production it could be justifyable, but mild steel isnt that much heavier and aluminium is quite ductile and in due course the trolley would be mangled after a couple of bumps!
I was going to design it from GRP and mould it but it would take far to long to make and the cost per unit is sky high and mass production is out of the question so i dont think i will! To be honest how can these trolleys be made in mass production? thats like for injection/blow moulded products, a shopping trolley would have to be batch since there are so many components that needs fitted.
Is anyone adding any electronics to their design?
do you all have past papers given to you already done? (like previous R6 papers already filled in?)
how do you go about bending metal in a mass/batch production line?

Reply 22

i think the process is called pressing. i think they just gonna use a mould and press the shape of the trolley... Can anyone tell me when and how i should apply these reseach during the exam? Also about light weight materials, are the infos from the text book enough?

Reply 23

Hi all, I’m doing the same exam as u lot. All I wanted to say is the way that I’m interpreting the questions, is a pushchair that is able to store various types of shopping (E.g. places to hang plastic shopping bags), not a trolley that can hold children.

Reply 24

erm..then u fail LOL! it has to be a trollet that can hold children...

Reply 25

Where does it say tolley
it says 'Parents can find carrying shopping difficult when accompanied by young children'

wheres the trolly in that!

Reply 26

Sofy182

i am also doing this paper, and im finding it really hard (probably coz im a girl) but anyway, yeh havnt really found much information on it, but we are being told that it will most likely either be a trolly that fits any size child in it nicely or a buggie that can carry alot of shopping.

Reply 27

As long as you reasearch, the bullet points they surgest any info that you collect can easly be transfered to one or the other.

Reply 28

zingpangpow

sticky123

If you write down that your going to weld aluminium then youl get penalised. Even if you do "buy" specialist machinery, the joints are going to be very weak and youl compromise on the safety factor in your specification. But fair enough in a mass production it could be justifyable, but mild steel isnt that much heavier and aluminium is quite ductile and in due course the trolley would be mangled after a couple of bumps!

Who told you that?
Aluminium can be welded quite easily and the equipment isn't exactly specialised! Just look at any modern bike made of Ally. All you need is a TIG welder. Bikes are mass produced too - and looking at mine here, it looks like it has been done by a robot.

Rather than plain aluminium, you'd probably go with duralumin and possibly anodise the finished article for aesthetics & corrosion resistance.
To make it fold, you'd most likely go with inj moulded ABS to make foldable brackets for the tubing to slot into.

Aluminium would break after a couple of bumps??? Downhill bikes certainly don't and neither do the countless buggies made of the stuff! The only reason I'd try to avoid welding is as a cost save measure.

Reply 29

hey do you guys have any researchs of light materials, which you don't mind sharing?

Reply 30

if you go find a gcse text book then it should list a material being light. well thats what i did! And btw it doesnt matter if you design a trolley that can hold a child or a buggy that can hold shopping because neither are wrong. It doesnt matter what you design, its how you go about designing it. Im going to design a trolley WITH buggy components (like wheels ect) so that it has familarity. For those who do ICT they will know that for a project/design, people learn faster with familarity with the new product sharing characteristics with existing products (buggy) therefore like to use the new design. In a supermarket senario, more customers coming back (familys are the main customers of tescos ect. and if they like the trolleys.....) then productivity will be increased.
I personally cant see how you can design a buggy that can hold the average family's weekly shopping in it lmao it would have to be HUGE. But its a good suggestion.
p.S if youread any text book, they all say aluminium is difficult, nearly impossible to weld. The whole point to the Edexcel course is the SELECTION of the best materials, so why use aluminium when there are better choices? my opinion like.......

Reply 31

It doesn’t say it has to be food shopping at all, just shopping in general. Also you often see parents with buggies that have bags of shopping slung over the handles.

Reply 32

i've look at some textbook (Edexcel A level RMT textbook) too but is it too brief?

Reply 33

shaun26

Endurance is right about it not being a shopping trolley based thing. Its too obvious and difficult to adapt. They are looking at our ability to think on our feet and design something innovative that fits the brief not just adapt an existing product. Hwoo if you do a trolley think you might fail lol. Also you would look a bit silly pushing a trolley around the high street!

Reply 34

so are all of you's going to design a buggy that holds shopping? sure they already do that. They have baskets down below and you already get ones that have hooks for shopping bags. The reason why buggy manufacturers dont specifically make buggys to hold shopping is the danger of it (topple over since the centre of gravity changes) and it compromises the movability of the push chair. As ive said before, its not what you design, its how you go about designing it. And where does it say that its going to be used in a high street??? fair enough it doesnt say anything about supermarkets either. But if you start writing out the specification, youl come across a point "cultural, social, moral and enviromental issues" then the vast majority of people, including parents, do one weekly big shop. However i do have to say im interested now in the buggy that holds shopping idea. great idea endurance!! Perhaps thats how they will change the design brief to catch out all the ones who are designing trolleys! i might have sketches and ideas for both a buggy and a trolley just to be sure. The only thing different is the storage of a buggy and the storage of a trolley plus the design of the seat. For a buggy youve got all the folding mechanisms to worry about. However i was thinking about putting buggy wheels on a trolley and keeping the same braking mechanism for "familliarity".
Oh and the book that im looking at for materials is "collins gcse D&T"

Reply 35

shaun26

could be a device that councils hire out or provide to shoppers to aid parent who are shopping

Reply 36

Note

11

It doesn't state how much shopping it needs to hold. Obviously if it can only hold 1 bag of shopping then you won't match the spec, but I think a buggy that could hold 6 or so bags in a safe manner should suffice.

I will be making a mock paper all the way through sometime this week and then making adjustments to it next week. I'll scan it in if anyone would find it useful. Is anyone else doing this?

Reply 37

were being made to have the majority of the paper done on blank A3 before we go in. it means that all we have to do is change the specification to whatever the design brief is going to be. Ive done my design spec but im not sure yet whether im doing a buggy or a trolley. The mechanisms for a buggy folding up would be rather complicated

Reply 38

designing a trolly or a buggy will be hard, and they have not asked us to look at folding systems, which is a big part of a buggy. There could just ask us to product a comonent that could fit on to a buggy or trolly.

Reply 39