Techniques for Mass Production

Question	Answer
Jigs	Used when a particular process needs to be repeated a number of times. E.g. drilling a hole in exactly the same place on a number of pieces of metal. Marking out again and again would be labour intensive and allow inaccuracy. Can be used in milling and routing also. E.g. used on furniture where table legs need slots in the same place each time. Saves time and is more accurate.
Patterns	Replicas of products, often made from wood, and used for casting. Highly skilled job to create them. Often have to allow for contraction of metal, cores and holes required on finished product, and shape so that they can be removed from sand.
Formers	Shapes around which a material can be bent or formed to create a component. Used in processes like vacuum forming and laminating. Can be used to create innovative work, but they can be cumbersome and difficult to handle for complex shapes. For vacuum forming, 15 degree edge angle, sharp edges, fillet radii, undercuts and surface finish must be considered.
Moulds	The 'negative' in processes like die casting, injection moulding, blow moulding and rotational moulding. In most of the above, the mould would be made from steel or hardened steel. Design and manufacture extremely important as any defect in mould can affect thousands of products.

Resource summary

	Created by Alec Stevens over 11 years ago