Storage Sheds Industrial Fans Parchment Paper Climbing Walls
Today on "how it's made"... Throughout history, people have needed a place to store their personal belongings. Early storage sheds were basic huts. Today, factories produce substantial structures that can be easily assembled from a kit. This means finding extra storage space should be no problem. Storage sheds provide a home for things that don't belong or fit in the house. They're made from plastic panels embossed with a wood grain. Making one starts with a computer design. Once they have a plan, machinery rolls into action. High-density polyethylene plastic flows into a big mixer. Some of the plastic pellets are new material, while the rest are pellets recycled from previous processing. This is called regrind. An automated scale measures out the correct amounts of ingredients as they enter the mixer. They add a cooling accelerant and a colorant to the polyethylene pellets. Thorough mixing ensures that the final product will be evenly colored and have structural integrity. A vacuum pump moves the blend out of the mixer and through a network of pipes along the factory ceiling. The pipes deliver the polyethylene mix to a machine called a blow molder. It will blow melted plastic into a two-part mold-- in this case, a floor panel mold. The blow molder melts the plastic into a tubular shape. The plastic emerges hot and malleable. In manufacturing lingo, this is call a parasin. The mold closes around the parasin as little needles pierce and inflate it. The parasin swells against the walls of the mold, taking its shape. The mold embosses a tread design on one side and a ridged one on the back for strength. A long, automated clamp extracts the hollow panel. At this point, the plastic is partially cured but still hot. When the panel is ready to be handled, a team trims the overflow. This material is called flash. The flash is warm and has a taffy-like consistency. The team leaves it to cool and firm up before feeding it to a grinder. The grinding process produces the pellets known as regrind that will be used to make more panels. Next, the team cuts slots and tabs that will be used for assembling the floor panel to the walls. They stack the panels. It's quite a pile. They manufacture several thousand panels a day. Now, it's over to another blow molding machine. This one creates roof panels, complete with cedar shingle detail. Once again, they trim the flash and grind it up to make new panels. Very little polyethylene goes to waste. The next machine molds door panels with a tongue-and-groove beadboard look. Although all of the shed panels are made of plastic, they look like a variety of materials: cedar shakes, siding, beadboard, and even treaded vinyl flooring. A worker randomly pulls panels off the production line for testing. She verifies that the assembly holes are the right size. She also weighs and measures the panel to confirm it meets specifications. Another member of the testing team dabs gel onto the panel in various locations. This gel allows an instrument to measure the thickness of the plastic. Once the panels pass the tests, it's time to pack up the kits. There are 15 to 20 panels per kit. Employees pack the parts in the order that they are to be assembled. On the computer, the parts come together in seconds. But in the real world, it takes up to three hours to assemble this plastic storage shed. However, it's a lot easier than building one from scratch. And in the end, you have a place to store things. Industrial fans are extra large to provide air circulation in a large factory or a warehouse. They whip up a breeze to keep workers cool, and in the process, they clear the air of dust and other harmful particles. Almost 3 feet in diameter and a body tough enough to survive a run-in with a forklift, this is no ordinary fan. It's an industrial fan. They're designed to circulate air in large spaces like warehouses and factories. Production starts with the motor. A worker slides the fan's aluminum hub onto it. Then, he inserts wing-like blades known as airfoils into notches in the hub. Using a hammer, he taps the ends to set them in the hub. He places a part known as a taper lock into a hole in the center. The taper lock will fasten the motor shaft to the hub. He screws the lip of the lock to the hub. He confirms that each screw has been set to the desired torque. Next, he installs a blast-reinforced plastic cone on the hub. This one secures the ends of the blades in the hub. He snaps a cap onto the center of the nose cone. Now, he transfers the motor and hub assembly to a mount that's in a heavy-duty plastic ring. He adds an upper mount and screws it to the lower one. This completely encases the motor and hub assembly. He trims the outer ring of the fan with rubber molding. The rubber will reduce vibration noise. He lowers a steel yolk onto the plastic surround and attaches it with a screw. He wires a speed control mechanism to the fan motor and fastens it to the outside of the plastic surround. He installs a plate with a control knob on the front of the speed control mechanism. He screws on two metal screens to the fan's yolk. This forms a safety cage around the fan. He plugs the fan into a power source and turns it on to test its function. Satisfied that it's in good working order, he tightens the screens to the yolk. A two-person crew bolts a wheeled pedestal to the stem of the fan. They set the 108-pound fan upright. It's now ready to circulate. Designed to move large volumes of air, this industrial fan generates a considerable breeze inside a factory. To make an industrial ceiling fan, they use long, aluminum airfoils. Their wing-like profile will generate lift to produce more air. A punch cuts holes to assemble them to a hub. A worker then attaches the main fan assembly to the end of a long post in order to facilitate the installation of the long airfoils. He activates a lift that raises the hub assembly, then slides the airfoils onto spars that protrude from the hub. This ceiling fan has 10 airfoils. He reinforces the installation with boomerang-shaped metal retainers. High-strength bolts secure the retainers and airfoils to the spars. He attaches plastic winglets to the ends of the airfoils. The winglets will direct air downward. He installs a trim ring on the hub. This completes the assembly of the industrial ceiling fan. Using a remote control, he tests its operation at multiple speed levels. From this vantage point, it seems pretty cool. Lining a cooking or baking pan with culinary parchment paper instantly makes cleanup a whole lot easier because nothing sticks to the pan. With parchment paper, there's no need to grease the pan with messy butter or oil. This culinary parchment paper comes in a standard sheet roll or an assortment of specialty shapes. It's heat resistant to a temperature of 450 degrees. Making paper begins with pulp, which is pulverized wood. This parchment paper manufacturer uses eucalyptus because it's a sustainable resource. They mix the pulp with water in a huge, industrial mixer. This special recipe of eucalyptus fibers produces tan-colored paper. Once the consistency is just right, they pump the soggy pulp out of the blender and into a machine that spreads it evenly across a metal mesh belt. The water drains through the openings in the mesh. By the time the pulp rolls into the first drum of the next machine, it is formed into a sheet of paper. Sprayers rehydrate what's trimmed off the edges so it can be recycled. The paper travels through a long line of heated rollers. They squeeze out the remaining water and dry the paper. A high-resolution scanner looks for imperfections as the paper exits the machine. Workers unwind the bolt and conduct a visual inspection against backlighting. Next, the bolt undergoes the first of two critical operations, which transforms this regular paper into culinary parchment paper. First, the sheet passes through two baths in a proprietary water-based solution. This eliminates air pockets and renders the paper heat-resistant. After a series of rinses, another long line of heated rollers squeezes out the rinse water and dries the paper. The next station sprays both sides of the sheet with food-grade silicone, then bakes on the coating in a gas-fired dryer. Silicone withstands heat up to 1,500 degrees, so even at the highest cooking temperatures, there will be a barrier that prevents food from sticking to the paper. Silicone also repels water. This is the paper before the treatments make it heat-resistant, nonstick and waterproof. And here's how the paper performs after those treatments. Because it's waterproof, you can wet the paper to make it malleable enough to line a pan of any shape. The factory cuts the bolts to consumer widths, then shrink-wraps and ships them to factories that supply restaurants and supermarkets. Here, machines unwind the bolts, then wind specific lengths of parchment paper onto cardboard tubes. Winding a 165-foot roll takes just three seconds. The factory also applies its logo to the paper at regular intervals. However, that operation is top-secret. The automated packaging equipment tapes down the edge to prevent unraveling, then places and seals the roll in a cardboard box. The machine stamps the box with a lot code so, if a problem arises, the factory can trace the roll back to the large bolt from which it originated. This parchment paper, cardboard tube, and box are all made from sustainable resources. The box edge is rigid enough to tear off a sheet, so there's no need for an unrecyclable metal cutting edge. You can throw the used parchment paper in your compost bin or rinse off the food remnants and put it along with the box and tube in your recycling bin. A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet. These walls mimic the experience of outdoor rock climbing but in a more controlled environment, allowing people of all ages and abilities the opportunity to climb. A climbing wall can have a flat surface, studded with hand holes that the climber grabs or steps on. Or it can be what's called rock-realistic, designed to look like a natural rock wall. That type can also have hand holes, or just cracks and fissures like the real thing. The factory builds the wall structure out of thick steel bars. Workers weld them into frames. Each frame will hold a panel that's one portion of the wall face. They reinforce the corners of the frame with gusset plates. Each frame is a distinct size and shape. To make the panels for a flat-surface climbing wall, workers trace the frames on plywood or engineered wood particle board. After spray-painting the corresponding part code, they cut out each panel to match the wall plan. Then they screw in t nuts. These nuts have a larger-than-standard flange for extra strength. They screw a bolt in the middle of the t nut to protect the threads from the cement finish they will spray onto the wood. To make a rock-realistic wall, they mold cement panels to attach to the steel frames. To mix the cement, they combine ice and liquid polymer. Ice keeps the cement from overheating in the mixer. The polymer is a binding agent. It also makes the cement flexible so the wall doesn't crack or chip. While they mix the cement ingredients, they monitor the temperature with an infrared thermometer. Correct temperature is critical for the cement to properly set. They pour the cement through a sieve to filter out large pieces. Then, they pump the cement into a spray gun. With slow and even strokes, they shoot the cement onto a silicone mold of the mountain face. After brushing it into the mold's nooks and crannies, they spray two more coats. This time, they simultaneously shoot a gun that chops and sprays fiberglass string to reinforce the cement. They compress the fiberglass-reinforced cement with rollers to even out the thickness. Then, they embed rebar loops. Rebar is a steel rod used for reinforcing cement. They embed thick, steel rods 1 to 2 feet long along the perimeter. Then, they let the cement set overnight. The next day, they extract the panel from the mold. A cement panel like this can weigh more than 600 pounds. They knock off jagged edges with a mallet and check for any weak areas caused by air pockets. After drilling numerous holes for the hand-hold t nuts, they grind the edges smooth. They weld the wall panels to their corresponding steel frame and fill gaps between panels with cement. When they're building a flat-surface wall, they spray a cement finish on the wood, then a coat of paint. Once the paint dries, they mount the hand holds. They're made of molded polyurethane. Then, they attach the wall panel to the steel frame with a nail gun. Flat surface walls are more versatile because they can hold far more t nuts than rock-realistic walls. The more t nuts, the more locations for hand holds. This enables a gym to create a greater range of climbing routes, suiting both experienced climbers and rookie mountaineers.