Stile and Rail Doors Steam Cleaners Hand
Today on "how it's made"-- ... Stile and rail doors... Steam cleaners... Hand-held pizzas... And power brushes. Many doors are made of a single piece of wood. But stile and rail doors contain a rectangular frame around one or more central panels. The term stile refers to the frame's vertical pieces. And rail refers to its horizontal ones. Stile and rail doors come in many different shapes and sizes. They have several components. Some even have sectioned glass panels. They use poplar wood for paint-grade doors. If the door will be stained, customers can choose from several different wood options, including oak, cherry, maple, and african mahogany. They feed the rough lumber through a planer. The first two stations simultaneously shave the top and bottom of the wood. The third station has multiple saw blades that cut the piece into several strips. Workers line up the strips and coat one side with glue. Then they transfer the wood strips to a clamping machine. They stack one piece of linear-strand lumber in between the glued sides of two solid-wood strips. Linear-strand lumber, called lsl for short, is a piece of lumber made from glued wood fibers. The robot holds the assembly in place for an hour until the glue dries. Then they put this engineered lumber through a glue spreader. It coats the top and bottom surfaces with heat-activated glue. They sandwich the lumber between two thin sheets of wood called veneer. For a paint-grade door, they use ultra-thin mdf, medium-density fiberboard, instead. Mdf is a man-made material with a smooth, paint-friendly surface. They place the pieces into a hot press for two minutes. The heat activates the glue, while the pressure flattens the veneer against the lumber. These pieces will become the door's stiles and rails. The panels inside the stiles and rails are made of mdf. For a stained door, workers apply the veneer before they contour the pieces. Workers carve the pieces using a shaper machine. They change the machine heads in order to cut different designs. The workers used a different shaper machine to carve the inside edge of the stiles. They also drilled holes for the dowels of the adjoining rails. They apply glue, then attach the matching bottom rail to the first stile. They insert the panel into a groove in the rail and stile. They are assembling a two-panel door. So next, they fit a middle rail and another panel. They install a top rail and then the second stile. They place the newly-assembled door in a large clamping machine. It applies pressure on the door for an hour while the glue dries. The machine transfers the door to a cutting table. Then a computer-guided saw trims the top and bottom of the door. The machine switches to a different tool that bevels the edge of the door. It switches tools again and drills holes for the door's hardware. The stile and rail door is now ready for finishing. Workers sand the surface to prepare it for either staining or painting. Then the stained doors receive a coat of sealer and two coats of clear lacquer. This protects the wood's surface. The panels used in stile and rail doors are never glued in place. They sit inside the frame. This leaves space for the wood and mdf to naturally expand without warping or cracking the door. In the 1960s, italian boilermakers figured out how to harness steam to clean. Steam cleaning is much safer than traditional methods because dirt and bacteria can be eliminated without the use of harmful chemicals. High-pressure, low-moisture steam is enough to vaporize most germs. The water in a steam cleaner is heated to over 200 degrees fahrenheit. It's safe to use on both hard and soft surfaces. Steam cleaners start out as a computer design. This is a commercial model that will be used to clean hotels, restaurants, offices, and schools. They make the components using polycarbonate plastic pellets. A molding machine heats the plastic, then injects it into molds. The plastic hardens into the shape of parts. This one is the cover for the steam cleaner's boiler. A robot with vacuum-suction grippers extracts the cover from the mold. They mold other parts, including the base, extension tubes, handles, and hooks the same way. A worker installs a water-level probe on the steel boiler. He also screws on a fitting for the fill hose. He adds two solenoid valves. They turn the steam on and off and control its intensity. Then he places the boiler in a test device. The device verifies that the electrical parts are insulated properly. He tightens the solenoid valves to complete the installation. After the hoses are attached to the boiler, they place it in the base of the steam cleaner. A worker plugs in the electrical contacts. They will power the steam hose's controls. Then he connects the steam hose to a fitting next to the contacts. He tightens a metal clip around it to reinforce the connection. He links the main electronic board to temperature sensors that have been installed on the boiler. The worker also wires the steam-pressure sensors. He covers the top of the boiler with melamine insulation. Then he slides a heat-resistant plastic cover over the boiler. He attaches the fill hose to the fitting on the top of the boiler. He connects the other end to the water tank. The worker equips the tank with two water-level sensors. He hooks up a gauge for the steam pressure. Then he fills the tank with water and tests the steam cleaner. He uses a small mirror to check for leaks. Another worker assembles the steam gun. He attaches a plastic joint to the steam hose, then installs a nozzle on the end. He slides the joint forward to surround the spray nozzle and screws a plastic wand to the end of the joint. He tucks the hose on one side of the handle's plastic casing and installs a trigger. Then he snaps on the cover. He screws the handle together. He connects the steam gun to the boiler unit. He turns it on. And the sprayer shoots out a hot, pressurized mist known as dry steam. Its moisture content is only 5%, allowing cleaned surfaces to dry quickly. The steam cleaner also comes with a vacuum. It sucks up residual water and dirt after a steam cleaning. He attaches the vacuum motor to the filter. He places the motor and filter into the base canister and locks the assembly together with clips at the sides. The worker transfers the steam cleaner to a cart. Once the vacuum is on board, this duo is ready to eradicate dirt, grease, and pathogens. Just aim and pull the trigger. The steam will do the rest. A slice of pizza isn't always a portable snack. The toppings can slide off while you're eating it. These hand-held, individual pizzas solve that problem. The toppings are safely encased inside the pizza dough. Hand-held pizzas are small enough for kids to easily hold. They're made without preservatives, and all the ingredients are organic, making them the perfect frozen snack for hungry children. One main ingredient is cauliflower. It packs a strong nutritional punch without altering the flavor. Cauliflower is low in calories but high in vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. It also helps thicken the filling. After removing the stems, the cooks boil the cauliflower heads until tender. They remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon to let the water drain away. They puree the cauliflower in a food processor. The cooks also boil and puree butternut squash, which is full of vitamin a, vitamin c, and many other nutrients. The squash puree slightly sweetens the filling and helps thicken it. Other ingredients that go into the filling are tomato paste, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, potato flakes, sea salt, spices, and water. After measuring out the required amounts, workers pour the ingredients into a large bowl. They manually blend the ingredients with a large whisk to keep the filling's texture coarse. The pizza dough is made with wheat flour, unbleached all-purpose flour, and baking soda. They also add palm fruit shortening and water to make the dough pliable. They combine all the ingredients in a mixer. The mixer blends the ingredients thoroughly until the dough reaches the right consistency. After mixing, they let the dough rest. Next, they transform the blocks of dough into sheets. They place an 8-inch block of dough on a machine called the dough sheeter. The dough moves back and forth beneath a roller until it's flat. They add flour so the dough won't stick to the roller. A worker winds the sheet of dough onto a spool and transfers it to the processing line. Here, four rotary blades trim the sides and divide the sheet into three strips. Spray nozzles lightly mist the dough with water to keep it pliable. A machine dispenses the filling at perfectly timed intervals. It adds one ounce of filling per pizza to one side of each strip. Then the machine folds the other side over. A crimping wheel seals the edge to encase the filling. They add more flour on top so the crimper and rotary cutters can easily trim off the excess dough. A chopping blade separates the filled dough into individual pizzas. Then the crimper seals the third edge. Workers transfer the pizzas by hand onto baking sheets. They're lined with parchment paper to prevent sticking. Then they bake the pizzas in an oven. As soon as they come out, they're flash-frozen. This rapid deep-freeze locks in the nutrients and makes preservatives unnecessary. The frozen pizzas go straight to the packaging room. It's refrigerated so the pizzas won't begin to thaw. The equipment individually wraps the pizzas in plastic then packages them, two per box. After 60 seconds in the microwave, these pizzas are ready to eat. The thick filling doesn't drip, making them the perfect meal on the go. Wire power brushes rotate at high speeds to clean metal without damaging it. These industrial tools can scrub off almost anything, including weld splatter, rust, and paint. They can also smooth away sharp edges and protrusions known as burrs. Wire power brushes come in many different shapes and sizes. The bristles are either knotted or crimped. There's a wire power brush for every metal-cleaning job. Automated tools work with pinpoint accuracy to create a wire brush with knotted bristles. A tool inserts 22 wires into each hole of the steel disk. The wires are made of high-carbon steel. Another tool twists the wire bundle into a knot. It makes a special knot designed for maximum strength and durability. The system installs 48 knotted wire bundles in each brush. An employee transfers the brush to a machine with circular blades. The blades trim the wires down and sharpen the ends. The next worker sandwiches the brush's center disk between two larger disks. A press welder creates three dimples in the metal. These dimples tightly hold the brush structure in place. A press drives a large nut into the center hole. It will be used to securely attach the wire brush to a power tool. This completes the knotted wire power brush assembly. Next, they make the crimped wire brush. First, a device feeds steel wire to a cutting machine in preset increments. The machine's cutting wheels slice the wires to the correct length. It deposits the wire bundles on a rack, and a worker collects them. Then, another worker threads a long wire between two metal flanges and a winding machine. She lines up the pins around the flanges. Then she tucks freshly-cut wire bundles into those slots. She continues until she's stacked the wire bundles all the way around the flanges. Then she starts the machine. It winds the long wire around the shorter wire bundles. This crimps the short wires at the center and holds them in place between the flanges. She pulls the end of the wire to the side of the brush segment. Then it's ready for the next operation. A 100-ton press bends the flanges over the crimped bristles, encasing the longer wire that holds them together. Next, a worker spins the ends of the brush between two circular blades. This is a preliminary trimming. Then a punch enlarges the diameter of the center hole. Next, they combine several of the crimped brush segments together. An employee piles up the segments. He places a tube in the center and spacers in between the brushes. Once the brush reaches the right size, he uses a compression tool to curl the tube's top rim against the flange. This secures the segments, creating one large crimped wire brush. Then he trims the wire bristles to the correct length. When attached to a power tool, knotted bristle wire brushes can spin up to 25,000 rotations per minute. The brush's high speed allows it to efficiently scrub dirt and grease from an oil-well drill pipe. The crimped wire brush is designed for lighter work, like scrubbing rust off a metal pipe. These power brushes are bristling with cleaning potential and ready for work.