How Skateboard Wheels Are Made & an Inside Look at CO2 Scrubbers | How It’s Made | Science Channel

The invention. Of polyurethane skateboard wheels in the early. 1970s suddenly made jumps and tight cornering possible. Because these wheels had a better grip. On riding. Surfaces than the old metal or ceramic wheels. They were more durable and the shock absorption was greatly improved. Skateboard wheels come in different sizes hardness, colors and graphic. Designs. For the rider. There are many practical and aesthetic considerations. Making skateboard wheels starts with a computer design. They'll use the software to guide cutting tools. The tools carve into a solid. Aluminum puck and transform it into one half of a wheel mold. Next. The other half of the mold takes shape as the computerized tooling sculpts another puck to a profile that fits to the first one perfectly. Not all of the skateboard wheel molds are two part versions. Others are one piece structures. Each with a pin in the center to form a bearing cavity. A nozzle dispenses freshly mixed polyurethane liquid into the wheel molds. The liquid starts to solidify immediately. To complete the process, they load the. Polyurethane filled molds into an oven and bake them at 115. Degrees Celsius. For 40 minutes. During baking any bubbles. In the polyurethane rise to the top and are diffused. Leaving solid. Forms with no weak spots. Workers remove the pins from the molds. Then it's on to the next station. Here, a worker blasts compressed air between the wheels and the molds to pry the wheels. Free and pop them out. A worker bounces one of the wheels. To demonstrate. Its high. Rebound. It's an indication that the skateboard wheel will roll easily with very little drag. He probes the wheel using a barometer gauge to ensure the urethane has cured to the proper hardness. If the sample wheel is sufficiently hard, the batch is. Ready for the next step. The worker clamps the skateboard wheel in a lathe. The lathe spins the wheel while an automatic cutter contours the edges to a softer, more rounded profile. To give the skateboard wheels visual impact. An artist selects and arranges graphic. Designs on a computer. He prints a. Film negative of the images he's chosen. They'll use this negative to produce a. Printing plate from a piece of metal that's been coated with a light sensitive substance known as emulsion. He places the. Film negative on the plate inside a. Uv light chamber. He closes the lid and activates the UV light. This triggers a photochemical reaction that transfers the image from the negative to the plate. You can see. The image now. Exposed. Very faintly on the printing plate. He applies a solution that. Removes. Unexposed emulsion and in the. Process etches the image. Into the printing plate. He rinses off the chemicals. He drives the plate to reveal the etched artwork. A worker. Positions a magnetized ink cup. Over the image. And installs them in a pad printing machine. The operator loads skateboard wheels onto posts that index them forward for printing. The ink cup deposits ink on the printing plate. A silicone pad picks up the inked image and stamps it onto. The skateboard wheel. The operator removes the printed wheel and sets it on a tray. A technician now. Clamps one of the wheels in a testing device which will gauge the rebound. He drops a metal. Ball onto the wheel and measures. How high it bounces or rebounds. Again, a high. Rebound is. Desirable. The skateboard wheels are. Now cleared for shipping. They wrap them in plastic and heat. Shrink it. It has taken about. Three days to make the skateboard wheels. How long they'll last depends a lot on the rider and how he or she rolls. The annual apple harvest. Is just two months long. To keep apples. Fresh in storage for several months. Growers lower the. Store room oxygen level to put the apples into hibernation. Then they use machines called. Co two scrubbers to absorb and remove the carbon dioxide gas. The apples give off. This CO two scrubber pulls air from the airtight apple storage. Room through carbon pellets. Which absorb the CO two gas molecules. The machine then. Blows the CO two free air back. Into the room. Workers build the machines frame. Out of tubular steel. The frame supports. All the components, including two. Sealed vessels filled with carbon pellets. The first vessel starts absorbing CO two, a process called. Scrubbing until. Its pellets are saturated, at. Which point the second vessel. Takes. Over the scrubbing. The first vessel automatically kicks into. A regeneration cycle. Which blows fresh air through the pellets to remove. The CO two molecules and exhaust them out the building when the second vessel's pellets max. Out. Vessel one resumes scrubbing. While vessel two. Regenerates to construct. Each vessel. Workers weld a steel sheet into a circular shape. Then weld on a base and a top ring. The ring has holes around its perimeter for. Bolting on a lid. They use. A ring template to make corresponding holes in the lid, marking. The exact center of each hole with. A punch tool. They mount the lid on a fixture, and following. Those marks. Use an automated steel punch. To perforate the steel. The vessels go to the paint booth for a coat of powder. Paint then into an oven to bake the paint. When they come out. They're ready to be filled with. Carbon pellets and sealed. Once each vessel is filled to the top, workers. Lay in a. Steel baffle. Its holes evenly distribute air passing through the vessel. They place a foam rubber. Gasket around the perimeter. And bolt on the lid tightly. This seals the vessel. Preventing the air being blown through it from leaking out and preventing oxygen from getting into the machine and from there. Into the Appel storage room. Next, they install the PVC. Piping that. Feeds air through the vessels, along with two blowers. One pulls air from the apple. Storage room into the machine for scrubbing. The other sends it back to the room after scrubbing. The air flow through the pipes is controlled by valves which are wired. To the machine's electrical panel. That electrical panel, consisting of. Relays. Pumps, gas analyzers and a touch screen is built in house in accordance with the. Required electrical. Standards of the customer's country. The panel is. Wired to a computer. Which. Controls. The entire operation. The computer even has wi fi, enabling. The apple grower to remotely operate. And monitor the machine from a. Computer or smartphone. Workers install an electrical box into the machine's frame. Then they install the panel inside the box. They connect the wires to the valves. Then install the touch screen and hook it up to the computer. The touch. Screen lets the machine's operator program oxygen and CO. To target levels specific to the type of apple. Stored in the room. This is critical as different varieties of apples give. Off more CO two than others. How does it all work? The grower. Stacks bins of apples in an. Airtight. Storeroom. A nitrogen. Generator. Feeds in nitrogen to reduce the room's oxygen. Level to. 1.8%. When that happens, the nitrogen feed automatically. Stops. And the continuous. Co two. Scrubbing automatically begins. Many growers have in-house. Labs. Which conduct. Quality control tests. On samples taken from each. Lot of scrubbed apples. Coming out of. Storage. No apples would pass these. Tests much after the two month. Harvest. Season, if. Not for the CO two scrubbers. They lengthened freshness. By about eight. Months, making it. Possible to. Bite into crispy. Apples. Year round.

Channel: Science Channel

Views: 365,906

Keywords: discovery, discovery plus, science channel, science channel uploads, science, science full episodes, science channel episodes, how its made, production line, how its made episodes, how its made full episodes, factory made, manufactured product, brooks moore, tony hirst, lynne adams, lynn herzeg, skateboard wheels, co2 scrubber, carbon dioxide, skateboard

Id: vk_ZkgAEw7s

Length: 10min 22sec (622 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 04 2023