Here are the few specimen entries for the Android Makers Encyclopedia "C" topics:

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     Calcaneum ("heel bone" or "Os Calcus") (L&R) is the largest of the Tarsal bones. The size and shape of this "Short, Long, or Flat (Gray's classification)" bone is a major contributor to the approximate spherical shape definition of the heel even though the Os Calcus is irregularly cuboid. This can be fabricated with the technique of the "short, long, or flat" bones, or it could be cast.

This bone is thinner and smaller in females than in males.

The Os Calcis forms a strong lever for the muscles of the calf as it transmits the weight of the body. There are six surfaces; posterior, anterior, superior, inferior, internal (medial), and external (lateral). This bone articulates with the Astragalus and the Cuboid. Therefore, there is another link between the heel and the Tibia and Fibula articulations with the foot.

(See Gray, page 199 for more details on human anatomy and for more details about the six surfaces. For more information, see the entry in the handbook; "Fabricating Short, Long, and Flat Bones" section where those were tallied in the skeletal element count. )

This bone is probably one of the two (with the Talus) bones that take a beating. This causes pain for the individual according to [Boyd, 28 July `95]. However, his use of the key word "ball" suggests another pair of bones; perhaps metatarsals.

A search through the available Current Contents On Disk (CCOD c.1990) did not reveal any potential information sources. The amount of CCOD data and the nature of the search engine itself limit its usefulness as a resource or a pointer to other resources.

The following is a WordPerfect "Subdoc" from the printed editions ... remember to [Back] out with your browser.

CARVING

Carving is an essential part forming process. It uses a "billet," a piece of stock material cut to size by the maximum length, breadth, and height. Carving removes material that does not look like the desired objectSee footnote 1. This billet may already have a coarse shape already from it's cutting process which may also be known as a "blank."

Gun stock blanks are a good example of a billet which is coarsely shaped. These are obviously not gun stocks before carving by the gunsmith or artisan, but there are not many other things that such a blank could be carved into (unless the back legs of a chair): That is, by material conservation or efficiency.

The material for billets can usually be metal, wood, or plastic. It can be almost anything that can be ordered from a material supplier that can be shipped on a roll, in sheets, bolts, rods, extrusions, sticks, boards, and the like.

The material has it's own specifications. These specifications whether about the material itself, it's forming or other treatments, the dimensions, etc. do not bind billets to a part. However, engineering rules out , or selects , the material for these billets by the desired characteristics of the product and what is supplied by the billet itself.

For example: An angle-iron of a given length and size; it could be part of a bed frame, or it could be part of a home-made utility trailer. This example assumed a temper to the iron sufficient for either purpose. The angle-iron in a bed frame is generally very hard, much harder than the mild steel commonly available at yards and centers where such material is sold: Hobbyists and tinkers generally do not have the tools necessary to form or drill holes in extremely hard materials.

Carving or whittling is generally free-form and artistic. Operations such as routing, chiseling, planing, etc. can shape to specification. Still, they provide industrial and other creative outlets. Size and shape standards can be met with the use of gauges, calipers, and other measuring tools. This is a frame element forming process mostly.

     Carving tools are likely to be available at art and craft supply stores.

     Casein is an old plastic base made from about 8 gallons of skimmed milk to make a pound of dry material. It was used to make artificial ivory, meerschaum, and imitation celluloid. 1 To 5% addition of Borax makes it more plastic.

[Hiscox] describes procedures to make various formulations that does not seem beyond the resources available to android makers or hobbyists. That is, they do not seem to require vast plant or expensive machinery to produce a batch. However, the reference is not a neat, clean, procedure. That entry is all prose; cookbook even though percentages, temperatures, and elements are mentioned.

Is this a satisfactory material, e.g. for frame elements? The artificial ivory could be used for articulation surfaces of bones. However, perhaps a modern polymer would be stronger, more durable, and more ready for use.

     CASTING:

Casting is a process which forms the desired part or billet by pouring a material , whether hot (molten) or room temperature (or batter) , into a special container properlySee footnote 2 shaped to form the part's likeness. After that, it is allowed to cool or cure depending upon the nature of the material whether it be a melt or a mixture. The interior of this container, a mold, can be formed by a cast around a model of the desired part or it may be shaped or carved by some other forming process.

Taking this definition to the extreme, making ice cubes is a casting process. The material, water, is poured into the tray, a mold, at room temperature, and then cured in the freezer ; ice's normal environment temperature.

The two common applications of casting pour a mixture or a molten metal or plastic. The mixture sets up from it's own chemical reaction while the molten material sets up by "freezing" to it's solid physical state in human normal environment; although that may be thermally controlled. This is why the aforementioned ice cube example is suitable: It considers water as a melt. Some ceramics, especially pottery, may seem a special exception because after initial setting up of the mixture in the mold, the "slip" still needs to be "fired" (baked in a kiln) for the item's ultimate hardness and durability.

The part number of a casting is rarely the same as that of the finished part. There is generally a "casting number" where good examples are on engine block, head, and manifold castings formed by the cast itself. The finished part generally has other processes applied or even more parts as a next higher assembly and is thus differentiated with another of the manufacturer's part numbers.

There is more to casting than meets the eye and much more than this entry can describe. See others' references associated with the respective casting material, size range, production quantity, etc. for specific equipment, materials, procedures, facilities, etc.

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as of June 29, 2001 ... Back to the Android Making Encyclopedia Page of/or to The Android Maker site's home page.