ROTATIONAL MOULDING
6WXGHQWV VKRZ LQJHQXLW\ THE CHALLENGE for students entering the Sasol Student Design Competition that is run as part of the ARMSA Rotation conference this year was to design a roto product that showed originality, marketability and roto mouldability. Given that most of the young students would have little or any understanding of the roto process, this was in itself a challenge, but the students nevertheless came up with novel solutions. Marketability was possibly the most prominent feature and, dare one say it, probably that which is of most interest anyway.
WINNER First prize – Kari de Villiers won the competition with her design of a roto moulded ‘Shower Saver,’ a tank which the ‘showerer’ stands on while the falling water drains into the 20-litre tank (the example here is a prototype). The water can then later be emptied in your garden or wherever it’s of most use
SILVER The runners-up prize went to Ofentse Njody whose design of solar powered LED sidewalk bollard, a slick item which could readily be used
BRONZE Eben Myburgh came up with something certainly a novelty: a hand-powered washing machine. Also suited to roto moulding, the unit exhibits unexpectedly smooth lines. Perhaps it could be pedaled, to enable the operator to use the hands for other tasks simultaneously?
SPECIAL AWARD Association of Rotational Moulders of Southern Africa Chairman: Wayne Wiid E-mail: wayne@pioneerplastics.co.za Tel: 012 541 6000 / 082 772 7369 Secretary: Petro Geldenhuys Tel: 082 562 4994 | Fax: 086 509 8909 E-mail: info@armsa.co.za
JUNE / JULY 2015
Stephanie Kleyn received a commendation for her design of solar charged mobile vending kiosk, a clever item that could so easily be used for small (one person) businesses, where access to power would normally be a problem
ASSOCIATIONS AFFILIATED TO ARMSA THROUGH ARMO Association Francophone du Rotomoulage Associazione Italiana Stampaggio Rotazionale Association of Rotational Moulders Australasia Association of Rotational Moulding Central Europe Association of Rotomoulders Ireland The British Plastics Federation Rotational Moulders Group
www.armsa.co.za
7DQN VWDQGDUGV $506$ VWDQGDUG PD\ VXIÀ FH ARMSA’s tank standards sub-committee is still hitting its head against the solid wall that is the SABS: very little progress was made in the group’s endeavour over the past year to have standards for plastic water tanks approved. In his presentation on the topic at Rotation 2015, JoJo’s Rod Cairns (who has been chairing the sub-comm) said that although ARMSA has itself drawn up a draft stan-
dards document, all that has effectively happened since last year is that the association’s application has been moved to another SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) committee where it’s joined the applicants for about another 170 other standards. One can imagine that there’s a high chance for getting lost in this situation. Rod also advised that considerable time was involved in the SABS application and that at this stage there is no clear understanding as to what the costs of audits, etc, will be once the standard is adopted. A further problem is that one of the basic SABS routines is that of the destruction test and, while all standardsadhering tank manufacturers surely won’t
fear this, the ARMSA committee has a different means of performing a tank integrity test without destroying the tank (for the record: roto tanks use considerable quantities of scarce and expensive material and are time consuming to produce). The destruction test in question (which looks at wall thickness and material integrity) is the most important test for a water tank, which the ARMSA test also YHUL¿ HV The ARMSA committee has suggested, because it’s taking so long to get an SABS standard approved (over 10 years by now), that manufacturers run its proposed test. Manufacturers that achieve the standard are enabled to place an ARMSA standard decal on their tanks.
Tank manufacturers who achieve the ARMSA standard can use the ARMSA decal, which is moulded into the tank wall using a Mold In Graphics label