Making a Dust Pan out of Aluminum

Question: Why exactly are you making a dust pan?

(picture of dustpan online @harborfreight.com)


Antony: Well I was told that making a dust pan would increase my knowledge on how to work with certain tools like the English Wheel and just metal work in general. 

Question: Have you started making your dust pan?

Antony: Yes I have started the process of making my dust pan. But not with aluminum first I was told to make a model out of paper as you can see in the picture.

Question: Why did you start out by making a model out of paper? Why not just go and make it out of metal right away?

Antony: If you can make it out of paper then you can make it out of cardboard. Then from cardboard you can make it out of metal.

Question: How did you start off with your paper model of the dust pan?

Antony: First I started off with drawing the body of the dust pan on a piece of paper. There are lines that are perpendicular those lines are there to help me bend the paper.   

Question: So from there what did you do? 

Antony: From there I made a second part that's similar but not exactly the same. 

 

Question: Why did you make a second one? 

Antony: I made a second one because in my design I want to make my dust pan open and close. 

Question: What's the reasoning behind making your dust pan open and close? 

Antony: The reasoning behind having it open and close is so that when dust is sweeped in it doesn't escape. What I want my dust pan to do is to trap the garbage and dust so that is stays in until disposed of. 

Question: So what else does your dust pan consist of? 

Antony: The handle is another key thing that I want to work on. I've already modeled it out of paper. It's a handle that extends and retracts. 

Question: Why do you want it to extend and retract? 

Antony: I want it to be able to extend so that when it's used, the person using it doesn't have to bend as much. 

Question: Why not just leave it extended? Why do you want it to retract as well as extend? 

Antony: I want to make the dust pan retract so that it is easier to store in smaller spaces so that it's not awkwardly standing somewhere. 

Question: Sounds cool. Where are you up to now with your project?  

Antony: Well at the moment I've started making a model out of cardboard. 

Question: Is it any different than the paper model?

Antony: No it's not that much different than the paper model. They seem very similar except the cardboard is a bit different when it comes to bending it.         (I will be posting the rest of my project once it is complete.)

                                To be continued ...