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2014 for Kask will be the year of the decade. And despite the Italian company is still
young, its products are already at the top for what concerning design, development
and production of HELMETS for cycling. Kask is always looking for a perfect blend
of technological excellence, functionality, safety and design.
The working process and creation of a bike helmet is divided in two parts:
The first is the realization of the outer polycarbonate shell that includes shell, rear
and inner part in polystyrene. The first elements to be implemented are
flat slabs and transparent polycarbonate. It all starts here, then, if colored,
they are exposed to multiple steps of screen printing.
A machine prints and colors on the plate only the predetermined parts.
After that we move on to a phase of drying. Then the plate is put into a cart,
ready to enter the second phase of painting. A technician checks that the painting
was printed in a homogeneous way and there are no burrs.
The helmets are made of polycarbonate, which is a hydroscopic material, it absorbs
water and is dried in oven at 120 degrees during 1 hour per each mm of thickness.
This drying process, called thermoforming, requires about 5 hours.
After this phase, the plate is inserted perfectly flat in the machine,
which is heated from below, generates a vacuum effect, and then adhere
the mold perfectly to the helmet, which comes in the form we know.
The process takes about a minute. The two shells we obtained are
properly trimmed. The wastes won't be lost because they're always recycled.
At this point the outer shell is cut and engraved. This phase, which can last between
40 and 80 seconds depending on the type of helmet is via Cartesian robots.
These robots have previously acquired all the information to know where and how to cut,
through specific and targeted work led by a technician. The data are collected
and transmitted instantly to your computer and then transferred to the robot
that will start the cutting phase. Some parts of the helmet are pierced and give
the correct appearance. The air intakes give perfect aeration and are useful for passing the straps
of the adjusting system. After this procedure an operator
takes care of the quality control. Here begins the second phase of the process,
that regards the inner part of the helmet. The black polystyrene comes
small cylinders. Within these cylinders there is a gas which is called pentane
which serves for the expansion. The density of the printing is
determined by a machine called pre expander.
A predetermined amount of material is inserted in the machine. The pre espander soften
the outer part of the small ball and the part that is inside evaporates.
The gas inflates the ball to the desired size.
This material, however, it's still wet but it's not ready to be printed because
inside there is still too much residual gas and moisture.
Excess gas and water that are inside the ball must then evaporate to leave
space for the air. The air runs the ball as a
sort of shock absorber. The material is downloaded onto a fluidized bed
where the first drying starts. The material is conveyed inside some silos,
where the seasoning happens. From the silos of the material passes through
outer tubes of steel. Each tube corresponds to a machine.
The mold is composed of two halfs: a male mold and a female mold.
On the moles there are holes that allow the steam to pass.
The material is then injected into the mold and the vaporization phase begins, which softens
the surface of the small balls and makes them swell because they still contain
small amount of residual gas. Once the polystyrene mold is ready
which is in fact the basis of our helmet, it is mounted on the shell, on the ring
and the rear part. After this the helmet goes back in the machine
and is printed for the second time. The only thing missing is the closing operation.
At first the film is removed using a compressed air gun.
Secondly the velcrum for the inner padding is fixed to the inner shell. The serial number is applied
to the helmet together with the instructions for use in all major languages
and obviously the size. After this the adjustment system is applied,
it fixed to the shell through four simple screws.
We are now ready to insert the padding under the helmet, making sure to cover
all velcrum straps. The last piece missing is the strap,
which is made to pass from the inside outwards and it is fixed in the two slots
the side and the rear. The decal with the company names are attached
together with the tag. At this point the helmet is ready
for the last phase control. Kask provides its helmets, between the various
teams, even to the most famous and powerful Team Sky, who chose the Italian company for
its excellence and warranty. An operator inspects all the slots so that
there are no residues nor film or polystyrene, the helmet is cleaned and inserted
into the bag, and finally put in a box and it is ready to be shipped and sold.
KASK- Comfort, Safety and Design!