Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

  • Congratulations TugboatEng on being selected by the Eng-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Need help on Plastic Part Manufacturing 1

Status
Not open for further replies.

DesEngineer4

Mechanical
Joined
Feb 19, 2013
Messages
181
Location
IN
Hello,
Greetings..!

I’m looking to manufacture few Plastic ID parts; one of it was attached herewith. The volume we require is very few (less than 10 qty). I have been tried vacuum casting (with silicon mold) to produce these parts, but not happy with the quality there were fitment issues while assembly. As of now, procuring these parts from China via CNC manufacturing but the cost was high. Also, we can’t go through Injection molding as we can’t bare the tooling cost. I’m exploring alternate ways or procedures, need your help or suggestions on this matter. I have attached the step file of it; please have a look at it and suggest a way to produce these parts economically with better quality.


Thanks & Regards,
Sam
 
 https://files.engineering.com/getfile.aspx?folder=c34d8186-edb5-45a1-b1a0-4626938caf12&file=Sample_Part.stp
suggestions:
[ul]
[li]define your acceptable dimensional tolerance, surface finish, & materials before continuing[/li]
[li]large format 3D printer for near net shape[/li]
[li]large format 3D printer & subsequent 3D machining to near net shape (see THERMWOOD LSAM for the concept)[/li]
[li]re-design your part for 3-piece manufacturing, then fabricate the 3 pieces & assemble[/li]
[/ul]

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Manufacturing Engineering Consulting
 
Thank You for your suggestions...

I will get back to you again.




Thanks & Regards,
Sam
 
It looks like you have designed a part to be injection molded but your part quantities can't justify the cost. I suggest you redesign the part for another process more suitable for low volume large parts like thermoforming that can still give you a cosmetic exterior surface.

Talk to your local supplier to get details on what they can and can't do. For example, the internal ribs/features would need to be made separately and glued in place.

Reaction injection molding is also an option but there is tooling cost involved in that process as well. The process is low pressure though so tooling will be significantly cheaper than regular injection molding.
 
Thank You for your suggestion.

For thermoforming will there be any additional tooling cost?

Thanks & Regards,
Sam
 
There is some tooling involved in thermoforming but it is not nearly as much as injection molding. It will also depend on complexity and size, the depth of draw, whether vacuum is applied or not, and how many parts you form at the same time.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top