tooling design for newbies

[ChrisStein]

I am having difficulty finding examples of tooling used to create composite parts of varying shapes.

It's generally clear to me when a component is sufficiently flat and thin in section to reproduce it using a one piece mold (car hood, car fender).

But as simple shapes become thicker in section (airbox or motorcycle fuel tank), the appropriate mold design becomes less clear to me.

Are there any resources that would present a variety of objects along with the tooling that produced them and explain the rationale for the choice of tooling based on the object's shape?

I'd also be interested in knowing how to conceal a parting line when the shape of an object makes it difficult to locate it inconspicuously.

In an ideal world, there'd be a manual that said "if the shape looks like A, then the tooling should look like B and if the shape looks like X, then the tooling should look like Y...."

Thanks,

Chris

 

[galipesu]

Hi Chris!

First of all, composite parts are really expensive to do you on a small scale production. If that is not your case well read on!

For deep section parts like air intake or fuel tank, you'll need to do some assembling. For example, one for the top half, one for the lower half and one other for connecting pipes. Don't forget that it is best to have something like 2-3° angle to extract the piece. I've made an intake 2 years ago when I was on Formula SAE in school. I could share images to give you an idea.

Mathieu Galipeau
galipesu@hotmail.com