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A leader in airway clearance technologies came to The ERC to mold a 6” long acetyl part with .012” flatness tolerance. The concept was thought to be impossible to achieve.
This complicated part was currently being machined out of a block of plastic, resulting in a high part price. The customer wanted to reduce the part price and optimize production by molding it instead.
The goal was to develop a part with features that did not exist previously while reducing the customer's piece part price.
Our project engineer approached the task knowing that several iterations may be necessary to get the part molded consistently at the flatness requested. Design intent (how the part would be used in production) was a key factor. Moldflow® software was used to predict the direction and amount of warp the part may have.
Validating the mold-ability with a flow analysis tool enabled our engineer to identify and correct potential injection molding problems as the part was designed. The simulation helped deliver results faster – reducing costs and increasing time to production.
After measuring the parts from the first trial, it was proven that the once thought to be unattainable tolerance was in fact possible. This could not have been attained without the careful planning and insight our engineer put into the design of the mold. Our team was able to develop a part with features that did not exist previously while reducing manufacturing costs for our customer.