This year, 10 winners in 5 categories, including vacuum forming, pressure forming, double plate, 3D printing molds, automation and parts produced by new technologies, won silver and gold awards.

Edited by Lily Manolis Sherman

Several well-known thermoforming applications include the 2021 Parts Competition Awards, which were awarded at the SPE Thermoforming Division's biennial meeting held in Grand Rapids, Michigan from September 20 to 22. Vacuum forming has 10 winners in five categories (Silver and Gold), pressure forming, double sheet, 3D printing molds, and parts produced by automation and new technologies. The People’s Choice Award is the winner of the latter category of gold medals. Here are the highlights (look for more details and pictures of each section in the blog of the same name):

▪ People's Choice Award: Plastics Unlimited, Preston, Iowa

Rear engine housing assembly of Hagie sprayer. The housing assembly contains a large and complex medical power supply. All the main components are formed by two pieces, providing highly beautiful and sturdy components for the shell.

The material is made from a custom colored pearlescent metallic acrylic/PVC mixture formed on a smooth tool surface to provide a high-gloss appearance for multi-part assemblies. The innovative design provides formed threaded inserts to receive right-angle turn fasteners, allowing OEMs to assemble easily, quickly and simply. The total assembly time has reduced OEM man-hours by 75%. 

The People's Choice Award was awarded to Plastics Unlimited's Hagie Sprayer rear hood assembly.

Dashboard components of A-class motorhomes. The base is a customized color low gloss ABS. The decorative film is selected brushed aluminum with a glossy surface with a polyurethane cap. Tool layout and design adapt to the difference in shrinkage coefficients of various components. Shipped in the form of complete components.

 ▪ Vacuum Forming – Gold Award: Plastique Art, St. Clair, Quebec, Canada

Ventilator: This housing assembly consisting of eight thermoformed parts houses a high-end intensive care unit ventilator. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company's customer was awarded an emergency manufacturing contract for 10,000 units. The supplier's ability to deliver customized color palettes for prototypes within a week and the ability to mass produce in a short period of time are critical to the success of this project. The board is made of acrylic/PVC and uses two colors and specifications: white 0.187 inches and gray 0.156 inches.

The assembly of the enclosure is designed to minimize connection points. By letting employees devote themselves to the project and making tools in-house, Plastique Art was able to meet the 10-day lead time of 11 types of equipment, ready to be certified by the health agency. After the equipment was finally approved, they quickly increased production and produced 10,000 devices in 16 weeks. For this reason, all parts require a multi-cavity, temperature-controlled aluminum mold. 

 ▪ Pressure Forming—Silver: Profile Plastics, Lake Bluff, Illinois.

Cover for automatic paint dispenser: This is a two-part project that meets the customer's target price point and is used as a durable and easily removable cosmetic cover for automatic paint dispensers. The tool consists of two machined aluminum tools, water-cooled, with acid-etched texture. This component provides a solution for customers who are highly price-sensitive, and they also want to meet functional, appearance, field service and durability requirements. 

Color matching material-0.187 inches. Acrylic/PVC board is selected to eliminate the need for painting on the part, which may be damaged due to normal use on site.

 ▪ Pressure Forming-Gold: Ray Products, Ontario, California.

Multi-part medical vehicle: This part includes 12 highly beautiful and repeatable pressure-formed parts. The assembly includes a combination of molded color and painted parts. For the carts originally manufactured by polyurethane casting process, pressure forming can improve the repeatability and aesthetics from part to part without affecting the overall design of the cart.

After switching to pressure forming-using color-matched acrylic/PVC sheets of various thicknesses (0.187 inches and 0.250 inches) and metal color-matched acrylic/PVC sheets of 0.187 inches and 0.250 inches, the medical device manufacturer is It can significantly reduce the total cost of the project, increase manufacturing speed, increase part durability, and ensure part-to-part repeatability without the need for unique settings. 

 ▪ Twin-Sheet—Silver Medal: TriEnda Holdings, Portage, Wisc. Battery cover: This assembly holds the internal tray containing the fragile lithium-ion battery. The top and bottom clamshell pieces are two-plate thermoformed parts, which are durable but lightweight compared to previous wooden solutions.

The material is HDPE, 0.500 inches. The gauge plate formed on the smooth tool surface has different starting gauges of the sheet material and different tool depths between the bottom and the top. Two aluminum production tools run simultaneously, forming a complete package in each cycle. The entire solution uses additional materials and processes, such as EEP foam and injection molded ABS pallets. The solution can be used for more returns, is fully recyclable, and can be used with OEM robots and manual processing as needed.

 ▪ Twin-Sheet-Gold Award: Wilbert Plastics, White Bear Lake, Minnesota State Highway Sleeper Storage Shelf. This part is a storage shelf used in the sleeping area of ​​the highway truck cab. It is manufactured using a double-plate process and is completed with internal foam, hardware assembly and wires. 

The main body of the shelf is made of ABS sheet and double sheet thermoforming process. The mold surface is engraved with two different textures to create the customer's modeling needs. Then trim the frame body and the opening of the mounting bracket together, and then install the bracket and the inner panel for the structure before foaming. The result is a storage shelf with a reasonable structure and beautiful appearance that customers can use as an option to replace the upper sleeper in the cab of an off-road truck.

 ▪ 3D printing tools-Silver Award: Plastics Unlimited, Preston, Iowa

 ▪ 3D printing tools-Silver Award: Plastics Unlimited, Preston, Iowa

Protective cover: This protective cover is used for industrial applications. The starting material is black smooth HMWPE with a starting thickness of 0.187". Facts have proved that this is a good solution for customers, which can reduce tool costs and meet tight schedules. This project is an impressive The impressive part is the very fast turnaround. We produced about 400 parts, tools and decorative jigs in about a month. The design allows the mounting bracket to be hidden so that it can be assembled easily and quickly. The thermoformed parts of the assembly are used The three-cavity 3D printed molding produced has no temperature control.

 ▪ 3D Printing Tools-Gold Award: Catalysis Additive Tooling, Columbus, Ohio

Pallet: This 3D printed thermoforming production tool is used to form a pallet using adhesive jet technology. The material formed on the tool is 0.250 inches. HDPE board for more than 1,000 parts.

Compared with traditional metal tools, this tool has many advantages. Within one to two weeks of manufacturing time, tools are delivered to customers twice as fast as machined metal tools. The price of this tool is half that of traditional metal tools. The tool is porous and has a surface finish of 100 Ra. In addition, the tool can withstand thousands of parts.

 ▪ Parts produced with automation and new technologies—Silver: Plastics Unlimited, Preston, Iowa.

Hagie Sprayer rear hood assembly: see People’s Choice Award.

 ▪ Parts produced with automation and new technologies-Gold Award: Hagans Plastics, Grand Prairie, TX

Chinook moved forward to the drip tray. Due to increased strength and reduced weight, this part replaces the aluminum pan and is made of matching metal aluminum tools with oil temperature control. The material is PEEK/Kevlar non-woven fiber, which must be molded at a temperature exceeding 500 F. 

This new material can be formed in a variety of ways and thicknesses. It can maintain the ridged periphery while still having a certain degree of flexibility in the entire central part of the part. This material is fully resistant to all types of POL (petroleum, oil, lubricant) after molding. This has now been approved for inclusion in all new Chinook helicopters manufactured by Boeing and spare parts for existing helicopters currently in use.

In order to make the right choice, each application must be considered individually. Each has its specific characteristics and requirements.

Fast, programmable, and environmentally friendly laser marking has taken a place in the basic marking of dates and product codes, but its functions are much more than that. The market has hardly touched the decorative effects that today's wider range of laser-markable resins, coloring technologies and laser equipment can provide.

With the increasing popularity of in-mold labeling (IML) among American molders, some people find that mastering a complex new technology is not easy.

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