Thermoformers honored for their ability to solve customers' problems

The Society of Plastics Engineers' thermoforming division announced the winners of its annual parts contest at a recent conference in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Plastics Unlimited of Preston, Iowa, won the People's Choice Award for a rear engine enclosure assembly on agricultural sprayers made by Hagie Manufacturing Co. LLC.

Plastics Unlimited officials said the part is one of about a dozen different exterior engine enclosure panels that fit together to create styling, air flow and improved serviceability. The parts had to pass many tests, including 2000 hours of Xenon Arc UV, accelerated weathering testing and high heat testing from the engine, turbos and radiators. They also had to pass other tests to ensure that they could pass everyday abuse, including scratches and aggressive chemicals that the sprayer applies on the crops.

The main enclosure material is custom colored Hagie Gray of smooth, high-gloss ABS with an acrylic cap bonded with fiberglass. The fiberglass increases the rigidity, durability and temperatures the assembly can withstand. The grill is thermoformed from black, high-temperature ABS/PC blended haircell textured material with a low-gloss acrylic film.

The part provided a solution for the customer, who was struggling with difficulty to service the enclosures with the previous design because of the huge size, Plastics Unlimited officials said. The new parts have much tighter tolerances and better fit, they added.

The project also involved a quick turnaround. Plastics Unlimited made about 40 parts of each of the dozen different exterior engine enclosure panels, all patterns, aluminum tools, trim fixtures and assembly fixtures in about two months.

The Silver Award for Vacuum Forming went to Hammer Plastics Inc. of Mishawaka, Ind., for a dashboard assembly for Class A motorhomes. The assembly base is a custom color, low-gloss ABS. The decorative film is a selected brush aluminum with a polyurethane cap gloss surface. The tooling layout and design for the assembly allows for differentiation in shrink factors for various components.

The Gold Award for Vacuum Forming went to Plastique Art, of Sainte-Claire, Quebec, for a ventilator. The product is an enclosure assembly of eight thermoformed parts. The assembly houses a high-end intensive care unit ventilator. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Plastique Art customer was awarded a contract of 10,000 units needed urgently.

To meet the challenge of designing and manufacturing an enclosure for a new ventilator in only three weeks — with the intention to be production ready after approval — all parts were vacuum formed to provide the best aesthetic and functionality.

The other components of the device were developed simultaneously through daily collaboration with the OEM and designer was required to make recommendations and adjustments while keeping the same deadline. Plastique Art officials said their focus was to optimize the design for manufacturing while achieving the best fit of the parts, knowing that they had to be thermoformed on male urethane molds that would also then be utilized for production. The ability of the supplier to deliver custom color sheets for prototypes under a week and on short notice for mass production also was critical to the success of this project.

Assembly of the enclosure was designed to minimize attachment points. By making the tools in-house, the firm was able to meet the 10-day lead time for 11 devices ready for certification by a health agency.

After final approval, Plastique Art needed to ramp up production quickly to make 10,000 devices in under 16 weeks. Multicavity, temperature controlled, aluminum molds were needed for all parts. The firm also had to make around 2,000 parts out of urethane tools and maintain consistency throughout the program.

The Silver Award for Pressure Forming went to Profile Plastics of Lake Bluff, Ill., for covers for an automatic paint dispenser. This two-part project met the target price points of the customer and served as a durable, easily removable cosmetic cover for an automatic paint dispenser, company officials said. Project tooling featured two machined aluminum tools that were water cooled and had an acid etched texture.

The customer was highly price-sensitive yet wanted to meet functional, cosmetic, field service and durability requirements, Profile Plastics officials said. For servicing the underlying equipment, the customer wanted a rigid yet highly cosmetic assembly that could also be removed easily by service technicians without being damaged.

Through extensive design for manufacturing collaboration with the customer's design team, the firm arrived at a cover system that can be conveniently taken off and easily and securely put back on. The deeper part geometry combined with the customer's cost constraints required working with a minimal starting gauge.

Profile Plastics developed processes to achieve the part cost requirements without sacrificing part rigidity and performance that the customer required in the field. The part needed to withstand an environment in which excess paint needs to be removed with harsh cleaning agents. Color-matched material was selected to eliminate the need for a painted finish on the part, which may have been damaged from normal use in the field.

The Gold Award for Pressure Forming went to Ray Products of Ontario, Calif., for a multipart medical cart. The cart includes 12 highly aesthetic and repeatable pressure formed parts. The assembly includes a combination of molded-in color and painted parts. With the cart originally made with the urethane cast process, pressure forming was able to improve part-to-part repeatability and aesthetics without impacting the overall design of the cart.

The cart was previously made using urethane casting, which required painting every part and limited the production quantities to 25 pieces at a time. The urethane parts also required inspection using a full assembly check fixture and approved parts being kitted and shipped together as a unique set.

After switching to pressure forming, the medical device maker was able to significantly reduce total project costs. They also were able to improve manufacturing speed, increase part durability, and guarantee part-to-part repeatability without needing unique sets.

The pressure forming process provided the customer with a total return on investment within the first 50 units produced. By making the unit via pressure forming and using molded-in features, Ray Products was able to significantly reduce the number of purchased components that were needed to mount the urethane parts. This allowed for a reduction in total assembly time by the medical customer.

The Silver Award for Twin Sheet was won by TriEnda Holdings of Portage, Wis., for a battery cell cover. Company officials said the assembly secures the inner trays filled with fragile lithium-ion batteries. Both top and bottom clam shell pieces are twin sheet thermoformed components that are durable yet lightweight compared to prior wooden solutions.

The cover is made of high density polyethylene. Two aluminum production tools ran concurrently, forming one full pack with each cycle. A total solution using additional materials and processes such as EEP foam and injection molded ABS trays was used.

Design requirements achieved included longer lasting, impact absorbing, product protection from damage and short circuiting. They also provided pack weight reduction and elimination of expendable packaging requiring special fillers in case of damage.

The cover was tested to DOT and UN standards for road and air freight. The durability and flexibility of the HDPE outer shell also helped performance.

Currently, shipping from overseas to the U.S. in wooden crates could only be used for one or two shipments. The new solution can be used in many more return shipments. It's also fully recyclable and is accessible to both OEM robotics and manual handling as needed.

The Gold Award for Twin Sheet went to Wilbert Plastics of White Bear Lake, Minn., for a storage shelf for the sleeper area of an over-the-road truck cab made using a twin sheet process and completed using internal foam, hardware assembly and electrical wiring. The shelf body is formed using the twin sheet thermoforming process. Mold surfaces are engraved with two different textures to create the customer's styling needs.

The shelf body is then edge trimmed along with mounting bracket openings. Brackets and internal plates for structure are then installed prior to foaming. Low-pressure, two-part foam is added to fill the inner cavity of the shelf to add structure.

The final assembly involves installation of tie-down brackets, wiring of lights and installation of power input and switch and surface mat. Wilbert Plastics officials said that the final result was a structurally sound, aesthetically looking storage shelf that the customer can use as an option to replace the upper sleeping bunk.

The Silver Award for 3D Printed Tooling went to Plastics Unlimited for a guard part made via 3D printed tooling. The part is used in an industrial application. The starting material is black smooth high molecular weight PE. Plastics Unlimited officials said the solution let the customer decrease tooling costs and meet a tight timeline.

The project also required a quick turnaround. The firm made about 400 parts, tooling and trim fixtures in about a month. The thermoformed parts of the assembly are formed using three cavity 3D printed without temperate control.

The Gold Award for 3D Printed Tooling went to Catalysis Additive Tooling of Columbus, Ohio, for a pallet. Company officials said this 3D printed thermoforming production tool was used to form pallets using binder jet technology. The material formed over the tool was HDPE for more than 1,000 parts.

Officials added that the tool provides many benefits over traditional metal tooling. A one- to two-week manufacturing time gets the tool into the hands of customers twice as fast as a machined metal tool, they said.

The tool is half the price of a traditional metal tool. It is also 100 percent porous, allowing it to pull a more consistent vacuum on the part. The innovative design on the underside of the tool uses the full capabilities of 3D printing for thermal management and strength of the tool.

The Silver Award for Parts Produced with Automation and New Technology went to Plastics Unlimited for the Hagie sprayer part previously described.

The Gold Award for Parts Produced with Automation and New Technology went to Hagans Plastics of Grand Prairie, Texas, for a Chinook helicopter forward drip pan. The part replaces an aluminum pan for increased strength and weight reduction. It's made using oil temperature-controlled match metal aluminum tooling. The material is a PEEK/Kevlar nonwoven fiber.

Company officials said the panel was redesigned to include more head room for the navigator. Time needed to change out the current pan due to the ridged structure was reduced in half with the new design and material.

The new material can be formed in several ways and thicknesses. The material is resistant to all types of POL (petroleum, oils, lubricants) after forming and in testing wasn't adversely affected by the high degree of vibration that occurs in helicopters. The weight reduction of the new part was more than four pounds vs. the previous aluminum part.

Hagans Plastics officials said that prior to the project, the material hadn't been tested for forming. The company developed the process through many trials, they added. The materials now have been approved for all new Chinook Helicopters made by Boeing and for spares for existing helicopters currently in use.