Vacuum forming help required

Soon I will be starting to design a vacuum formed storage tray for a
client. The tray will have approx 60 identical pockets for the
components to sit in, a stiffening edge lip, lid location points etc.
I am not designing the forming tools and I am looking for tips on how
to approach this. Should it be a surfacing job, I am a novice as
regards surfacing, or start with a solid block and cut, sweep and
pattern the form. Or should I look at mold tool design anyway?.
I also need to find information on min bend radii and draft angles for
the tray material, all suggestions welcome.

 

If you have sw2006 , look in the helpfile on this subject :

Indent - Overview and Options

The examples are very helpful, in that section.

or if you have an older version i would do the following.
make assembly,
take the product which has to be stored and drop on origin, insert new part
, draw a cube around the part that has to be stored.
then use insert cavity feature.
then use shell feature,
cut away sides and startr mirroring the number of parts you need.


best regards,

Bram

 

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/content/DSG322/solidworks_surface_tutorials.htm

Tutorial 9b might give you some ideas.

 

Talk to the people who will actually be making the part and the mold
maker. Everyone has preferences.

http://ga.vacuumformings.net/

The Society of Plastics Engineers has some good books on the subject.

http://www.4spe.org/search/search.p..._string=thermoforming&search=Search&limite=10

And for that matter, try the local library. I know the local library in
my city of 30,000 has a few books on the subject. And that is generally
free.

As far as SW, I would make a solid model of the mold side of the part
which will likely be male and then shell it outward. You won't be able
to pick up all the nuances of a thermoformed part because the material
thins, but you can get close. Also important is the runoff surfaces and
trimming information. Remember that your part will start life as a big
sheet of flat plastic and then be trimmed away.

One rule of thumb with thermoforming is that the mold surface is most
important. The actuall part you get will be very process dependent.