what is injection molding?

steeler12 · Post by **steeler12** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:57 pm

does anyone know what injection molding is, or what the most accurate way of creating plastics is? Because my friends own a company called "custom plastic formings" and they said they could make a really good case by putting stuff into a computer... but anyway, what are the ways to make plastic casing?

Nucklez · Post by **Nucklez** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:37 pm

Build a vacuum molding table. Consists of your home oven, some lumber, a shop vac, a clay mold and sheets of plastic. You can find tutorials on how to do this via a goole search. I'm not sure if they have a good tutorial on this site yet. A vacuum table is the route that I'm planning on taking.

I don't know of any home based injection molding machines. I used to work at a plant that did only injection molding. They made the front ends of lawn mowers, golf cart bodies, bread baskets, spoons and everything. They made these HUGE molds that slide together, heat up REAL HOT and inject melted plastic into the mold. Then the machine waits on the plastic to cool down, seperates the mold, and these pins automatically push the plastic part out of the mold. That is what causes all of the plastic circles that you see in plastic parts. The larger parts (such as the golf cart bodies and lawn mower bodies) were actually removed from the molds by a robotic arm and placed on a conviar belt.

Another form of industrial plastic forming is roto molding. I worked at Perception Kayak for about two years, and they made kayaks via roto molding. That too would not work so well in a home because it requires hella big ovens to heat up the plastic and a "rotisorie" type device to rotate the mold inside of the oven.

Dagger made kayaks via blow molding. I don't know exactly how this works, but it seems similar to vacuum molding.

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:48 pm

WOAH! nucklez dont tell the guy to stray away from injection molding if he can get it done for free!!!

injection molding can give you probably the nicest case imaginable. it is the way the guy made his www.supernes2go.com and palmpsone along with palm ps2

just take your time and plan out your case very carefully and it can be custom fit for every single part of your portable

your are one lucky kid to be able to make a case like that, i wish i knew someone involved in injection molding

steeler12 · Post by **steeler12** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:50 pm

ya my dads best friend said that he could easily make me very good professional looking cases through injection molding, hence the name "custom plastic formings", I cant wait to get to that stage.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:55 pm

Keep us posted, you lucky devil!

Nucklez · Post by **Nucklez** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:58 pm

Wow, I had absolutly no idea that people could do personal projects with injection molding. They had to make a steel? mold for each different part that could cost them $1000's + to make. If you are able to get an injection case for free, then by all means go for it. I'd say that injection molding is how almost everything that has a plastic housing is made. If you plan it right, you can even set your own nuts in the plastic with a soildering iron. (That sounded a little funny didn't it.

)

SteelFox15 · Post by **SteelFox15** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:02 pm

Turbo Tax 1.0 wrote:it is the way the guy made his www.supernes2go.com and palmpsone along with palm ps2

Actually, he used a rapid prototyping firm which is different from injection moulding. Injection moulding is typically much more expensive than rapid prototyping because they have to make both a male and female half of the mould, make sure everything fits properly, make sure it will eject properly, etc. However, large companies use the injection process for mass production since a mould can be reused any number of times.

But if you can get it done for free, go for it! I'm personally going the rapid prototyping route since my friend has access to a rapid prototyping machine. I'm in the process of modelling every component to go inside my Portable N64 and it is incredibly tedious, though it'll hopefully pay off in the end.

steeler12 · Post by **steeler12** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:03 pm

I dont really know the process, in fact I believe he has many different plastic forming machines and techniques, i just know that he said he could make a professional looking case for free for me, (unless i made him make like 400 or something) its exactly what his company does. But ya, i'll keep you posted, although i'm still in the early stages of this N64 portable, i'll confident i'll get it done.

Post by **gannon** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:44 pm

If you need designs, I think some forum members would have plenty

(also, it'd be interesting to see if you could use the design files of the snes2go and have it injection molded, once the molds are made it'd be fairly cheap to make the cases)

steeler12 · Post by **steeler12** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:53 pm

I bet i could get some designs done based on the plans, i'll check it out, in fact i was talking to my dad who said it would even be possible to get 100 or so cases done and sell them, who knows, but anyway, i'll look into it. This is a good opporotunity, dont worry, i wont let it go to waste.

In fact, if anyone has the Snestogo plans, or any other plans they would like to see done, send them in a PM, or email them to sakear@ctc.net, and make the subject "case plans"

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:02 pm

gannon wrote:If you need designs, I think some forum members would have plenty (also, it'd be interesting to see if you could use the design files of the snes2go and have it injection molded, once the molds are made it'd be fairly cheap to make the cases)

i emailed him earlier

i hope he gets back to me

i'll post em somehow if he sends them and gives me the ok

steeler12 · Post by **steeler12** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:08 pm

if any of you have any really awesome designs that are very specific, send them to me.

Jake-Haze · Post by **Jake-Haze** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:44 pm

Hey man, I have a pretty sweet design for a SNESp if you want it, let me know, It's only a first draft and needs to be revised, plus, the only thing i have on the comp is a quick ms-paint pic of the front, but it get's the main idea across.

steeler12 · Post by **steeler12** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:17 pm

Ya, when i get this project off the ground with this guy in a few weeks, i'll start going into it more, looking at ideas and whatnot, so if you want to show me designs and stuff, its cool but i cant really do anything with the right at the moment. I''ll keep you posted.

SteelFox15 · Post by **SteelFox15** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:06 am

Turbo Tax 1.0 wrote:i emailed him earlier i hope he gets back to me

I e-mailed him a couple of weeks ago for a PSOne screen model, but he never responded.

However, I do have pretty accurate models of everything going into the Portable N64 if anyone needs anything, though I don't know how much of it someone else will be able to use if they're getting components from so many different places and doing things slightly differently.