【Vacuum Forming Application】Perfectly Encasing Right-Angle Shapes, 2 Tips to Improve Demolding!
Vacuum forming not fitting snugly enough? Molds difficult to remove after cooling? Now there's no need to manually dig holes, and even 90-degree cut-out shapes are no longer a problem. Achieve perfect and tight encapsulation with these 2 tips to improve demolding!
The technical principle of a vacuum forming machine is to heat and soften a plastic sheet, then press down the vacuum forming sheet to adhere to the surface of the blister mold, shaping it under high temperature and then setting it after cooling. From “silicone demolding”, “food craftsmanship”, “mold development”, “blister packaging”, and “medical aids”, it is now widely combined and used.
During the vacuuming process, the smooth flow of air between the material sheet and the processed object, and the complexity of the object's shape, are the two main reasons affecting the quality of vacuum forming. To improve quality, people usually manually dig holes or try to avoid 90-degree right-angle cuts when designing processing molds to ensure that the material sheet and the object can fit tightly. (Click here to see: 3 Tips for Vacuum Forming: Further Improve Blister Packaging Quality!)
There are also two other tips to improve demolding effectiveness:
・Flexible material sheets
Choosing flexible material sheets provides a better encapsulation effect when pressed down instantly after heating compared to other rigid sheets. Additionally, because they retain their original flexible properties after cooling, objects can be removed from the material sheet more easily. (Click here to see: DIY Whiskey Sphere Ice Molds, Creative Ice Cubes for Drinks!)
(Using FormBox Flex flexible material sheets for vacuum forming allows for easy demolding even after cooling and setting.)
・Dense holes in the metal platform
The Mayku Pro Mesh metal work platform is made of ultra-fine 1.2mm stainless steel with over 1000 small holes. Compared to the original perforated work platform equipped with the Formbox machine, it allows more air to be expelled from around the vacuum forming mold.
(Left side of the image: Vacuum forming effect using the Pro Mesh metal work platform. Right side of the image: Vacuum forming effect using the basic work platform of Formbox.)
The dense small holes arrangement of the Pro Mesh allows air to flow smoothly through the mesh, resulting in tighter adhesion at the edges during instantaneous vacuum forming, and a sharper and cleaner finished product. The scales on the taiyaki in the image above can thus show a more detailed concave-convex effect while maintaining a smooth and flat surface, allowing even complex shapes to be formed smoothly. (Click here to see: Silicone Molded Flip-Flops, Create Your Own Production Line Without Outsourcing!)
Did you enjoy this sharing? Trying to use different material properties and cleverly combining them during processing, breaking away from traditional manufacturing concepts, can improve the success rate of vacuum forming. By adjusting subtle tools, even the most intricate structural shapes can be precisely presented; 3DMart offers not just 3D printing, contact us now to learn more about vacuum forming application cases.
Follow our fan page for the latest news: https://www.facebook.com/3dmart.com.tw/