minimum thickness of plastic design?

S

shahrul123

New Member
Hi,

I'm a new user here, got one question; how thin this plastic enclosure can be moulded? Can it be moulded until 1mm thickness with PC material? :confused::confused: please refer to pic attached.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3807/9712323249_502233cba2_b.jpg

Specs:
- Overall Dimension: 188mm x 125mm x 8mm
- Has stubs, screw bosses for M2 plastic screw, sliding locks along the edges
- Use: enclosure design for tablet (back casing)

Thank You,
regards
SA
 
Hello,

Couldn't see the pic. 1mm thin plastic is moldable given that it has proper draft on moulding face.

--
Ashish Shah
 
Image isn't visible.

Thin-wall moulding is done with parts such as mobile phone casings and generally requires hi-flow polymer grades to work well. PC or PC-ABS alloys are often used in those applications, as the stiffer materials allow thinner walls to survive under duress.

But you should be using whatever wall thickness is necessary after carrying out suitable stress/strain assessment for your product and the part design. If weight support is required, additional wall thickness or ribbing may be necessary to support it.

Also, don't forget that any rib or boss walls adjoining the external case wall, must be 2/3 of the external wall thickness or less, in order to stand a chance of avoiding sink marks and distortion. As well, if you are using snap hook details, then they may need to interlock with a recess. If that is into a 1.0mm wall, there isn't much depth there to engage with. So, again, proper stress/strain assessment on loads must be considered first.

If you don't have the knowledge for this, then do get hold of design guides for these materials, from the main polymer manufacturers, or similar. That will give you the base rules for carrying out the design and detailing work. Otherwise, you may find you have an expensive experiment on your hands when the tool is made.
 
Adding to PeterB's comments, I have created parts that have 0.6mm thickness in some places! This MUST come in tune with the whole design. Stresses, durability, function and production repeatability all play an important part. There is NO one answer to your question unless the whole part is analysed!
 
This thread started one year ago. The originator has not visited the site since Sept 29, 2013. He is not receiving the advice.
 
Erich said:
This thread started one year ago. The originator has not visited the site since Sept 29, 2013. He is not receiving the advice.
Click to expand...
oops! Have to make sure I look at the dates. Thanks. Paskalis
 
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