The Skill
Plastic Analysis
A large part of my degree has focused on manufacturing. I have expanded and consolidated my knowledge on the key manufacturing processes for timbers, metals and plastics.
Designing for manufacture is essential, including consideration of split lines, injection points and potential ejector pin marks.
Tool Design
Within a camping mug design project, I also created the tooling for my design to be injection moulded.
Due to the mug design, my tooling had a main core and cavity, as well as two sliding cores on guide arms, to allow for the mug draft and handle.
It also featured two ejector pins, to allow for easy release of the mug from the core.
Flow Simulation
Since I had created the mould tool in CAD, I could use Solidworks plastic analysis feature, to critically analyse my design in terms of confidence of fill, cooling time, potential sink marks and air trap points.
The analysis gave me confidence in the design, with no issues highlighted. This was necessary in the context of the design's manufacturability.
