Hydraulic Press for arcylic molds

[TheMadScientist]

Hi guys,

I was wondering where I could post a thread on making a hydraulic press
for making acrylic discs molded into a custom design.

I want to start this project and need some advice on design and thickness
of the steel plating (L bar) that I'm going to use for the chassis design.
Also I need some advice on making an aluminum mold out of 6061-T6 aluminum.
I have a basic design in my head of the machine I want to build and will be posting up a design schematic in the next few days....

I was thinking of going with 2 10 ton hydraulics pushing up one platform
which would hold the aluminum mold. I plan to heat up the acrylic in a small
mini oven and then take it out when it's soft enough to mold and place it in the mold and send the hydraulic controller platform up to press the acrylic into shape. Of course I would leave it there until the acrylic cools. Thats
one reason why i'm using the aluminum mold to dissipate the heat quickly.

Any suggestions on how I should go ahead with this design?
Or any other comments anyone with experience could have for me?

Thanks in advance.

*Mad.

[ariesahd]

Dear Scientist,

Happy to know that you are in process to develop Acrylic Moulding Hydraulic Press. We are in to Acrylic Moulding work since 7 years. We are looking for Hydraulic press one like you are working on. Keep your project on and let me know in case of any difficulties.

[vegipete]

Have you given a thought to where excess plastic will go? If the source piece is too small, your finished part will have voids or cavities. If it's too big, the mold may not close right or flash will squeeze out somewhere.

I've got some sample pieces from years back from when a molder was setting up his (injection molding) machine to run a part for us. The one from the shot size too large is interesting because it basically popped the mold halves apart, despite how ever many tons were holding it together. Think hydraulics except with molten plastic instead of oil.

You may also need to consider eject pins to get the plastic piece to release from the mold. And try to avoid parallel part edges.

But it will be neat to see what sort of results you get!

[ariesahd]

Dear, This is not about excess powder or paste. Here we are applying sheet. Thus we have to just bother about cutting the access corners of that sheet. We just have to keep in mind that clipping portion to hold the sheet should not be too much as the cut corners are not fetching us much compering to the prime material we are using here.