- Aluminum molds for thermoforming
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There is a pourus aluminum product called Metapor that can be machined easlily with no coolant. It is air permeable so no vacuum holes need to be drilled. CMT materials sells it. METAPOR® Air Permeable Thermoforming Products by CMT Materials Inc.
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I've been designing Pressure and Vacuum-forming molds for 11 years.
PORUS aluminum. But it is extremely expensive - Use only for porus 'Plugs'. Here is the trick:
1. CNC your mold in conventional 6061-T6 or 7075-T6 if your budget allows.
DO NOT remove the mold from the milling machine just yet.
2. Mill some 1/4" diameter pockets into the mold where you want the venting most.
Then use a smaller drill bit to drill almost to the bottom of the mold (not into your vise
3. Fabricate some 1/4" diamater PLUGS in PORUS Aluminun (McMaster.com or elsewhere).
4. Press/glue the Plugs into the pockets you milled.
5. Re-run your CNC program (or create localized programs) to re-machine the plugs
so that they perfectly conform to the mold's surfaces.
6. counter-bore the back side of the mold or just make some shallow
cross-cuts to break-thru and connect the vent holes.
Alternately if you design the mold from the outset to include the counterbores
for the plugs you could even put the plugs in before the initial machining.
Hence you are only adding the labor of doing the counterbores and plugs
vs breaking bits trying to drill tiny holes afterwards.
Jeff Krause
EVA CASES, EVA CASE DESIGN, Custom Protective Cases by Designer Jeff Krause
Last edited by Deltic_Engine; 01-02-2011 at 06:24 PM.
Reason: typos
- Aluminum molds for thermoforming
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