Process for making enclosures

Line bending
1. used to make simple bends in a sheet of thermoplastic polymer
2. A simple enclosure can be made from two U-shaped parts, attached together using a suitable adhesive.
3. Line bending involves heating the material along a line, using a heating element. The plastic softens as it heats, allowing it to be bent.
4. As the plastic cools it will retain its shape. A wooden former is often used to ensure accurate bending.
Vacuum Forming
1. Vacuum forming is used to make many different products from thermoplastic sheets. These include enclosures, packaging, helmets and baths.
2. The sheet is heated to make it flexible, formed over a mould, and then cooled to become hard again.
3. process
  1. 1. Plastic placed over mould
  2. 2. plastic heated
  3. 3. Air in mould removed
Injection moulding
1. Injection moulding is used to make a wide range of plastic products, from enclosures to model construction kits, chairs and toys.
2. The process is very fast and complicated shapes can be made from both thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers.
3. Injection-moulded parts can often be identified by their sprue point, a slight protrusion where the plastic was injected into the mould.
4. Injection moulding involves heating the polymer until it is liquid and then using pressure to force it into a mould.
5. They may also have a split line visible if the sides of the mould did not fit together perfectly.
Laser cutting
1. Although laser cutting is a relatively new process, it is already widely used in all levels of production.
2. A computer-controlled laser beam burns through a sheet of material, such as thin sheets of plastic, MDF or aluminium.
3. It can cut simple 2D shapes that can be joined together to make an enclosure.

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Process for making enclosures

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	Created by 08sarginson_re almost 11 years ago