During, and after, lab last Thursday we were able to create our first thermoformed pieces! We learned a lot about how long it takes for the BOI Injection Molding Machine to heat up, as well as the one part delay when you change the shot size. After adjusting a few variables and lots of flash, we successful made a couple very nice looking, brown, yoyo fronts! We took careful note of the parameters, and hope to be able to expedite this process in the future.
This week we also machined our housing mold and the Yo-Yo backside mold. After some alterations to the CAM, the housing mold was completed smoothly. The machining of the back piece did not have any significant problems on the mill, until the core and the cavity were placed against each other. Here you can see in this picture that the cavity is 0.04 inches smaller than the core block. We were concerned that this would cause alignment problems in the injection molding machines, but after talking to the shop staff we learned that molds are made relative to the holes. The outside dimensions are not critical, so our Yo-Yo back mold is in good shape.
Our plan for Thursday is to make infection molded parts from the housing and back molds, and see how they fit together! We also want to test if real name brand Legos fit onto our Yo-Yo, and if our own Yo-Yo's stick to each other in a secure way. We are still hoping for a tower taller than at least two of our group members.
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