GALLERY

Company JD Gear Idaho Falls, USA. produces small lights using the motto "Defeat Darkness". These lights can be clipped on a hat (hence they are called Hat light), and look a bit like a large bug: hence the name "BUG".
The light contains a small battery, a LED light, some wires and a switch. Typical target use is during outdoor sports like fishing, hiking and camping.

Left: the hat light to be produced Right: the CAD design in Rhino

The mold for this Bug has been created by Molds Direct (currently called Epiphany Plastics, LLC in Salt Lake City, USA), using DeskProto.
The geometry for this product has been designed using the Rhino 3D CAD software, and transferred to DeskProto as high-res STL file. As the accuracy of the STL file to be written can be freely chosen, it is easy to make the polygon model in the STL file accurate enough for moldmaking.

The mold: Left: the cavity Right: the core

Two separete parts are to be created: the right half and the left half, which after placing LED, battery etc can be clicked together. The pictures clearly show the differences between the two mold halves. The top half (shown left) contains the cavities. These are created by EDM machine (spark-erosion) using a DeskProto machined Electrode, and afterwards are polished for a high quality product surface. The bottom half (shown right) contains the core. The core is directly machined in steel: the toolpath marks still are clearly visible. Also note the injection channels, visible in the back.

The resulting product: Left: ready for sale Right: leaflet.