GALLERY

An application for which DeskPoto is very suited is thermoforming: applying a heated sheet of plastic over a mold, using vacuum (or in fact atmospheric pressure) to press the sheet against the mold. DeskProto-user WAA Groep in Venlo, NL, applies thermoforming to manufacture custom packaging for a large number of clients. Using thin transparent sheet, WAA mainly produces blister packaging, where the product inside is clearly visible.

Thermoforming mold, and the resulting packaging that was created using this mold.

As molds for thermoforming have only one side (the other side of the product is created by air pressure) and as undercuts are not allowed, these molds are relatively easy to manufacture. WAA in fact uses two different molds: one rapid mold in tooling board for a prototype series, and later a production mold in aluminum for the large series. The prototype mold has to be created very quickly, hence DeskProto is used. The production mould are later created on a different department, using different machine and software tools.

The mold: Left: with the formed product Right: detail (undercut).

Though basically undercuts are nor permitted, in practice some are nevertheless possible. An undercut is an area where the cutter (of a 3 axis machine) cannot reach because of overhanging geometry. Such area in the mold means that the product cannot be removed from the mold when it's ready.
Still with some small undercuts it remains possible to remove the product from the mold. See the illustration above (right): the bulb and hole on the side of the pack correspond, and after closing lock into each other to keep the box closed. They have been machined using manual control, as DeskProto does not support undercuts. This is quite easy: using a real ball-formed cutter, with the ball attached to a thinner shaft.

The resulting packaging. It remains closed because of the locks.

Being able to send the prototype series (a few thousands of products) to the client very quickly, has given the WAA Groep an important competitive advantage over other suppliers.