I’ve Made Plastic Products
At RIT I took advanced graduate courses in subjects pertaining to plastic products, such as MCET.583 Plastics Product Design and MCET.574 Plastics & Composite Materials.
This design is from the former, where I was entrusted with the design and modelling of a cabinet intended to be manufactured completely using injection molding.
FEA Deformation
FEA was performed on the load bearing components with a distributed load of 500lb The majority of the structure showed minimal deformation, but the center of the top shelf did show a relatively significant deformation of approximately 8.6mm. If future revisions were made, I would likely add struts connecting to the legs and thicken them in order to provide more stability- since the top shelf was already extremely thick and hard to mold.
Moldflow Simulation
All components were simulated in Moldflow to verify compatibility with the injection molding process. Analysis included knit line simulation, fill times, and prediction of air pockets.
Designed for Manufacturing
The entire assembly included proper drafting, thicknesses, and consideration of parting lines in order to optimize for the injection molding process. Friction fits were designed for the legs, and the entire assembly uses zero fasteners and only snap fits.