How APT Delivered a Solution:

There were a number of stages of development CISD carried out before tooling for injection moulding and manufacture:

Stage 1:

The initial 3D CAD file developed by Dublin Design Studio was taken as a template to generate a 3D CAD surface model master which would key include injection moulding features such as draft angles, split lines etc.

Stage 2:

The 3D CAD model was used to build high-quality SLA (Stereolithography) prototype parts to check for form and fit. These were also utilised for aesthetic models for marketing purposes.

Stage 3:

To ensure the flexing moving part was functioning effectively under suitable finger pressure loading and negate part failure due to fatigue and stress, structural analysis optimisation of the part was carried out with FEA (Finite Element Analysis) and verification flexing tests with CNC machined plastic components. Adjustments were made to the 3D CAD based on results and further injection moulded partial-sized samples were produced to test which proved successful.

Stage 4:

In conjunction with Irish toolmakers and Waterford based manufacturer’s Cartamundi the 3D CAD files and 2D drawings and documentation was finalised for production of the injection mould tooling. The product is currently being successfully sold worldwide.