Hello Friends,

I'm not really that interested in car design, but this seems to be a good place to come for help with my current problem. I am trying to get clear copies made of a set of orange indicator lenses. There is no aftermarket alternative, and I will probably stuggle to shift more than 10 sets. At the moment, I'm looking to make 2 sets.

Do you think I stand a chance of finding a plastics company who would copy these for me, and does anyone have any suggestions regarding where I should look?

cheers

Tom

 

Re: ndicator plastic moulding

They could be machined. You may also want to look into a company that does urethane molding. With the latter process, they take a positive (what you want them to copy), and create a rubber mold around it. The mold could last 20-30 cycles depending on the part. Here is a link to a vendor I have used with spectacular results. They also have the ability to ramp up to large volumes.

http://www.mackprototype.com/

Where are you located?

-Mark

 

Definitely go urethane casting if you're looking into making more than a few sets. I imagine if you're want to imitate a lens you'll probably go with a lexan (polycarbonate)-like urethane so you can get a nice clear result.

As mark mentioned, the results can really be spectacular. I've got a sample of a urethane casting that is almost perfectly transparent.

As far as prices go, it's tough to estimate without knowing the size of the parts. Some custom buttons the size of a marble cost me ~400 to SLA the master and use it to make the mold. Each unit was then about 20 bucks or so after.

If it gets much bigger, the mold could cost up to 1000.

Definitely check out Mack. For the sake of getting the best quote you might also want to look at Forecast3D and dynacept. It sounds like what you're doing is pretty standard... you might just want to go with the lowest cost.

 

Hi Tom,

You could certainly do a cast urethane mold from your samples, and get up to 20-25 clear urethane shots from each mold.

Here are some links to photos of transparent cast urethane parts we have made:

 

The mold is also depending on the part. If you would like reputable product or service, you have to use top quality tooling.I have also great experiene in this field.