Component/System Design  |  Mold/Tooling Design  |  Molded vs. Machined Features

Component / System Design

New Design  

CCS likes the opportunity to work on new design efforts with customers to ensure that end-item configuration complements the selected material and manufacturing process.

CCS utilizes Pro/Engineer (V20/2000i) for all design, tooling and documentation effort.  Your 2D or 3D concepts and notes are readily imported and then manipulated to facilitate compression molding.

The tube end fitting shown here used to be a 1 piece titanium machining.  The two piece design was developed by CCS to work with the selected material and minimize the tooling costs.

Conversions from Metal  

The huge potential for weight reduction, coupled with our extensive design capabilities and experience, make metallic conversion very successful projects at CCS Composites.  We pride ourselves in our ability to help our customers succeed.

The satellite waveguide support shown here helped the customer reduce payload by more than 1Kg.

Build to Print   

CCS will readily tackle a build-to-print application.  To ensure accuracy, CCS will utilize your IGES or STEP geometry file to generate a solid model for tool design.  If you are limited to 2D design information, CCS will most often generate a 3D model to support tooling and part fabrication.

The battery wedge set shown here is an example of parts that were regenerated at CCS to ensure accurate fit of the parts prior to the tool design and fabrication effort.

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Mold / Tooling Design

Simple, Singe Direction  

A majority of the molds designed at CCS operate in a uni-directional fashion.  Shape of the part and material selection will determine the ejection system required.

These are some examples of common, single-direction molds.

More Complex, Dual Action

CCS has begun the development of Multi-Directional closing molds to eliminate knit lines, control fiber flow and assist with mold charge loading.

The example shown below is our most recent design to investigate and quantify the bearing strengths of molded holes in flanged designs.

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Manufacturing Options - Molded vs. Machined Features

In the arena of compression molding, sometimes it is not always prudent to mold every detail; many times, secondary operations are required.  CCS has a good understanding of molding and material flow and can provide input into answering these options.

Feature complexity will many times determine which process is selected.  However, of most importance is the release from the mold once the part is fabricated.  While even the most complex geometry can ultimately be formed, one has to determine if the increased tooling costs are warranted.

Finally, with composite moldings comes the question of co-molded inserts or secondary installed hardware.   Based on the design and quantity to be fabricated, CCS can recommend which way will be the most effective.  In either case, CCS can accomplish both techniques.

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