What do You Know about The Parts of Thermoforming Machines?

What do You Know about The Parts of Thermoforming Machines?

Thermoforming offers several advantages over other manufacturing methods. It is a cost-effective process, particularly for large-scale production runs, as it requires less expensive tooling compared to processes like injection molding. Thermoforming also provides design flexibility, allowing for the creation of complex shapes, undercuts, and texture variations. In a complex unit,  different parts are involved. These include:

A typical multi-station plastic thermoforming machine is also composed of several sections known as stations. These sections work together to ensure a continuous production line:

-In-feed system
-Heating station
-Forming and cooling station
-Trimming/cutting equipment
-Stacking Station
-Out-feed system

The thermoforming machine parts in more detail, including the different options for each part.

In-feed System

This is the plastic sheet loading system. It’s usually either sheet-fed or roll-fed and manual or automatic. 

A sheet fed system uses cut plastic sheets and is most suited for thick gauge plastic or low-volume production. A roll-fed system uses a continuous roll of plastic film, and suits thin-gauge plastic best.

In a manual loading system, a plastic thermoforming machine operator manually places plastic sheets into the machine. 

An automatic sheet-fed thermoformer utilizes a robotic system (usually air actuated) to introduce cut thermoforming plastic sheets into the machine. 

Heating Station

Heating the thermoplastic sheet to its forming temperature is a critical step in thermoforming. This part of the chapter will explain the different heating methods, including infrared, convection, and radiant heating, and their respective advantages and considerations. It will also discuss the importance of achieving uniform heating to ensure consistent forming results.

Forming and Cooling Station

The forming and cooling stages determine the final shape and dimensions of the thermoformed part. A thermoforming mold is the object that the plastic sheet will be pressed against and can be heated to level of heat that is necessary to form the sheet. It’s usually either positive/male, or negative/female. A positive mold assumes a convex shape, while a negative mold takes a concave shape.

Different materials may be used to make thermoforming molds. These include wood, plaster, aluminum, and even plastic. Aluminum provides one of the best molds. Its heating and cooling is easy to control for shorter cycle times and products of better quality. Aluminum molds are also easy to make.

Trimming and Stacking Station

After forming and cooling, the thermoformed parts require trimming and finishing to remove excess material and achieve the desired shape and aesthetics.

Out-feed system

The outfeed system of a thermoforming machine is used to remove the formed product from the mould and for subsequent processing. The outfeed system usually consists of a manipulator, a feed table and a conveyor belt, where the manipulator is usually used to take out the product from the mould, and the feed table is used to feed the product into the packaging line or on the conveyor belt.