Design for Manufacturing

Chapter 4
Professor Joseph Greene
All rights reserved
Copyright 2000
 Design for Manufacturing
• Cost for manufacturing item is dependent upon
– Type of machining operation: use general purpose
– Material selection: use common materials
– Production quantities: higher quantities = lower cost
– Design changes: keep the number small
– Dimensional accuracy: keep tolerances generous where
allowable
• CNC Factors versus manual methods
– Lead time is reduced
– Complex parts routinely produced
– Optimize process conditions for feed rates and speeds
– Math data taken right from computer to cutter
 History of DFM
• Principles of DFM are not new.
– Awareness of importance of designing parts for easy
manufacturing is key for all time.
– Difference is in the use of standards and design guides
during the beginning stages of the design and not later.
• Eli Whitney (early 1800’s)
– Made use of standardizing the design of the lock on the
musket so that interchangeable parts could be used
– Before him, all muskets were made by craftsmen and no
two muskets were the same or used the same parts.
– His parts were built to specs and a tolerances
– He organized a mass production process for locks
 History of DFM
• Henry Ford
– Extensive use of the assembly line
• Simplify the manual assembly operation into a series of short-
cycle repetitive steps
– Concept of Model T revolutionized automobile industry
• Simplicity in operation
• Absolute reliability
• High quality of materials used
• Easy serviceability
• Value analysis and value engineering
– GE (1950’s and 1960’s)sponsored research to design
parts with and evaluation of design alternatives based
upon value analysis early in the design stage.
 History of DFM
• Use of standards
– ASME Metals Division (1958) published information on
various manufacturing processes and guidelines.
– Book edited by Richard Bolz who organized the DFM
methodology
– DFM was originally called producibility (1960’s) and
then manufacturability (1970’s) and then Design for
Manufacturability (1985)
– Design for Assembly(1968)
• Boothroyd and Redford studied automatic assembly
– Minimize number of parts in assembly
» Combine parts
» Eliminate nonessential parts
» Make full redesign of assembly
 DFM Principles
• Use of standards
• Use of common components
• Design to specifications and tolerances
• Use of manufacturing guidelines in the early stages
of design that maximize quality of manufactured
part
• Minimize the use of materials
• Minimize the use of floor space in plant
• Locate all necessary components near functional
operation
• Use of automated machining for minimal errors
 DFM for Injection Molding
• Typical characteristics of injection molding
 DFM for Injection Molding
• Effects of shrinkage
– Parts are designed with shrinkage included early in the
design and before tool build
• Shrink rates for common materials
Material Max Shrinkage
– Acetal 2.5%
– Acrylic 0.8%
– ABS 0.8%
– Nylon 1.5%
– PC 0.7%
– PE 5.0%
– PP 2.5%
– PS 0.6%
– PVC rigid 0.5%
– PVC flexible 5.0%
 DFM for Injection Molding
• Effects of shrinkage
– Sink marks Fig 6.2.3
– Closing of U-shaped section Fig 6.2.3
– Curving of flat surfaces Fig 6.2.3
• Suitable materials
– Physical properties- Table 6.2.2
 DFM for Injection Molding
• Design Guidelines
– Gate and Ejector pin locations
• Edge, Fan, Submarine, Flash, Tunnel, Ring, Diaphragm, disk,
or sprue gate (Fig 6.2.6)
• Not on a show surface
• Not near a structural member or hole or fastener
• Minimize flow length
• Minimize the number of weld lines
• Gate thick to thin
• Gate types: Fig 6.2.6
– Suggested wall thickness- Table 6.2.3
• Have constant wall thickness in part
• Have transitions from thick to thin regions if have different
thickness. Have gentle no sharp transitions
 DFM for Injection Molding
• Design Guidelines
– Holes
– Holes are possible with slides but can cause weld lines
– Min spacing between two holes or a hole and a sidewall should be 1D
(Fig 6.2.9)
– Should be located 3D or more from the edge of a part to min stresses
– Through hole is preferred to a blind hole because core pin that produces
hole can be supported at both ends and is less likely to bend
– Holes in bottom of part are better than holes in side, which requires
retractable core pins
– Blind holes should not be more than 2D deep. (Fig 6.2.11)
– Use steps to increase the depth of a deep blind hole (Fig 6.2.11)
– For through holes, cutout sections in the part can shorten the length of a
small-diameter pin.
– Use overlapping and offset mold cavity projections instead of core pins
to produce holes parallel to the die parting line (Perpendicular to the
mold-movement direction)
 DFM for Injection Molding
• Design Guidelines
– Ribs
• Ribs should be thinner
 Sprue Guidelines
• The sprue must not freeze before any other
cross section. This is necessary to permit
sufficient transmission of holding pressure.
• The
Dco tmax sprue
+ 1.5 mm
must de-mold easily and reliably.
Ds  Dn + 1.0 mm
  1º - 2º
tan  = Dco - Ds / 2L
 Runner
• Common runners Guidelines
– Full-round runner
– Trapezoidal runner
– Modified trapezoidal runner (a combination of round and
trapezoidal runner)
– Half-round runner
– Rectangular runner
 Gate Design
• Gate Design Overview
– Single vs. multiple gates
• Single gate is usually desirable because multiple gates have
weld lines
– Gate dimension
• The gate thickness is usually two-thirds the part thickness.
• The gate thickness controls packing time
• Chose a larger gate if you're aiming for appearance, low
residual stress, and better dimensional stability.
– Gate location
• Position the gate away from load-bearing areas.
• Position the gate away from the thin section areas, or regions of
 Gate
• Gate Design Overview Design
– Gate Types
• Manually trimmed
– Requires an operator to separate parts from runners during a secondary
operation
– Types include sprue, tab, edge, overlap, fan, disk, ring, film, diaphragm,
spider
• Automatically trimmed gates
– Automatically trimmed gates incorporate features in the tool to break or
shear the gate
– Should be used to
» Avoid gate removal as a secondary operation
» Maintain consistent cycle times for all shots
» Minimize gate scars
– Types include Pin, Submarine, hot-runner, and valve
 Gate Design
• Design Rules
– Gate location
• Should be at the thickest area of the part, preferably at a spot where the
function and appearance of the part are not impaired
• Should be central so that flow lengths are equal to each extremity of the part
• Gate symmetrically to avoid warpage
• Vent properly to prevent air traps
• Enlarge the gate to avoid jetting
• Position weld and meld lines carefully
– Gate Length
• Gate length should be as short as possible to reduce an excessive pressure
drop across the gate. Ranges from 1 to 1.5 mm (0.04 to 0.06 inches)
• The gate thickness is normally 50 to 80 percent of the gated wall section
thickness. Pin and submarine gates range from 0.25- 2.0 mm (0.01”- 0.08”)
• The freeze-off time at the gate is the max effective cavity packing time.
• Fiber-filled materials require larger gates to minimize breakage of the fibers
 Boosting structural integrity with ribs
• Structural integrity: the goal of every design
– The major component of designing for structural integrity, in many
cases, is to design the structure to be stiff enough to withstand
expected loads. Increasing the thickness to achieve this is self-
defeating, since it will:
• Increase part weight and cost proportional to the increase in thickness.
• Increase molding cycle time required to cool the larger mass of material.
• Increase the probability of sink marks.
– Well-designed ribs can overcome these disadvantages with only a marginal increase
in part weight.
• Typical uses for ribs
– Covers, cabinets and body components with long, wide surfaces that must have good
appearance with low weight.
– Rollers and guides for paper handling, where the surface must be cylindrical.
– Gear bodies, where the design calls for wide bearing surfaces on the center shaft and
on the gear teeth.
– Frames and supports.
 Ribs Design Rules
• Keep part thickness as thin and uniform as possible.
– This will shorten the cycle time, improve dimensional stability, and
eliminate surface defects. .
– If greater stiffness is required, reduce the spacing between ribs,
which enables you to add more ribs.
• Rib geometry
– Rib thickness, height, and draft angle are related: excessive thickness
will produce sinks on the opposite surface whereas small thickness
and too great a draft will thin the rib tip too much for acceptable
filling.
– Ribs should be tapered (drafted) at one degree per side.
• Less draft can be used, to one-half degree per side, if the steel that forms the
sides of the rib is carefully polished.
• The draft will increase the rib thickness from the tip to the root, by about
0.175 mm per centimeter of rib height, for each degree of draft angle.
• The maximum recommended rib thickness, at the root, is 0.8 times the
thickness of the base to which it is attached.
• The typical root thickness ranges from 0.5 to 0.8 times the base thickness.
 Recommended Rib Design Parameters.
• See Figure 1 for recommended design parameters.
 Ribs Design Rules
• Location of ribs, bosses, and gussets
– Ribs aligned in the direction of the mold opening are the least expensive design
option to tool.
– As illustrated in Figure 1, a boss should not be placed next to a parallel wall;
instead, offset the boss and use gussets to strengthen it.
– Gussets can be used to support bosses that are away from the walls. The same
design rules that apply for ribs also apply for gussets.
• Alternative configurations
– As shown in Below, ribs can take the shape of corrugations.
– The advantage is that the wall thickness will be uniform and the draft angle can
be placed on the opposite side of the mold, thereby avoiding the problem of the
thinning rib tip.
– Honeycomb ribbing attached to a flat surface provides excellent resistance to
bending in all directions.
– A hexagonal array of interconnected ribs will be more effective than a square
array,with the same volume of material in the ribs.