Appliance Design - September 2007 - (Page 56) DECORATION FLEXIBILITY WITH FILM Film-insert-molding is used to decorate mobile phones. Insert molding innovations provide new design opportunities. by tim wright Tim Wright is business manager for IMD at MacDermid Autotype, Rolling Meadows, Ill. 56 applianceDESIGN September 2007 here are numerous options for decorating plastic parts. Designers looking for a flexible, cost-effective method should take a close look at filminsert molding (FIM), which can be used on profiles or three-dimensional components in a wide range of applications. Typical uses of FIM include fascia panels, lenses, keypads and moldings found on consumer appliances, mobile phones and telecommunications equipment, medical systems, public information terminals and automotive trim and dashboard panels. FIM offers design engineers a number of important benefits over traditional methods of product decoration, most of which are effectively post-mold processes. By comparison with spray painting, laser etching, appliqué, Aquagraphics or pad printing, for example, FIM can significantly reduce the number of production stages and component parts, thereby cutting both production time and cost, while improving the qual- T ity, complexity and durability of finished products. Perhaps as importantly, FIM also offers greater flexibility, in terms of design and manufacturing options for shallow and deeply drawn profiles, which enables original and often innovative designs to be considered. The process can be used to produce both short and long production runs without cost penalties. The FIM process involves four steps: printing, forming, trimming and molding. First, the part or component graphics are screen printed onto the underside of a special hard-coated film, with the screen tooling designed to maximize the number of parts on each sheet. The printed sheets are then transferred to a vacuum, pressure or thermoforming press, where they are formed to the exact shape of the components being made, with the upper or outer side of film effectively becoming the outer side of the finished component. The sheet is trimmed and individual www.applianceDESIGN.com http://www.appliancedesign.com
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