CREATIVITY FOR RESEARCH
The project consists in the realization of a small analogue machine for the compression moulding of plastic.
The object was made of iron and aluminium and mainly waste components were used.The mechanism of the machine is very basic: inside an iron cylinder, the lower cheek of the mould is embedded and, during the production process, it is filled with PLA pellets.
When the PLA is melted, the upper cheek of the mould is inserted on it and connected to a knob by means of a worm screw. The tubular section that allows the object to be held is attached horizontally to the worm screw. These components descend together into the iron cylinder, passing through a slot in the cylinder itself, until they lock by means of a 45° rotation.
Once the handles have been locked, it is possible to extract everything from the oven and in this way give further pressure by sliding the worm screw inside the handles themselves. When the upper cheek of the mould meets the lower one, the pressure will be sufficient and it will then be possible to leave the mould to cool down before removing the piece.
The aluminium mould has been turned and the resulting shape is a circular handle that offers more possibilities of use depending on where the thread is placed at a later date. Two diameters are available: one of 6mm and one more external of 75mm.
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The texture of the final product will be dictated by the choice of the colour of the material. In the definition phase of the project this was in fact a focal point, the aesthetic component of plastic is undoubtedly of great value, since its discovery is in fact used to replicate valuable materials such as ebony. The surface in this case will be the result of the choice of the colour of the pellet, previously divided into the various boxes, which makes the possibilities potentially infinite.