Rapid Manufacturing Solution · Design, Machining & Assembly
Polyurethane Mold Extension System
A two-week production solution that allowed manufacturing to meet an urgent new dimensional specification while the permanent mold remained in development.
The Urgency
Production could not wait.
Updated specifications required parts 2.5 inches longer than the existing molds could produce. The permanent dual-cavity mold would take months to fabricate, while every delayed production day represented approximately $40,000 in lost revenue.
Design Strategy
Make the temporary solution easier to operate.
After reverse engineering an existing extension concept, I designed a new bottom-mounted system. Because the extensions stayed on the mold base, operators did not need to remove them during every demolding cycle.
Manufacturing Workaround
Eliminating a four-week coating delay.
The required non-stick coating had a four-week lead time. I reused coated aluminum from discontinued tooling and added Teflon tape where needed, allowing the extensions to enter service immediately.
To make the reused aluminum fit the available CNC machines, I purchased an aluminum-cutting circular saw and cut the raw plates by hand before completing the precision machining operations.
Execution
Complete ownership from stock to production.
I designed every component in SolidWorks, sourced materials, hardware, O-rings, and tooling, purchased a metal-cutting circular saw, processed the aluminum stock, machined every component in-house, and personally assembled the completed system.
The finished extensions enabled production to begin manufacturing parts that met the new specification while the permanent mold continued through development.
My Contributions
What I owned and delivered.
- Reverse engineered the existing concept and redesigned it as a bottom-mounted extension system
- Avoided the coating delay by reusing coated aluminum and developing a practical release-surface workaround
- Hand-cut the aluminum stock, machined the components, and assembled the complete system
- Delivered the project from concept to production in two weeks while protecting an estimated $40,000 per day