Subject:
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Re: Monorail track molds? Factory visits?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.dear-lego
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Followup-To:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Fri, 18 Jan 2002 23:54:23 GMT
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Viewed:
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2933 times
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You might be right if the molds are rigid.
It could be done in 2 parts if the mold is flexible like vulcanized rubber
or silicon (or low-tech like Knox gelatin and anitfreeze, or even hot glue).
They were injected from the center top, you can see where the sprue is/was
on a long straight. I dont see any other seams, flashing or other sprue
nubs. That leads me to believe it was done in a 2 part flexible mold, one
for top and sides, one for underneath bottom. When it cooled the bottom was
pulled off and the top twisted like an ice cube tray and they plop on to the
conveyor belt or whatever takes them away. Fine tooth gearing like the top
of the track and the side studs would wreak havok on a flexible mold after
time and it would have to be recast after a "short" x-ammount of postitives
were made. From my experience with mold casting if you are creating mass
multiple positives you want the mother mold down to 1 or 2 parts, being
easier to recast it than spend the extra time in the release and clean up
(flashing & sprues) phase for all the rest. Seeing the pictures of the
factory in the DK book, the whole process is automated and might require a
special machine to deal with a 3 part mold. I put follow-up in .general in
case anyone wants to add.
I think my rambling has taken up enough space here in .dear-lego.
Anyone ever visited a Lego factory? Are there tours or anything?
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