The Design and Fabrication of a Punch and Die System for 2.008 Thermoformed Parts

Abstract

As a student in 2.008, Manufacturing and Design II, our team successfully manufactured 100 identical yo-yos. Although the class is very well structured and the CNC milling, injection molding, and thermoforming in the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity (LMP) were all optimized for the class, the punch and die system was one process that was more tedious than the rest. Punches, a die, and a calibration piece were designed, fabricated, and tested to find the best clearance size and fill in the gap in documentation of punching plastics. A new, working system was successfully fabricated and assembled, and clearance size 5% was determined to have a lower margin of alignment error. The new punch system will be implemented in the LMP and used by 2.008 students.