Gettin' Jiggy Widdit -> Squeezing Plastic Pieces Into Brackets

I'm prototyping more stuff at TechShop.

Since I need some plastic brackets, I decided to make them consistently to my specs by building a jig to make the bending go smoothly.

Of Course... I like to use MDF to build stuff, so I based my design on 1/4" MDF to be laser cut. I used Autodesk Inventor 2014 for the whole design process.

Step 1: I Made the Mold Body and Ram

I will include a copy of the file I used to cut these.

Reality is, though, if you would like to reproduce the jig, you'll need to tweak some of the rectangles to match with your MDF thickness.

Here you can see the face of the mold, and the rear end of the driving ram that will shape the heated plastic into a bracket with two flanges.

I made an alignment channel in the base, and a slide which attaches to the ram and slides down the channel.

The second photo shows the ram and slide assembly.

Step 2: The Base Accommodates the Ram Slide, and Holds the Mold

This top view shows the whole assembly, and the details of how the parts go together.

The splines I used to attach the different layers together are 1" long, and 2, 3, 4, and 5 thicknesses (MDF thickness) wide to fit into the appropriate slots.

Step 3: Here Are All the Pieces...

In this shot, you can see all the pieces, and an approximate layout of their locations.

Yup. That's my foot and my usb-stick that holds my files...

Step 4: Here's the File That Generates the Pieces

Step 5: Notes on the Point That Holds the Plastic

I may have to modify this part a bit. I found that it wears down pretty easily.

For now, I will not glue it in, so I can easily replace it as need be...