Reinforced thin-shell molds
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorEric Kuo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and a system for forming a polymeric resin mold for molding plastic items, wherein the method includes: (a) using a rapid-prototyping process to create a polymeric resin shell having a configuration in the form of the mold; (b) introducing a reinforcing material into the shell; and (c) curing the shell. The system includes a rapid-prototyping apparatus that creates a plurality of the polymeric resin shells on a platform; a reinforcing material introduction apparatus that introduces a reinforcing material into each of the shells while the shells are on the platform to form a plurality of uncured molds on the platform; and a curing apparatus that cures the shells while they are on the platform.
Claims20
A method of making a plurality of polymeric resin molds, comprising:
- (a) providing a platform having a top surface defining an array of predefined mold locations, a bottom surface, and a plurality of filling apertures extending from the bottom surface to the top surface, wherein each of the mold locations registers with and is accessed by at least one of the filling apertures;
- (b) forming a plurality of polymeric resin mold shells on the top surface of the platform using a rapid prototyping process, each of the mold shells being formed at one mold location of the array of the predefined mold locations;
- (c) introducing a reinforcing material into each of the mold shells by delivering the reinforcing material through the filling apertures;
- and
- (d) curing the mold shells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.