30,000 parts assembled by hand
A rather special ticketThe Neckar flows through people’s lives – at least in Baden-Württemberg, and particularly in Rottenburg. At the annual Neckar Festival at the end of June, 60 clubs and associations put on a packed three-day cultural programme – a highlight of the year, and not just for the people of Rottenburg. The whole region to the south-west of Stuttgart joins in the celebrations. The Neckar is an integral part of the festivities, with square rafts made from rough-hewn tree trunks providing space for music and food and drink.
The effort required of the local authority is enormous. It therefore decided, for the first time, to charge an admission fee – €5 for three days. The ticket was to be purchased only once and then worn visibly. This ruled out paper; some sort of badge was needed. The Rottenburg-based company ‘Schnittenliebe’ seemed to be the right choice for the town council; ‘Schnittenliebe’ offers 3D-printed sewing accessories – such as sewing tools, collection containers and organisation systems. The design was quickly chosen: a Neckar raft. It had to have a railing, just like real rafts, to prevent people from simply falling into the water.
In the end, the task proved too difficult for the 3D printer. There was the issue of the 30,000-piece run, which, given the leisurely pace of 3D production, threatened to tie up the printers for weeks on end. And then there was the railing, which – just as in real life – ideally should not be made of the same material as the wooden raft. Solidtec had come across ‘Schnittenliebe’ at a trade fair for additive manufacturing and enquired whether injection moulding might be the right process. Paul Bolko, project manager for mould making, took charge of the consultation. Our aluminium injection moulds bridge the gap between 3D printing and traditional steel tools, yet are much quicker to produce. The clamping force of up to 420 tonnes meets the vast majority of requirements, even for large or complex products. And the production volumes achievable with a Solidtec mould bridge the gap to standard series production runs. | They can run into the millions, yet remain cost-effective even for small runs. Depending on the complexity and required quantity, a decision is made between automation and manual work. In the case of the admission ticket, manual assembly was chosen for economic reasons. The problem was the railing. Paul Bolko wanted to avoid unsightly pull marks that would have resulted from ejecting a one-piece raft model. The railing was therefore injection-moulded flat from polypropylene , joined minimally at the bends, and fitted with high-precision locking hooks to fit the holes in the raft. Fitting it into the raft, made of wood-filled PP , only works if you do it correctly. This task was carried out with great dedication by the inmates of a prison. |
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