Using Precision Board PBHT to Make PPE

Did you know that our high-temp PBHT Precision Board Urethane is a fast and easy to use tooling substrate that is excellent for use when forming plastics parts used in medical devices, face shields and other critical PPE?  With 1 to 3 working day lead times on most standard size blocks, we can help you get your new tooling made in DAYS, not weeks.

Monster City Studios in Fresno, California, used our high-temp PBHT Precision Board to form a plastic face shield as part of a push to support hospitals and help alleviate the shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment).  They shared photos with us and their process in creating a face shield prototype using Precision Board HDU.

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UPDATE: Check out this story by the local Fresno, California ABC News station on their face shield efforts!

Monster City Studios forming plastic over the molds to make face shields / Courtesy ABC30 Action News Fresno.

From the Monster City Studios Instagram:

“Doing some prototyping after hours. Making a form for vacuum forming some hospital essential equipment. Let’s hope all goes well. We’ll see in the morning!”

Another update from their Instagram:

“Made some progress on this form today and started the next! Thanks again @coastalenterprises ! This needs just a touch of polishing before it is ready for the vacuum former.”

An update from their Facebook page:

“We now have PETG face shields with forehead protection in .030 and .060 thicknesses! Frame by PRUSA, cast by Monster City Studios.”

“We have vacuformed PETG face shields with forehead cover! Coastal Enterprises Company @healthdataengineering We can produce in quantity. Want info? info@monstercitystudios.com”

And just today (4/9/20), another update on the process on their Instagram:

“We are making face shields at MonsterCity Studios! These are vacuum formed with PETG on a mold made from @coastalenterprises 48lb precision board! First prototype came together quick. Now time to hone and speed up the process!”

Email us at hdu@precisionboard.com or contact our technical sales department at (800) 845-0745 to see how we can help and to answer any technical questions you might have about using Precision Board PBHT for forming plastic parts on PPE.  We’ll update this post with Monster City Studios progress, so check back to see how it turns out!

CR Onsrud Routed a Porsche 917k from a Precision Board Bonded Block

CR Onsrud wanted to show off their 5-axis Qube CNC machine at trade shows, so they got in touch with Coastal Enterprises to throw some ideas around.  Onsrud regularly uses Precision Board as demo material on their routers, but they wanted to really highlight the capabilities of the Qube for high-speed machining and trimming of advanced materials used for aerospace, automotive, marine, defense and pattern shops.  They decided they would fabricate a prototype of the Porsche 917k out of a custom-bonded Precision Board block live at IMTS 2018.  This is how they did it.

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While CR Onsrud sent a detailed drawing to Coastal Enterprises that laid out what the dimensions of the custom-bonded block would need to be, customers can submit anything from a rough sketch with dimensions all the way up to a detailed drawing.  We’ll design a custom bonded step-tool from that sketch or drawing, saving you material costs and routing time.

In order for Onsrud to machine the Porsche 917k shape out of the Precision Board, it would need to be 74″ x 34″ x 18″ and fabricated from PBLT-15 Precision Board Tooling Board.  Coastal would create three bonded blocks; one for testing at Onsrud’s facility in North Carolina, one for the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta and one for the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago.

According to Jeff Onsrud, Director of Sales and Business Development at CR Onsrud, “we typically will do a setup where we prove out the program and then do a final test cut at our facility.”  He added, “this ensures that there are no machining defects due to bond lines, which is important to achieving a usable mold straight off the machine.”

Onsrud did the Porsche project in collaboration with Autodesk, using their Powermill software.

The PBLT-15 Precision Board pieces were bonded together using EP-76, a two-part epoxy manufactured by Coastal Enterprises.

“We add PB Granules to the EP-76 epoxy to match the density of the material when bonding pieces together” said Chuck Miller, President of Coastal Enterprises. “This allows for smooth routing straight through the material without having to take bond-lines into account.  This also helps create an almost imperceptible bond-line in the finished piece and reduces issues associated with bond-line shrinkage and print,” he added.

When bonding custom step tools in-house, Coastal Enterprises has three adhesive options to choose from depending on the application and project requirements.  In most tooling applications we use our EP-76 Epoxy adhesive, but we also offer PB Bond 240 and PB Fastset.

The three bonded blocks were shipped to CR Onsrud who took them on the road to the IWF show last August and the IMTS show last September.  They sent us the video above from the live demonstration at IMTS of machining a Porsche 917k from a Precision Board bonded block.

Jeff added, “the Precision Board block was bonded together so tightly and the densities matched so perfectly that we didn’t even notice the bond lines when machining the material.”

CR Onsrud used their Qube CNC to rout the Precision Board with the following speeds and feeds settings:

  • Total cycle time was around 16 hours
  • Roughing feed rates were 500 inches per minute (IPM)
  • Finishing feed rates were 400 inches per minute (IPM)

And here’s another look at that Porsche 917k prototype being routed by CR Onsrud.

Of course, the fine folks at CR Onsrud had a little fun with this project, posting updates to their Instagram account throughout the process.  Our favorite is the “pretending to drive the car” photo.

The QUBE from C.R. Onsrud was developed for companies seeking 5-axis high-speed trimming and machining of advanced materials used in the aerospace, automotive, defense, marine, and pattern shop industries. This enclosed solution gives users a large work volume for machining molds, prototypes, and complex composite or thermoformed plastic parts while containing debris and isolating the operator from the machining zone and airborne particles. The machine design allows for various methods of work holding such as mechanical hold down and vacuum. Accommodation for oversized parts is achieved via removable side panels.

C.R. Onsrud, Inc. is located in Troutman, NC and specializes in 3-Axis and 5-Axis CNC Machining Centers, CNC Routers, CNC Mills, and Inverted Routers, primarily for the Composite Machining, Aerospace Industries, Plastics Routing, Hard Wood Routing, Panel Processing, Solidwood Routing, Aluminum Milling, Steel Milling, FRP machining, Composite Mold Making, Alloy Milling, Superalloy Machining, Carbon Fiber Machining, Carbon Graphite Machining, Door, Stair, Window, and Custom Millwork.

With its roots in Aerospace, Precision Board High-Density Urethane Tooling Board is specifically engineered to meet the demands of a broad range of tooling and tool making applications. Both PBLT Tooling Board (<200º F) and PBHT Tooling Board (<300º F), possess excellent machining characteristics and dimensional stability for tool making. Precision Board HDU Tooling Board is ideal for soft tooling and rapid prototyping because it can be more rapidly machined and it is more economical than alloy or epoxy-based alternatives.

Ask about our custom-bonded blocks, fast turnaround time, and sign up for our weekly e-blasts, including the monthly Tooling Tidbit (bite-size bits of info on using Precision Board).

Combining a Late Model Corvette with a 1967 Stingray: How It's Done

Classic Reflections Coachworks is proud to announce the newest addition to their lineup: the legendary 1967 Corvette Stingray. Redesigned to provide the comfort and technology of today’s Corvette while maintaining the classic look from 1967, CRC has succeeded in making an authentic-looking masterpiece.

The first step in combining a C6 Corvette and a 1967 Corvette Stingray is the concept rendering. The original Stingray Corvette and a new C6 chassis’ are individually scanned into a 3D CAD program and morphed together.

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After the datasets are combined and morphed, a design is created. It’s then time to create a physical prototype to see the new “retro” Stingray in a physical 3-D form.

Starting with a 17″ x 4′ x 10′ block of Precision Board Plus PBLT-4, CRCoachworks machines the block with their 5-axis CNC router into a 1/2 scale prototype:

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Precision Board Plus PBLT-4 is then coated with Duratec for a hard surface:

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A coat of U-Pol Automotive Primer is sprayed over the Duratec:

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Next comes a Spies Hecker Marina Blue base coat:

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The finished prototype sports a Spies Hecker clearcoat. (It’s hard to believe this entire car, including the sidepipes and windshield, is made out of Precision Board Plus HDU!)

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After completion, the final design is fine-tuned based on a visual inspection of the prototype.

According to Ron Marsden, General Manger at CRC, they chose Precision Board Plus HDU because our large block sizes and superior machining qualities offered a high-quality, cost-effective tooling solution.

Trinity Animation of Lee’s Summit, MO put together this C-6 to Corvette Stingray animation using and V-Ray software.

The first full-size CRC Corvette Stingray is currently 90% finished. Once complete, we will be posting pictures of what we are sure will turn out to be a beautiful car!

For the complete turnkey package, a 2013 CRC Corvette Stingray can be your very own for the grand price of $205,000. Have questions? Visit http://www.crcoachworks.com.

Previously, CRC specialized in turning late-model Corvettes into primarily 1958-1962 new “retro” Corvettes. Be sure to take a look at our previous blog if you would like to see the step-by-step transformation.

CRC currently produces 2 CRC Corvettes a month and is in process of moving to a larger location to increase production capability.

Coastal Enterprises would like to thank Ron Marsden for providing information, photos and insight into this innovative process.