John Deere 7000 Series Engine Closure
Transportation Award
Molder: Bemis Mfg Contract Co.
Moldmaker: Triangle Tool
Designer: Henry Dreyfuss, Bill Crooks
OEM: John Deere
Description
The hood protects the engine, manages the cooling air flow, and exhaust airflow.
Why is this Part Innovative?
This hood assembly uses over 90 lbs of engineering grade plastic. The top hood, sides, and grill frame all join together to make the hood assembly. The hood enclosure also acts as an air management system that directs cooling air through the cooling package. All of the cosmetic panels are mechanically fastened together. The cosmetic hood enclosure panels are a high impact material of a matched base color and are topcoat painted so that if the paint is scratched it will be less noticeable. The top hood and side panels are all co-injection molded with a regrind core to lower cost and improve impact strength. The entire hood enclosure assembly can be stripped of any metal parts and be recycled, (paint and decals included) and used as core material for future products. The tooling for the top hood involves some very complex tool actions that have lifters inside of larger lifters that create the attachment points for the assembly and reduce the potential for sink on the cosmetic surface. This complex tooling was required to produce the part as it was designed.
Process
Two shot over molding, Injection Molding: Injection molding/two shot over molding was chosen for significant economic savings while achieving design flexibility, and very high aesthetics.
Design
Design was done using CAD
Mold flow analysis
Finite element analysis
Tooling
Steel
Number of Cavities: Top hood & grill frame are single cavities; the sides area two cavity
Material
PC/PBT for impact, heat, rigidity, and mold ability.
Finishing
Acrylic Paint and molded in color
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