Living Hinge
Submitted by Serv Goyal on Mon, 06/15/2009 - 1:37pm
I am working on a design that includes a stack of 8 plastic flaps (Material PP, 6" x 2", Thickness= 0.060). These flaps need to be hinged along the 2" side and each flap should open at 160 - 180 degree. I have done some crude experiments with living hinge.
Hinge operation: Start the whole stack at one side, start hinging to the other side one flap at a time.
Problem: From the prototype I tried, after two or three flaps, subsequent flaps can't be moved to the other side at the desired angle.
It seems like hinge needs to be almost 1/4" - 1/2" wide for each sheet to open at 180 degree, but this might weaken the hinge.
I'll appreciate any suggestions on how to make it work. Thanks,
Comments
Living hinge
Jordan Rothesier is a good expert on living hinges, so I would contact him for specifics. I seem to remember that he has some specifics on how to make sure that the hinge is stressed immediately after the molding process, before the part is completely cooled, to assure optimum performance. Contact him via the member directory or the consultant's on-line directory.