Forming plastics.

[Windy in Kansas]

I really don't like the Kozy-Coats or Wall-O-Water plant protectors/season extenders. http://foxyurl.com/NNy

I have an idea for a product of similar concept, i.e. holding water and fitting around a plant. There are specialty plastic shops in Wichita that make small runs of products to ones needs. I would at least like to check into the cost of what I have in mind---probably cost prohibitive, but I'll never know without checking.

Some questions---what is the mold made of for the plastic to be formed around? Metal or ??? What I'm getting at is--if I made a fiberglass cloth/resin model could it be used to form the end product? At least I'm assuming vacuum forming rather than injection molding.

The plastic will have to be transparent or translucent and of course UV stabilized to prevent deterioration for as long as possible. Sort of like the 3 liter soft drink bottle plastic but I don't know if it is stabilized to sun.

Total physical size would be a little smaller than a 5 gallon bucket, any idea what the cost of plastic might be for something like that?

Pipe dream perhaps, but worth thinking about in my mind. Thanks.

[tinknal]

The plastic itself is cheap. The tooling to make it can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

[Windy in Kansas]

Was thinking about it after I went to bed last night.

Sort of like a ring gelatin mold with taller sides and of a larger diameter. Kind of like a 5 gallon bucket bottom heated and then pushed in the center toward the top. Think bundt pan too with larger center opening to accommodate the plant.

Was afraid that cost would be key. Design to facilitaty stacking the other.

[raybait1]

I've done a good deal of work in and around the plastic industry. If the product needs to me formed by injection, like tink said the mold alone can cost many thousands of dollars. A procedure called thermoforming can be much cheaper. In thermoforming a plastic sheet is heated and then sucked down into a mold. I have seen these types of molds made of plywood and bondo. It all really depends on your design as to which method would work best.

You may talk to a small independent manufacturer and work out some sort of partnership if they like your idea.

[Windy in Kansas]

I think that the thermoforming will work if the plastic can stretch that far without getting too thin. Saw a sign being made years ago with the process and I was certainly fascinated by it. I know that there are home built units but I wouldn't know where to start nor to get material.

Expect I'll speak to a Wichita company that does small batch jobs to learn what they can tell me.