PepsiCo Bottle Cap

The challenge: Conventional tooling lacking design freedom and speed.
The solution: 3D printed tooling enabling unseen speed and design freedom in the desired customer specific materials.

A classic bottle cap for your beloved Pepsi.
The material used for this project is PepsiCo blue HDPE.

Part Design(s)

Part Design(s)

3d render of part design for PepsiCo bottle cap.

The bottle cap often come in unique designs with the challenge being around the inner part of the cap. We preferably work with STEP files as input from our clients.

60 minutes

Mold Design(s)‍

3d render of mold design for PepsiCo bottle cap.

Next step is converting the STEP file into a mold design which is done by inverting the part into a cavity, in a block of material, and then adding the inlet gate(s) and initial venting.

The 2-part initial design allows for quick visual Quality Assurance.

24 minutes

Printed Tooling

3D printed molding tool for PepsiCo bottle cap.

The first molds were printed in a 100µm resolution. The priority here was speed.

5 minutes

Freeform Injection Molding (FIM)

Injection Molded part in 3D Printed molding tool.

The parts were molded on a 7-ton Babyplast. However, the molds work hand-in-hand with any installed base molding unit.

An aluminum mold frame was used to hold the assembled mold, cycle time per part was around 5 minutes, and 1 minute cooling time was needed after each shot.

1-4 days

Demolding‍

Final injection molded bottle cap for PepsiCo.

The Addifab alkaline solution was used for demolding these parts, over a 4 day period.

This can be time-optimized by mold re-design or by removing a part of the mold before demolding.

Total time to 1st injection molded part:
89 minutes + 1-4 days of demolding

Observations:

- The mold design is an easy process; similar to building a mold box around the design, and then make it a cavity.
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- The PepsiCo blue HDPE material filled the molds nicely in the first test rounds. We tested other materials as well such as PEEK and Carbon-filled Nylon.
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- Optimization of the demolding is recommended when running next iterations. The more material that can be removed or reused, the faster the process will be.
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- Datasheet materials were used for molding data, settings, pressure, temperatures, and more.
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- Early hands-on testing for i.e. assembly and performance using first-out-of-tool parts is valuable for most team members: materials, design, process, regulatory, and if you need to make another round of iterations, you can do these the same day.

Freeform Injection Molding
PepsiCo Bottle Cap