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Manufacturing Mold for 'iPad Pro' Rear Shell or Dummy Unit Shown in New Photo
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These molds are actually way heavier than they look. And they are expensive as well.
And they are mounted vertically in a machine with very constraint space, so there not much you can do without at least a forklift:
I worked in a factory that used injection moulding to create automotive parts and we usually used the overhead crane to change the molds.
I use my Air and Air 2 for music production, so yeah, I would love a bigger, more powerful iPad.
It's a fixture, not a mold
Fixture's hold materials and/or in-process parts during various processes, such as and in this case, machining.
As a tease, I'm all in.
Fixture's hold materials and/or in-process parts during various processes, such as and in this case, machining.
As a tease, I'm all in.
fake.
I'm sure it is a genuine mold that has nothing to do with the iPad.
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Or a Nexus 7 mold?
I don't agree. Perspectives are correct. Very difficult to pull off on a paste job.
Forklift forks come in pretty standard width sizes over there... 100mm, 125mm, 150mm, etc...
And this doesn't necessarily need to be for the iPad itself, this could be for a plastic case...
Beyond all that...
This mold could be for anything... on the left side there is a bit of an extra relief that makes it look like this is the top half of a laptop with that relief being for the hinge...
If this really comes out I want to pick up a few for kiosks and POS systems.
I still prefer my mini for my personal usage.
I still prefer my mini for my personal usage.
Why on God's green Earth would Apple make an "iBoard" that's bigger than a MacBook Air?!?
Can someone please tell me that?
Can someone please tell me that?
That is a good question. Apple is sometimes confused here because they have claimed that Mac Mini is CNC'ed but that case looks die cast. Then again some die cast machines are CNC'd.
Injection molding commonly called die casting. For volume manufacturing die casting is the way to go if the part is amendable to that approach. The iPad shell is awfully thin for aluminum die casting so I'm not convinced yet that this is what Apple is doing.
Besides all of that we don't even know if this die is for metal, it could be a solution for plastics.
Actually anybody familiar with iron in a gym should realize just how heavy these dies are. 30 some od years ago I started work in a factory die casting zinc. Die changes sometimes required whole teams to get the job done. Even a relatively small die for a try part can weigh in at hundreds of pounds.
We at the time die casted just about everything, even did a carburetor body. Frankly foundries are a dangerous place I was actually glad to leave when I got a job someplace else. Of course ever plant has its own safety focus but I must say I'm far more comfortable with plastic molding.
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It isn't low tech it is industrial. Modern machinery often comes with control systems that are brilliant in their use of technology. That technology is often lock away in very rigid metal cabinets to protect them from the industrial environment.
What is interesting about this picture, beyond its low quality, is that there is little context. That is we don't know if this is a molding room, die repair room or something else.
What I do see in the picture has me questioning its value though. For one the apparent mating half to the die, in the back ground, looks oddly deep in the cavity area. Maybe that background part doesn't go with this mold but that just makes the whole picture even more odd.
see i tried dabbling in that but i just cant step away from OSX and working on a true daw with all my plugins.
Not even close, lol.
Um, I highly doubt that mold has anything to do with any iteration of an iPad. I do contract CAD/CAM work for mold OEM's among other things. If you look closely and compare the size of the cavity detail compared to the size of the lift's forks it is easy to determine this is not a mold associated with the iPad line.
Unless there is a new iPad called something like "iPad Pro, Godzilla Edition" then I may be off the mark.
Um, I highly doubt that mold has anything to do with any iteration of an iPad. I do contract CAD/CAM work for mold OEM's among other things. If you look closely and compare the size of the cavity detail compared to the size of the lift's forks it is easy to determine this is not a mold associated with the iPad line.
Unless there is a new iPad called something like "iPad Pro, Godzilla Edition" then I may be off the mark.
I'm far from an expert on this but my understanding is that die casted metal (aluminum in particular) is much weaker than milled metal, as bubbles tend to form inside the metal along with other weakness from variation in density.
This is what makes LiquidMetal so special, it can be molded into any shape while retaining its metal-like strength.
Apple will know a way to add exclusive features to it so you or at least a considerable amount of people will want it.
You know, similar to how the iPhone 6+ has features not found on the smaller iPhone 6.
Glassed Silver:mac
Unless Apple does something groundbreaking with the software, I have no interest in a larger iPad (or any of the iPads Apple currently has).
well imagine if the iPad pro got one incremental step closer to that 'desktop experience.' how can people not see that this progress is interesting to a lot of different people who use this tool in thousands of different ways? a tool is a tool. it's not called 'johns tool' or 'sallys tool' when it's on the shelf. johnny and sally make it their own when they buy it - the manufacturer does not. is it really that hard to realize there are entire categories of functionalities tablets offer that many people simply don't use? "zomg, what are they bumping the camera specs for, nobody but annoying tourists use a tablet camera!"
seriously? these people are joking, right? they're just clearly broadcasting how limited their imaginations (or observational skills) are when they wonder out loud "what's the point" of changes and improvements. how they somehow completely 'forget' how many different personalities use these things is a total mystery to me.