Molding methods, molds and products
First Claim
1. A method of manufacturing plates that are assembleable in a stack to provide a mold to form a fastener product that has an array of closely-spaced hook members of desired form, the hook members being of a height less than 0.02 inch and integrally formed with a sheet form base, the plates having predetermined portions removed to form cavities of desired form in the plate, the plates being adapted to be assembled in a predetermined relationship so that the cavities define molding cavities for the array of hook members, the method comprisingapplying a photoresist material to at least one side of a chemical-etchable plate;
- exposing the photoresist material to light in a predetermined pattern wherein the pattern is based on said desired form of said hook members and the pattern deviates from the profile of said desired form to compensate for the shaping properties of a subsequent chemical etchant application;
removing a portion of the photoresist material which portion is determined based, at least in part, on the exposure to light through said predetermined pattern; and
applying a chemical etchant to the plate thereby dissolving the portions of the plate exposed to the chemical and creating said cavities.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of manufacturing plates assembleable in a stack to provide a mold to form fastener elements includes applying a photoresist material to at least one side of the plate. The photoresist material is exposed to light. Portions of the photoresist material are removed based on the light exposure. Acid is applied to the plate, dissolving portions of the plate exposed to the acid and creating cavities.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing plates that are assembleable in a stack to provide a mold to form a fastener product that has an array of closely-spaced hook members of desired form, the hook members being of a height less than 0.02 inch and integrally formed with a sheet form base, the plates having predetermined portions removed to form cavities of desired form in the plate, the plates being adapted to be assembled in a predetermined relationship so that the cavities define molding cavities for the array of hook members, the method comprising
applying a photoresist material to at least one side of a chemical-etchable plate; -
exposing the photoresist material to light in a predetermined pattern wherein the pattern is based on said desired form of said hook members and the pattern deviates from the profile of said desired form to compensate for the shaping properties of a subsequent chemical etchant application; removing a portion of the photoresist material which portion is determined based, at least in part, on the exposure to light through said predetermined pattern; and applying a chemical etchant to the plate thereby dissolving the portions of the plate exposed to the chemical and creating said cavities. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24)
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22. A method of forming cavities in the side of a mold plate adapted to be assembled with other plates in a predetermined relationship to define a mold for integrally molding an array of fastener hook members of a height less than about 0.020 inch extending from a sheet form base, the cavities defining hook member molding cavities when the plates are assembled;
- the method comprising
applying a photoresist material to a side of the mold plate; providing a compensated mask defining a shaped, pointed mask aperture corresponding to each cavity; exposing a predetermined portion of the photoresist material to light through the mask apertures of the compensated mask; removing a portion of the photoresist material to expose regions of the plate corresponding to the desired cavities, which portion is determined based on the exposure to light; and applying a chemical etchant to the plate to dissolve plate material at the exposed regions to form said cavities.
- the method comprising
Specification