Methods for manufacturing golf club heads

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a golf club head includes a weaving step, a setting step, a molding step, and a demolding step. In the weaving step, a woven fabric is woven from multiple fiber bundles along multiple axes. In the setting step, the resin-impregnated woven fabric is fitted onto an inner mold, and then the woven fabric and the inner mold are placed into a die. In the molding step, the die is pressurized and heated, and gas or liquid is injected into the inner mold to inflate it. In the demolding step, the die is opened, and the inner mold is removed after depressurization, thereby obtaining a golf club head. This method eliminates the need for layering pre-impregnated materials as in conventional methods, and the inner mold can apply force from the inside of the woven fabric outwards, directly molding the entire golf club head, resulting in high molding precision and significantly simplified processes.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a method for manufacturing a golf club component, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a golf club head made of composite materials. Prior Technology

[0002] Currently, common composite material products are made by laminating multiple layers of sheet-like composite materials to a certain thickness to form a plate, then impregnating it with resin to create a prepreg. Finally, the prepreg is placed in a mold and heated and pressurized to allow the resin to harden and form the product. However, most current molds are two-piece designs, meaning that pressure can only be applied to the prepreg in opposite directions along the same axis. This makes them unsuitable for complex shapes requiring multi-directional pressure. Consequently, current golf club heads are often disassembled into multiple parts, manufactured separately according to the above steps, and then assembled. This complex manufacturing process leads to low efficiency and requires multiple molds. Furthermore, the aforementioned process of laminating multiple composite materials is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, thus leaving room for improvement. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a simple manufacturing method for golf club heads with complex shapes that can be produced in one step.

[0004] Therefore, the method for manufacturing a golf club head according to the present invention includes a weaving step, a setting step, a molding step, and a demolding step. In the weaving step, a woven fabric is woven from multiple fiber bundles along multiple axes, and the woven fabric defines a fitting groove having at least one opening. In the setting step, the resin-impregnated woven fabric is fitted onto an inner mold, and the inner mold is positioned in the fitting groove. Then, the woven fabric together with the inner mold is placed into a mold.

[0005] In this molding step, the mold is pressurized and heated. The inner mold softens upon heating, and gas or liquid is injected into it to inflate it. The mold applies pressure to the woven fabric from the outside in, while the inner mold applies multi-directional pressure to the woven fabric from the inside out. The resin impregnated in the woven fabric hardens upon heating. In the demolding step, the mold is opened, and the inner mold is removed after depressurization, thereby producing a golf club head. The golf club head includes a clubhead body that defines an internal space.

[0006] The advantages of this invention are as follows: the woven fabric of this invention can be directly fitted onto the inner mold and placed into the mold, thus eliminating the need to lay prepreg material layer by layer as in the conventional method, significantly saving manpower and working time. Furthermore, the inner mold can apply pressure from the inside of the woven fabric outwards in multiple directions, thereby directly molding products with complex shapes and multiple continuous curved surfaces, such as the golf club head body. Therefore, it eliminates the need to disassemble the golf club head into multiple parts for manufacturing and assembly as in the conventional method, simplifying the process and improving production efficiency. Simple Explanation of the Diagram

[0007] Other features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the embodiments with reference to the drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of the method for manufacturing a golf club head according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating one of the weaving steps in this embodiment; Figure 3 is a top view illustrating one of the setup steps in this embodiment; Figure 4 is a 3D diagram to illustrate the setup steps in Figure 3; Figure 5 is a perspective view illustrating a golf club head manufactured according to this embodiment; and Figure 6 is a perspective view illustrating a golf club head with an internal club head fitting. Implementation

[0008] Referring to Figures 1 and 2, one embodiment of the method for manufacturing a golf club head according to the present invention includes a weaving step 11, a setting step 12, a forming step 13, and a demolding step 14. In the weaving step 11, a woven fabric 2 is woven from multiple fiber bundles along multiple axes, such that the woven fabric 2 is composed of line segments at various angles. The woven fabric 2 can be sleeve-shaped or bag-shaped, thereby defining a fitting groove 22 with one (or two) openings 21.

[0009] Referring to Figures 1, 3, and 4, in step 12, the resin-impregnated woven fabric 2 is fitted onto an inner mold 3 through the opening 21, with the inner mold 3 positioned within the fitting groove 22. Next, the woven fabric 2, along with the inner mold 3, is placed into a mold 4. The mold 4 includes an upper mold 41 and a lower mold 43 that cooperates with the upper mold 41 to define a cavity 42, with the woven fabric 2 and the inner mold 3 positioned within the cavity 42. It should be noted that the inner mold 3 is made of an expandable and recyclable material, such as silicone, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), or rubber, or even a metal with the aforementioned properties. Therefore, the inner mold 3 can be removed and reused after use, reducing waste and achieving environmental benefits. Next, a vacuum is drawn into the cavity 42, so that the woven fabric 2 is evenly compressed and tightly adheres to the inner wall of the inner mold 3 and the mold 4, thereby further improving the molding accuracy.

[0010] In molding step 13, the mold 4 is pressurized and heated, causing the upper mold 41 and the lower mold 43 to apply pressure to the woven fabric 2 from the outside in the vertical direction. Meanwhile, because the inner mold 3 is made of silicone, it softens after reaching a preset temperature. At this time, gas or liquid is injected into the inner mold 3 through an external pipe to provide pneumatic or hydraulic pressure, causing the inner mold 3 to bulge outwards and apply multi-directional pressure to the woven fabric 2 from the inside out. The woven fabric 2 is then molded into a shape corresponding to the mold cavity 42, and the resin impregnated in the woven fabric 2 hardens upon heating. It should be noted that in molding step 13, the temperature of the mold 4 can be automatically adjusted to a preset value. This preset value is determined by the material type of the inner mold 3, thereby improving molding accuracy and material adaptability, and thus enabling a wide range of materials with different properties such as thermosetting or thermoplastic.

[0011] Referring to Figures 1, 4, and 5, in demolding step 14, the mold 4 is opened, and the inner mold 3 is removed after pressure relief, thereby producing a golf club head 5. Because the inner mold 3 is compressible, even if the shape of the object to be molded is complex, demolding can still be achieved through deformation, avoiding the interference problem commonly seen in traditional hot pressing molding. Furthermore, after removal, the inner mold 3 can be hardened again by cooling, thus allowing it to be reused in the next process. The golf club head 5 includes a head body 52 that surrounds and defines an internal space 51.

[0012] 1 and 6, and with reference to FIG. After the set of braided cloth 2 is set on the inner mold 3 , the ball head fitting 6 is also located in the set slot 22 . In the forming step 13 , the ball head fitting 6 will be embedded or adhered to the braided fabric 2 as the resin impregnated in the woven fabric 2 is subjected to high temperature melting overflow. In the demoulding step 14 , the golf club head 5 further comprises a ball head accessory 6 embedded or adhered within the head body 52 and located in the internal space 51 . The ball head accessory 6 is closely formed with the ball head body 52 , such manufacturing enhances the design freedom of the counterweight and moment of inertia.

[0013] In summary, the invention can form a golf club head 5 with a complex shape through the multi-directional pressure application from the inside of the inner mold 3 that can be reused multiple times, meaning that the club head that originally had to be split into multiple accessories such as top cover, bottom cover, side skirt, etc The problem of error and tolerance accumulation, coupled with the fact that the woven fabric 2 does not need to be laminated as traditional ground layers, can significantly improve manufacturing efficiency and manufacturing flexibility, save labor time and simplify the process.

[0014] However, the foregoing is only an embodiment of the invention, and when this cannot be used to limit the scope of the implementation of the invention, any simple equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of the patent applied for the invention and the contents of the patent description remain within the scope of the invention patent.

[0015] 11: Braiding steps 12: Setup steps 13: Forming steps 14: Demolding step 2: Braided fabric 21: Opening the mouth 22: Set slot 3: Inner mold 4: Mold 41: Put on the mold 42: Mold point 43: Lower mold 5: Golf club head 51: Internal space 52: Spherical head body 6: Ball head accessories

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a golf club head, comprising: a weaving step of weaving a woven fabric with a plurality of fiber bundles along multiple axes, the woven fabric surrounding and defining a fitting groove having at least one opening; a setting step of fitting the resin-impregnated woven fabric onto an inner mold and positioning the inner mold in the fitting groove, and then placing the woven fabric together with the inner mold into a mold; a molding step of pressurizing and heating the mold, the inner mold softening upon heating, at which point gas or liquid is injected into the inner mold to inflate the inner mold, the mold applying pressure to the woven fabric from the outside in, and the inner mold applying multidirectional pressure to the woven fabric from the inside out, the resin impregnated in the woven fabric hardening upon heating; and a demolding step of opening the mold and removing the inner mold after depressurization, thereby obtaining a golf club head, the golf club head comprising a head body surrounding and defining an internal space.

2. A method for manufacturing a golf club head as described in claim 1, wherein, In the setting step, at least one ball head accessory is embedded on the outer surface of the inner mold. In the molding step, the at least one ball head accessory is embedded or glued to the woven fabric. In the demolding step, the golf club head also includes at least one ball head accessory embedded or glued to the body of the club head and located in the internal space.

3. A method for manufacturing a golf club head as described in claim 1, wherein, In the setting step, the material of the inner mold is selected from silicone, thermoplastic elastomer, thermoplastic polyurethane, or rubber. In the demolding step, the inner mold is removed and then hardened again by cooling.

4. A method for manufacturing a golf club head as described in claim 1, wherein, In this setup step, the mold includes an upper mold and a lower mold that cooperates with the upper mold to define a cavity.

5. A method for manufacturing a golf club head as described in claim 1, wherein, In this setup step, after the woven fabric and the inner mold are placed into the mold, a vacuum is drawn into the mold.

6. A method for manufacturing a golf club head as described in claim 1, wherein, In this molding step, the temperature of the mold is adjusted to a preset value according to the material of the inner mold.

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