Coding Surface Production via Wax Casting and Separating Cut
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for producing key and locking dies are not economical, as they require complex and costly processes, such as spark erosion, and involve materials that are difficult to cut, leading to high production costs and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
The method involves creating two coding parts from a raw part using a separating cut, which are then used as positive models to create a casting mold, with the coding parts made of a material like wax or plastic foam that can be easily cut, allowing for the use of a less resistant material and simplifying the production process by using a casing with gaps to remove the provisional material and fill with a final material like metal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a raw part made of difficult-to-cut material (e.g., metal) is used to directly form the key or locking die coding surface, then the final product strength and durability are improved, but the manufacturing complexity and production cost increase significantly due to complex cutting processes like spark erosion
Solution Approach 1:
The process is segmented into two distinct phases: first creating coding parts from easy-to-cut material (wax or plastic foam), then using these as models to produce the final metal components through casting. This segmentation allows each phase to use optimally suited materials and methods, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and final strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The coding parts made of wax or plastic foam serve as intermediary models that facilitate the creation of the final metal components. These intermediaries enable complex coding surface geometry to be achieved easily, which would be difficult to directly machine from metal, while the final casting ensures the required strength and durability.
2Ease of manufacture
If a raw part made of easy-to-cut material (e.g., wax or plastic foam) is used to create coding parts, then the ease of manufacture and production cost are improved, but additional process steps (casing, heating, material removal) are required
Solution Approach 1:
The method utilizes phase transitions (melting of wax or gasification of plastic foam) to remove the preliminary material from the casing. This natural phase change simplifies the material removal process compared to mechanical machining, and the casing design with gaps facilitates this phase transition-based removal, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and process complexity.
3Productivity
If the entire key or locking die is cast from the beginning, then production efficiency and consistency are improved, but the ability to create precise complementary coding surfaces through separating cuts is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The coding surfaces are preliminarily created on the raw part through separating cuts before the final casting process. This preliminary action ensures high precision coding surfaces are established early, and then these precise surfaces are replicated through casting to produce the final components, maintaining both precision and productivity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly simplifies and economizes the production of keys and locking dies by allowing for easier cutting of the raw material and reducing material costs, while maintaining the advantage of creating complementary coding surfaces, and enables the use of standardized components for mass production.
Implementation Method 1
The coding part is then heated to a temperature that is above its melting temperature, but at which the sheathing is still dimensionally stable. The heated provisional material of the coding part can now be removed from the casing through the gap mentioned
Implementation Method 2
if the heating of the coding part leads to its gasification, escape from the casing in gaseous form through the free space
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~7
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for coding a key part and a shoulder stop for a lock for a locking system, wherein a blank is separated into two coding parts by a separating cut guided perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis and in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the blank, which coding parts each have a coding surface, and wherein the two coding parts are then processed further in order to form the key and the shoulder stop. According to the invention the post-processing of each of the two coding parts in order to form the key or the shoulder stop includes the following steps: the coding part is encased with a material that is dimensionally stable and has a higher melting point than the coding part, wherein the encasing process is incomplete, such that a free area in which the coding part is free of the casing remains, the coding part is heated to a temperature that is above the melting temperature of the coding part and at which the casing is still dimensionally stable, the material of the coding part is removed from the casing through the free area in a molten or gaseous state, the mold cavity now provided by the casing is filled with the material provided for the coding surface provided on the key or the shoulder stop.