Sourcing Living Hinges.

[TonyLosey]

I have a project where I have been requested to use a living hinge aka plastic continuous hinge.....

I find alot of engineering information online but I have not been able to find a source.

Is anyone out there using a living hinge on a project now and what have your experiences been?

I am not sure that this application is appropriate for this living hinge.

 

[strokersix]

I've seen them used to attach model aircraft control surfaces. You might try searching in that realm.

 

[nbucska]

Search for "living hinge" at e.g. <

http://www.dogpile.com>

etc.

I had 43,000 hits -- it should be enough info...

<nbucska@pcperipherals DOT com> subj: eng-tips
read FAQ240-1032

 

[TonyLosey]

I found a source at

http://www.askmonroe.com

 

[PSE]

One of the projects I am working on now utilizes a living hinge (our own design). It is working well as long as there are stops to limit overall travel to within the materials elastic response range. Go into an inelastic range and you can cause failure rather quickly.

Regards,

 

[TheAnswerGuy]

TonyLosey,

How may I be of service to you.

I have prototyped many closures and automotive components which use a living hinge.



theanswerguy@tr-usa.com

 

[MadMango]

What's the typical cost savings of a live hinge vs. a traditional piano hinge?

[green]"But what... is it good for?"[/green]
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[MacGyverS2000]

After engineering has designed it, practically the cost of the piano hinge plus any labor required to install it.

 

[MadMango]

That's a given. I was more interested in a general percentage if known, like 5%, 20%, etc. The reason I ask, my company uses a lot of piano hinges that we attach in different ways. Some are mechanically attached (nuts/bolts or rivets), others are spot welded. I never considered live hinges for any of our applications until I was exposed to the concept by reading this thread.

It seams like labor and material costs could increase with a live hinges.

[green]"But what... is it good for?"[/green]
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I'm not sure what type of other answer you can be given. If the hinge costs $1 and you product costs $100, then the hinge is 1%. If your product costs $2 to make, then it's 50%. The percentage depends on how much it costs to manufacture your product versus the work/material costs put into the hinge itself.

 

[Like2Strike]

The typical savings is in that their are no secondary parts our assembly cost.

I am hoping that we are comparing apples with apples.

A Living Hinge can be most often found in plastic clousure design for such products a ketchup, shampoo, skin lotions... just to name a few.



Frank M.
Tradewind Resources

http://www.tr-usa.com