Laser etching, inserts, SMC all have a role to play in helping the 2021 Ford F-150 stand out.
Detroit — Designers for the 2021 Ford F-150 have put new capabilities in etching and tooling inserts to help the truck stand out while providing molded trim that can “span a variety of customers, expectations and price points.”
Dustin Shedlarski, interior design manager of the F-150, told Plastics News that new geometric textures were laser etched into tooling, creating “quite a spread of different finishes throughout” the interior of the truck.
“We wanted to make sure we added personality to the interior, even on the hard plastic parts … to give it a premium feel … and to differentiate the versions of the truck.” Shedlarski said.
The laser etching is used on parts for even the lowest trim levels, he said. “It takes what would normally be kind of a low-end part and really adds a lot of interest and character to it.”
The 150 is Ford’s biggest selling and most important vehicle, so it is important to get the details right.
To help manage the cost of tooling for so many trim levels, the geometric etching patterns exist on removable inserts that attach to the cavity of the molds, he said.
“It helped us manage multiple parts and aesthetics to the surface without us having to have unique tools for every single part,” Shedlarski said.
“We really needed to prioritize the team’s ability and performance to run them on time and in the program,” said Alan Moran, Ford’s Director of Dashboard and Console Engineering for North America. “Just because we’re not used to this procedure with large-scale equipment.”
Laser engraving, inserts, SMC, all have a role to play in the 2021 Ford F-150 stand out.
“We take the geometric grains and implement them on larger-scale surfaces than in the past,” Moran said.
The laser grain process, which is also used on the top of the instrument panel, door trims, upper glove box and register bezels, he said, allows the grain to hold more definition than traditional acid etching.
“This gives us a multi-layered grain pattern, which is sharper than our acid burning procedures to which we are most accustomed,” Moran said. “The acid burning procedure completes some of the grain details.”
“When you enter the vehicle and technically the parts, there are so many main points that the images don’t capture,” he added.
Another novelty, a painting table of the center console, unfolds the canopy of the armrest and creates a floor to write or eat in the middle of the vehicle. This component also has a fine texture finish.
Areas where other people would probably be in the truck state have a big grain for foot traction, said Craig Moccio, senior director of closure systems at Ford.
The tailgate of the new F-150 is also a flat panel molded for writing, Moccio told Plastics News.
“In a painting [the customer] needs a flat domain to write about, throw planes,” he said.
Aluminum or steel, Moccio said, “is not the most productive surface” for a flat screen. Ford also needed “a curtain structurally strong enough to face Harleys, other people with all-terrain vehicles.”
“Normally, you should shape a metal or aluminum panel so you don’t dent it and not deform it,” Moccio said. “The sheet molding compound is a very smart selection for this. It is very resistant; comprises approximately 50% glass filling, so it is conformable … The weight is very competitive.
The CMS allowed Ford to mold other shapes on the back door panel, such as a cup, a pencil, and screw and bolt brackets, Moccio said.
“Then if you’re sitting on a hill or something and you throw away your nuts and screws, they probably won’t roll,” he added.
The locked garage molded under the rear seats allows consumers to safely protect equipment or shotguns, Moccio said.
The SMC also made it possible to place different-sized grains in “zones,” he said.
A lot of imaging and logos are put on in a secondary process, Moccio said, but some of the logos on the F-150 are etched into the tool and molded to the part.
The subtle ornamental appliques made from films in F-150 series, Moran said, look like “a type of graphic” at first glance.
“On the King Ranch series, it’s a real wood applique, but behind that wood is a plastic substrate,” Moran said. “The plastic pushes against the aluminum, which pushes through a hole in the wood to create an aluminum look inlay within the wood part.
“Outside, you see aluminum and wood, ” said Moran. “But it’s plastic and everything that’s helping to force service through the room and provides a super clean and elegant inlay that emerges to the surface.”
Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you’d like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]