1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to a resin member molding method and a molding apparatus. More specifically, the invention relates to a method of molding a resin member, formed by solidifying molten resin, on a resin member on which molding is to be performed, and to an apparatus used for carrying out the method.
2. Background of Technology
As a method of mounting a resin design plate to a target member such as a console box of an automobile, there is known a method in which the mounting is effected via, for example, a resin clip. In this connection, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-355848 discloses a method in which a plate of a desired configuration is previously molded of resin, and a clip is molded (directly molded) at a desired position on the molded plate. When molding is thus performed, the clip and the plate are formed into an integral structure, so that it is possible to achieve an improvement in terms of workability when mounting the plate to the target member.
However, in the method of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-355848 described above, the edge of a plate 130, for example, is curved, and, when a clip is to be molded in the vicinity of a base end of the curved edge, a mold 118 of a molding machine interferes with the curved edge (In FIG. 9, the phantom line indicates the interfering state), so that this method has a problem in that the clip can only be molded at the position on the mold 118 indicated by the solid line in FIG. 9. This problem might be coped with by replacing the mold 118 with another, different mold; in that case, however, it would be necessary to prepare a plurality of molds according to the degree to which the plate 130 is curved, resulting in increase in production cost and low operational efficiency.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a resin molding method and a molding apparatus that enable to mold a resin member on a different resin member without need of mold replacement.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds