A one-piece mold can be used to form molded items that incorporate features or encroachments with negative draft angles, and such molded items can be removed from the mold in a single piece by lifting, tilting, or pulling, or a combination thereof, without breaking the mold or the item to be molded. The mold and method of molding are suited to a bathtub or shower unit. The mold and method of molding permit the removal of molded items with negative draft angles by coordinating the angle of the sump front wall and sump back wall with the angles of other encroachments in the molded item within specified ranges that permit one-piece removal of the item to be molded from the mold.

A method of bonding materials may comprise defining a bond interface between two materials in a cure zone on a surface of an object and heating the bond interface with sound waves. Heating the bond interface may include applying ultrasonic sound waves to the bond interface.

The present invention discloses a manufacturing method of a color decorative plate for an integral bathroom. Firstly, a decorative fiber cloth is immersed and a surfacing material is prepared, wherein the steps include: adding various auxiliaries to an unsaturated polyester resin; uniformly mixing to form a resin paste, wherein the auxiliaries contain an initiator, a mold discharging agent, an accelerator, a coupling agent, a crosslinking monomer and cinnamene; uniformly coating the above resin paste on the decorative fiber cloth; precuring and drying at 105 C. to 130 C. to produce the surfacing material; then compression moulding; feeding a sheet molding compound (SMC) into a mould; and laying the surfacing material on the SMC in the mould for integral compression moulding. In the compression moulding process, a mold cavity is at an upper part and a mold core is at a lower part to prevent decorative patterns from deforming because the decorative fiber cloth is stretched due to the flow of the SMC and to avoid wrinkling the decorative fiber cloth. The SMC is used as a structural layer, and the surfacing material is attached to a surface of the structural layer. The patterns on the surface of a finished product have high clarity and brightness.

A one-piece mold can be used to form molded items that incorporate features or encroachments with negative draft angles, and such molded items can be removed from the mold in a single piece by lifting, tilting, or pulling, or a combination thereof, without breaking the mold or the item to be molded. The mold and method of molding are suited to a bathtub or shower unit. The mold and method of molding permit the removal of molded items with negative draft angles by coordinating the angle of the sump front will and sump back wall with the angles of other encroachments in the molded item within specified ranges that permit one-piece removal of the item to be molded from the mold.

A method for producing a tub-shaped sanitary object made of plastic with a visible side and a bottom, including the following steps: providing a plastic sheet to be molded to form the sanitary object; providing a forming device having a frame arrangement including a first frame with a first frame-shaped bending structure and a second frame with a second frame-shaped bending structure, wherein the plastic sheet is to be formed by bending structures; arranging and attaching the heated plastic sheet to the first frame; inserting the second frame into the open first frame into a forming end position so that the second frame takes along the plastic sheet with its bending structure when it is inserted, wherein the plastic sheet is formed into a tub shape by both the first and the second bending structure; and, cooling the formed plastic sheet.

A forming device has a machine frame and a forming apparatus disposed on the machine frame. At least one heating chamber is disposed on the machine frame. A heatable support is received in the at least one heating chamber in a position of use for preheating semi-finished products and can be moved in a movement direction out of the at least one heating chamber into a removal position for removal of preheated semi-finished products from the support. In the removal position, the support is at least partially located adjacent to the machine frame and enables access to preheated semi-finished products. At least one heating device is associated with the at least one heating chamber and has one or more convection heating devices that discharge at least one directable heating air flow.

A spa comprising a layer of copper-containing material, a layer of a cotton-containing material external to the layer of copper-containing material, wherein the layer of copper-containing material and the layer of cotton-containing material are at least partially located between outer spa frame studs, and a layer of at least one of a polyester or a polypropylene-containing material external to the layer of cotton-containing material. The layers of copper-containing material, cotton containing material, and at least one of a polyester or a polypropylene-containing material are located between a spa basin and a spa cabinet. The spa bottom may also have a layer of copper-containing material affixed thereon. In some embodiments, the spa may further comprise an insulated cover with a layer of copper-containing material therein.

A method of making a bathtub providing safe egress by reducing slide forces extended on a user's feet upon a slippery bathtub floor, wherein the formed bathtub has a limited rectangular footprint, and an optimized floor space is formed with a substantially planar base with a length and width that define the limited rectangular footprint and a front wall, a back wall, a first side wall and a second side wall integral with and extending substantially vertically upwards from the substantially planar base. Each of the front, back, first side wall and second side wall have minimal wall thicknesses to define the optimized floor space and the front wall has a substantially planar inwardly, cantilevered upper apron deck in a substantially parallel relation to the substantially planar base.

A method of bonding materials may comprise defining a bond interface between two materials in a cure zone on a surface of an object, and non-conductively heating the bond interface without directly heating the surface outside of the cure zone. Non-conductively heating the bond interface may involve applying microwave radiation to the bond interface.

A method of making an article includes mixing a filler material and a polymer matrix material to produce a composite material, introducing the composite material produced by the mixing into a mold of a desired shape, and removing an article having the desired shape from the mold. The resulting article has a water absorption of less than about one percent and the filler material comprises vitreous china.