Plastic Covers and Enclosures

At formary, we create your plastic covers, enclosures, or other constructions based on your specifications.

If you have already created CAD data or have initial drafts available, we can review them for thermoformability and make necessary optimizations at critical points. Our expertise allows us to ensure your design is production-ready and fully optimized for the thermoforming process.

For sensitive information, feel free to send us your non-disclosure agreement (NDA), and we will treat your designs with the utmost confidentiality.

Since the plastic cover must fit precisely into the connection parts of your machine or component, several factors are considered during the assembly to ensure perfect fit accuracy.

Key areas of focus during construction are whether there are critical connection points or areas with narrow tolerance windows that are essential for the functionality of your system. These areas are carefully analyzed to ensure the plastic cover aligns perfectly with the rest of the components, providing optimal performance and reliability.

The required dimensional tolerances are especially relevant when adapting to adjacent components. Strict dimensional requirements for your plastic cover typically fall within the scope of ISO 2768m. However, depending on the specific application, tighter tolerances may be applied and thoroughly checked to meet the necessary standards.

Radii describe the degree of rounding of the edges of your plastic cover. Thermoformed plastic parts always define a minimum radius. Any additional requirements for the radii of plastic covers can easily be specified in our configurator.

Wall slopes refer to the angle of the side walls of your plastic cover. For seamless demolding, thermoformed parts typically require a minimum slope of about 3°. However, the ideal wall slope angle that allows for easy demolding depends on factors such as the material, thickness, and geometry of the plastic cover. We can precisely determine the optimal angle based on our technical expertise.

For outdoor applications, such as cladding parts in gardens, on house walls, vehicles, or various machines, the most important requirement for plastic covers is UV stability. This property is often added to the material or semi-finished product as an additive. Alternatively, UV-resistant materials, such as ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) and ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate), can be used from the outset.

The service life determines how formary designs your plastic cover.

The longer the required service period, the more robust the cover must be. Stabilizing elements like ribs and reinforcements can support dimensional stability. The material of the plastic cover must also be selected according to the required robustness of the application area: Does it need to absorb regular impacts? Does the part play a load-bearing role? Are areas with minimum wall thickness required?

Depending on the application, plastic covers may need to be resistant to chemicals, oils, and fats. formary selects the optimal plastic material for each environment, ensuring that all individual requirements are met, even in sensitive environments.

In industries such as automotive and machinery manufacturing, plastic housings and covers are often exposed to high ambient temperatures when used as protective enclosures. To avoid deformation and ensure durability, formary selects the appropriate plastic material based on the required continuous operating temperature and potential temperature peaks.

Flame-retardant plastics are self-extinguishing, meaning they do not continue to burn on their own. Often, the required fire protection class of the plastic is specified by the application in the specifications document. For instance, covers made of plastic in the transportation sector are subject to strict fire protection requirements. formary provides expert advice on which plastic materials are best suited for these applications.

For reasons such as corporate identity, branding, or aesthetic preferences, colorful plastic covers may be desired. In thermoforming, colors are integrated directly into the raw material (the semi-finished product), allowing for solid, vibrant colors across the entire surface. Additionally, color stripes or patterns can be incorporated into the design.

Most plastic housings and covers require high-quality surfaces on the visible side. The surface of the plastic covers can be further refined with stainless steel finishes, printing techniques, and coating options. Textured and patterned surfaces are also possible.

You can add information such as your logo, material labeling, and date stamps to your plastic cover. Simply specify these in the formary configurator and provide us with the desired placement.