Incremental Sheet Forming of the WKU Big Red Mascot

Abstract

The robotic incremental sheet forming process, including the CAD design, programming, and robotic manufacturing, as performed to form the school’s Big Red Mascot shape on a flat 30″ × 30″, gauge 26, AL 3003 sheet is explained in this research. This paper explains the technics used in the design, programming, and manufacturing processes to avoid or minimize typical ISF manufacturing problems such as spring-back effect, pillow effect, orange peel effect, and maximum wall angles. The quality of the forming process was investigated visually and by measuring the surface quality and geometric accuracy using a surface tester machine and a 3D scanner. The novelty of the work is the ISF manufacturing of the complex Big Red shape compared to the simple shapes reported in other research, as well as the experimental and measurement setup used in this research.