Michael Paloian has been invited to speak at rotational molding conferences throughout the world, to present his innovative concepts and new applications for rotational molding. He is also the design editor for RotoWorld, the industry’s premier technological business and trade journal as well as Chairman of the Rotational Molding Division of the SPE. The following renderings illustrate a few of the hundreds of concepts he has developed and shared with audiences to further the industry advances into new markets.

 

Coca Cola Vending Cart for Chinese Olympics

 

This concept of a rotationally molded Coca Cola vending cart was developed for a molder in China to be used in the 2008 Olympics, held in Beijing. The design prominently displayed the Coca Cola brand, while providing overhead lighting, compartments for cooled beverage storage and a transaction counter.

 

The design was inspired by vendor stands constructed from traditional materials such as fabric, metal tubing and wood shown in the following pictures.

 

Rotationally Molded Sofa Frame

Sofa frames are traditionally constructed from wood, forming the inner structure of a cushioned sofa. Frames require extensive amounts of labor, are relatively large and usually manufactured in a variety of styles.

 

The rotationally molded one piece sofa frame shown in this picture will provide a very rigid structure to replace traditional wood frames with minimal labor. Low cost tooling, consistent quality, and structural integrity are some of the many advantages of this concept.

 

Penguin Ice Cream Cart

The versatility of rotational molding is only limited by one’s imagination as demonstrated with this concept of an ice cream vending cart, developed for a customer in Venezuela.

 

Our client’s original concept was to simply replace his original his tubular framed cart, insulated cooler and an ice cream bucket with a silkscreened logo of a penguin which was his company’s trademark.

 

Our proposal was to take his idea one step further by molding the one piece cart as a penguin as shown in these concept pictures.

 

Pirate Ship Play Center

Rotational molding has been extensively used to mold most playground equipment which is typically seen in the form of slides, swings, and climbing centers. This pirate ship design was proposed to a company in Mexico as an interactive play & learning center for children under the age of 6.

 

It was primarily inspired by numerous photos of traditional sailing ships as seen in the following photos.

 

The play center included a

and numerous other details to promote development of social skills as well as learning.

 

Individual parts were CAD modeled to clearly define how the unit was to be assembled and molded. One concept was developed for cast aluminum tooling as shown in the following pictures:

 

An alternative more angular concept based on sheet metal tooling, was also proposed.

 

Foosball Table

An interesting market for rotational molding is table games like foosball which have become very popular in the last ten years. Table games are ideally suited for rotational molding because they are typically large, labor intensive to manufacture, include many parts and require innovative styling.

 

The foosball table shown in these photos was manufactured in China from particle board and shipped knockdown.

 

The proposed rotationally molded concept included a rigid table frame, particle board game board and four separate legs. This design concept illustrated the design freedoms and simplicity that could be achieved with rotational molding.

 

In preparation for a conference in India, we developed the a few concepts to stimulate new applications and markets specifically for that culture.

 

One of these concepts was a bicycle powered rickshaw. India has millions of rickshaws which are used to transport everything from hay to people.

 

Millions of Indians are one the move at any given time, often waiting for some form of public transportation. During such times they can be found standing at bus stops, which happens to be an ideal application for rotational molding.

 

The proposed concept is based on a modular system of panels and seating units that can be configured to fit within a variety of different steel frames as shown in the following illustrations:

 

Indian’s growing population and economic renaissance continues to place an ever increasing demand on better education. Improvements in education require improved facilities and furniture which are ideally suited for rotational molding. Most of India’s school room furniture is constructed from wood and requires immediate replacement with more comfortable alternatives.

 

The following pictures illustrate a concept for this fertile market.

 

When traveling in India you can’t help but notice street vendors selling everything from fruits and vegetables to cell phones displayed on mobile vending carts. These carts just happen to be another ideal market opportunity for rotational molding.

 

Most carts are constructed from wood and steel as shown in these photographs.

 

Our rotationally molded concept provides many advantages which are illustrated in the following pictures: