Patent ID: 7101505

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a molded plastic component, comprising: providing a polyester film sheet having top and bottom surfaces, the film sheet having a pre-painted coating covered by a base coat of an acrylic color which is covered by an acrylic clear coat and a layer of polyvinylidine fluoride; vacuum molding the film sheet in a mold cavity; creating a pre-form from the vacuum molded film sheet; placing the pre-form in a mold cavity of an injection mold having a shape defining the desired plastic component; and injecting a thermoplastic elastomer, which is selected from the group consisting of a thermoplastic polyolefin, thermoplastic urethane, polyester, polycarbonate, acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene, polypropylene, a mixture of acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene and polycarbonate, and mixtures thereof, into the mold cavity of the injection mold to generate a structural carrier for the pre-form, the generation of the structural carrier creating sufficient pressure and heat to bond the structural carrier to the bottom surface of the pre-form to form the molded laminate plastic component, the injection of the thermoplastic elastomer into the mold cavity being at a pressure of 50 psi to 15,000 psi, and the resultant structural carrier having a flexural modulus in the range of 15,000 to 400,000 psi and also having a durometer in the range of 15 to 100 Shore D.