In the injection molding industry, it is common for companies to rely on trial-and-error methods to solve production problems. Without process simulation, operators suggest a mold configuration, which “should work” for a specific part geometry, based on experience. Factors such as tempering or processing times are defined later during the first production trials. It is [...]
It is a common thread among today’s mold engineers that mold design software isn’t as user-friendly as it should be. There seems to be a wish list of ideal components that a “perfect” mold program should possess to help moldmakers face their mold design challenges head on. […]
Name a problem that most mold manufacturers have in common. Many will answer that it is the time-intensive quoting process. A process often riddled with inaccuracies—from initial quote to quoting rework and design changes. Let’s not forget that many requests for quotes are submitted without perfect models, which further challenges profitability. In order to win [...]
The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world still designing and building molds to inch standards when the global standard for measurement is metric. By using the inch standard our industry is out of sync with the rest of the world (except Liberia and Burma). This became clear early on in my [...]
For years we have been hearing about the virtues of aluminum molds for injection parts, and First-rate mold company’s Mold Builders has built its fair share—mostly for special-purpose applications that did not require many actions. For smaller molds using specialty aluminum has its benefits; and, if cycle times are critical, you can justify the high [...]
“How can we mold more parts on the same equipment in less time and lower our costs?” is a standard question whose common answers include reduce cycle time and/or improve mold yield efficiency. Surface treatments have been part of this solution and in the last 10 years a new family of coatings—DLC (diamond like carbon)—has [...]
When we talk about the moldmaking industry, we’re addressing a very large spectrum of applications. The high-volume automotive market aside, we can examine the lower-volume, highly precise molds for medical components, molds for the food and beverage industry, cosmetics and more. […]
Regular cleaning and proper maintenance are key to sustaining the life of a mold. If preventative maintenance procedures are consistently and correctly performed, they lower the cost of ownership and increase production quality: a win-win scenario for the manufacturer and the customer. […]
A look at non-destructive cleaning processes for complex molds that require the removal of tenacious surface contamination to ensure surface quality and longevity of precision mold and molded part surfaces. […]
DFM. No, not Designed for Manufacturability, Designed for Maintainability. Every mechanical apparatus will eventually need maintenance; it’s a fact of life. Knowing this should be all the impetus needed to motivate anyone with a vested interest to give more than just passing thought to the design of injection mold tooling. The understanding that tools will [...]