Ten years ago, there was a broadly accepted and well-defined route that a product developer might travel to take a product from concept to actual part. Generally, that path would include 2D and 3D drawings of the components and their assembly, which would go through various prototyping stages in low-cost, low-volume manufacturing methods such as [...]
There’s a lot of room for expensive errors when it comes to injection molding. Quality issues in injection-molded products can range from minor surface defects to more serious problems that can affect the safety, performance and function of the product. They can be caused by problems related to the molding process, material use, tooling design [...]
When considering an actuator for an injection molding application, review three positions to determine the impact on cylinder type and capacity: initial breakaway, movement through the stroke, and final positioning. Physical force requirements for each (both set and pull) will provide insight into the most limiting conditions and direct selection of the most appropriate product [...]
Additive manufacturing (AM) is becoming a growing priority for many mold companies. This is happening because of decreasing cycle times made available by new tool design capabilities made possible by AM, like conformal cooling. As recently as three years ago, moldmakers might have felt that customers were unwilling to pay the extra cost associated with [...]
Every company is based on a foundation of knowledge. That knowledge is often taught from a senior mold builder to a junior mold builder. Sadly, that knowledge can be lost over time. Here we’ll focus on taking a real-world look at capturing and reusing company know-how. By using software automation, mold builders can instill company [...]
A fully described plastic part is the most crucial information for a mold build project. An incomplete part drawing can create countless problems in the mold design process, waste a lot of precious time and cause numerous issues when the mold is completed and commissioned at the customer’s facility. Spending extra time at the beginning [...]
While creating the plastic part drawing, the designer has the best opportunity to decide on the most suitable design for the mold and/or to make suggestions on how the product design might be modified to improve productivity and simplify the mold design; in turn, simplifying the mold design reduces mold costs. Once the mold design [...]
Blow molds are used to produce many items that we use every day, such as drinking bottles (food and beverage industry), perfume bottles (cosmetic industry), bottles and containers for medicines (pharmaceutical industry), or bottles and containers for creams or other care products (household and care industries). The various materials used for the final products require [...]
The reasons for a high-gloss finish in plastic molding vary. Some examples include extreme transparency of the molded part, reduced localized corrosion or highly crack-sensitive tooling (due to design or operational stresses). Then there is the impact of mold surface finish on injection molding productivity, as the release forces of the plastic part from the [...]
Automotive headlight housings have evolved from round, stamped steel assemblies to thermoset parabolic reflectors with diamond-like angles, covered with clear lenses. Today‘s BMC (bulk molding compound) reflectors are cosmetic parts with complex curves and shapes. Their parabolic surfaces are the aiming mechanisms for the light. With the move to clear lenses, any imperfections in the [...]