Extrusion is one of the most widely used manufacturing processes across many industries. Essentially, it is not much different from squeezing tooth paste out of the tube. Anything that is long with a consistent cross section is probably made by extrusion. Common examples are spaghetti, candy canes, chewing gums, drinking straws, plumbing pipes, door insulation [...]
A mold shop using this process originally machined the grooves with a four-flute, high-speed, steel-grooving tool, just after completing the bushing counterbore. Cutting the slot was faster than opening the screw hole, but still left plenty of room for improvement. Although the spindle and mold block remained in position in the X-Y plane for both [...]
A few moldmakers have adopted a new practice for bushing retention using snap rings, which helps create a more robust, more reliable and more easily serviceable mold. […]
Three Dimensional Printing (3DP) technology was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and licensed to several corporations. […]
Snaps allow an easy method of assembly and disassembly of plastic parts. Snaps consist of a cantilever beam with a bump that deflects and snaps into a groove or a slot in the mating part. Snaps can have a uniform cross-section or a tapered cross section (with decreasing section height). The tapered cross-section results in [...]
Inserts are used in plastic parts, to allow the use of fasteners such as machine screws. The advantage of this is that since these inserts are made out of metal, they are robust. Further, machine threads also allow great many cycles of assembly and disassembly, Inserts are installed using one of the following methods. [...]
1) Incomplete Fillings: a) not enough resin to fill the mold completely b) inadequate injection stroke c) low injection rate d) low injection pressure e) resin viscosity too high f) exotic geometry […]
Living hinges are thin sections of plastic that connect two segments of a part to keep them together and allow the part to be opened and closed. Typically these are used in containers that are used in high volume applications such as toolboxes, fish tackle boxes, CD boxes etc. […]
1) Textures and Lettering can be molded on the surfaces, as an aesthetic aid or for incorporating identifying information, either for end users or factory. Texturing also helps hide surface defects such as knit lines, and other surface imperfections. The depth of texture or letters is somewhat limited, and extra draft needs to be provided [...]
1) Textures and Lettering can be molded on the surfaces, as an aesthetic aid or for incorporating identifying information, either for end users or factory. Texturing also helps hide surface defects such as knit lines, and other surface imperfections. The depth of texture or letters is somewhat limited, and extra draft needs to be provided [...]