The type of fouling (chemical make-up and physical characteristics) or residue the molding process leaves behind on your tooling will help determine your cleaning requirements. Many resins contain stabilizers, fillers or release agents that leave residue in the form of grease, light oil, yellow waxy film or rust and white-colored dust. Some resins, [...]
Cleaning is unpopular with many employees who prefer the challenge of troubleshooting or machining. Cleaning is messy, sometimes monotonous, and can be a potential health risk. There can be prejudice in a company culture that associates the job of cleaning with a lack of talent. On the flip side, […]
Systemizing mold maintenance is based on establishing consistency in repairs required (performance) and repairs performed (maintenance). Cleaning is another area where individual techniques (freelancing) greatly affect mold reliability, part quality and the tooling budget. To be cost-effective, mold cleaning must be performed: […]
Mold cleaning is a process where major maintenance bottlenecks often occur because molds are pulled faster than they can be cleaned and made production-ready. I have visited plants where molds waiting to be cleaned line hallways and toolrooms, taking up valuable bench space. Many times, in order to meet production demands, molds get reset dirty [...]
To prevent this from happening, both the spindle and tool are blasted with compressed air each time a tool is changed. In some cases, the spindle and tool are cleaned automatically by the compressed air service installed in the machine while other machines’ spindles are cleaned manually. […]
The answer is to simply reduce the temperature differences when welding. There are three things you should do to get a perfectly invisible weld: […]
When choosing plating for your mold or mold components, you must first identify the problem to be solved or the problem to be prevented. The first question you should ask is “What is the cause of this problem? Is this problem the result of corrosion or wear?” If the component has previously been plated, this [...]
There are two basic types of plating – electrolytic and electroless. Electrolytic plating requires electricity to make the process occur. There is a positive and negative charge. The positive is called the anode and the negative is the cathode. The part to be plated gets the negative charge so it becomes the cathode. The anode [...]
The most common problem associated with polishing aluminum is the deep scratches that plague the finishes. Three things primarily cause deep scratches in aluminum: 1) The wrong type of abrasive being used. 2) Too much downward pressure from the polisher's hand. 3) Using too long a stroke while stoning. Aluminum is primarily stoned by hand [...]
The secret to getting a good diamond finish is to first have a fine scratch stone finish. The way to achieve this finish is to lighten up on the downward pressure as you stone . At first, you push down as hard as you need to in order to get rid of deep existing scratches, [...]