The injection mold design process is quite complex since many critical aspects have to be considered. Even slight miscalculations can lead to huge production problems and excessive costs. The detailed injection mold design procedure is listed below.

Analyze The Plastic Part

To establish the product specifications, mold design engineers, tooling engineers, materials makers, production engineers, quality engineers, and lab technicians will collaborate. The final plastic part will be analyzed to know the certain mold requirements.

The experts pay close attention to any prospective part geometry or tolerance issues that could lead to inadequate steel conditions or necessitate the use of specialized tooling features like slides, lifters, threading, unthreading, etc. To pick the appropriate mold steel and consider mold cooling, the physical and chemical characteristics of the chosen material are also assessed.

Design For Manufacturing

The custom plastic injection molding manufacturers develop and create the mold precisely for the component they will be producing. Mold designing for manufacturing is crucial, whether for creating a new part, upgrading an existing one, or altering the manufacturing procedure.

If one does not consider the manufacturing process when designing a component, there may be significant short-term and long-term timing repercussions and heavy costs. So, it is vital to design a mold part that is compatible with being manufactured without any potential issues.

CAD

Modern motion simulation tools offer designers the advantages of an accurate visual representation of the kinematics of the mold as well as thorough collision detection, including automated identification of mold parts. The CAD package comprises tools or modules that allow you to create and see a complete model of the mold, including creating the core and cavity from the component model.

CAD tools for mold design are getting better at defining and examining some of the most important features of the mold model, like the development of parting lines, core and cavity geometry, parting surfaces, etc. Utilizing software for 3D solid modeling or surface modeling or applications that combine both types of capabilities in one program, mold designers can develop their tool models.

Mold Flow Analysis

Mold flow analysis is a tool for predicting how a particular plastic will behave in the mold. A particular plastic and part design are used in the simulation of an injection molding cycle by mold flow analysis software. Designers can assess a material’s qualities via mold flow analysis, including its cooling capabilities, shrinkage rate, the possibility for aesthetic defects, capacity to fill cavities, etc.

To show how the plastic would behave in the mold, the study produces colored reports. Average temperature, fiber orientation, knit lines, sink and warp, air traps, fill confidence and fill time result are some of the reports. The designer looks for flow paths that end and reach the edges simultaneously. Consistent shapes show how quickly the plastic is moving. Narrow contours suggest a gradual filling process, while broadly spaced contours demonstrate a quick flow.

Design Confirmation And Mold Building

To ensure that the mold will create the component correctly, with an adequate finish, dimensional correctness, and in compliance with specifications, the designers and engineers will compare the mold drawing to the plastic part drawing. They will thoroughly confirm the mold design details with the drawing and application-specific requirements to proceed with injection molding.

To select mold sides and steel sizes, initial 2D and 3D design models are built. To determine whether the plastic mold part satisfies the criteria for operation, resilience, beauty, and reliability, expert designers will evaluate the mold design with CNC machined, 3D printed, and urethane cast prototypes. The completed detailed design is produced after they have been examined and accepted. Many manufacturers perform injection molding in clean room that is equipped with advanced molding machines.

The favored method for delivering mass-produced plastic parts for all industries is plastic injection molding. In order to acquire high-quality and high-precision plastic mold parts, mold designing is one crucial aspect. To ensure proper plastic part mold design and tooling, it is best to contact a reliable plastic injection molding company.

At First-rate Mold Company, there are experienced plastic injection mold designers and engineers who will develop customized plastic mold tooling as per the application-specific and client requirements.