The concept of hard milling and/or HSM is still a relatively new concept. The technology needed to facilitate these new methods has only been designed in the last six to seven years. In examining the market, […]
The best designs and coatings in the world are of little value if they are not applied to the appropriate substrates. Using an end mill with a subpar substrate is like using a front door made from cardboard on a new house. […]
This component includes both the toolholders and the cutting tools where certain standards must be taken into account in order to be successful in HSM applications. The specified standards pertain to balance, concentricity and spindle connections. […]
People like hot runner molds if they behave. Behave means that the process doesn’t change over time, as it does with multi-process disease. There are two easy tests to detect multi-process disease: […]
Hot runner molds are great. Everyone knows that. We eliminate runners, grinding them and reprocessing them. So what’s the issue? All hot runner molds are not created equal. We have all seen the application where using a hot runner mold resulted in more scrap and more regrind instead of its elimination. Why would this be? [...]
One of the basic requirements for successfully molded parts is that we must have cavity balance in order to achieve process robustness and fast cycle times that are necessary to be profitable in today’s competitive, global market. In this article we will take a basic look at good and bad cavity layouts and runner designs. [...]
There are three main runner shapes that are used: (1) full round (2) half round and (3) trapezoidal with each one having certain qualities and performances that may be needed to support delivery of the plastic to each cavity. […]
When selecting gate location (regardless of whether the tool features a cold or hot runner system), balanced and even filling of the molded part is the top priority. Cold runner gating provides the moldmaker with simplified integration in terms of selecting the optimal gate location, […]
Although a more expensive capital investment upfront, a hot runner system is a significantly more cost-efficient means to keep production costs to a minimum over the long run. […]
The cycle time of any mold is largely influenced by the cooling cycle—how fast the resin can be sufficiently cooled so that the part can be ejected without permanent deformation. In any given mold, the areas that take longest to cool are those with the thickest wall section. […]