Horizontal molding machine

 

 

Vertical injection machine

Today a big percentage of manufacturers are using injection moulding to create products in an accurate and faster way. You will find that all the parts are computerized in the injection moulding machine something that means all the work will run independently like a clock and the outcome that you will get will be accurate. A good example of an industry that utilizes injection moulding a lot is the car manufacturing companies. Some of the things that are made using the technology is the lid of a car’s radiator. There are so many cars that are made every year all over the globe and this sort of process is used to ensure there is high accuracy and speed.

 

How much does injection molding cost ?

 

Currently vertical injection molding tool is far cheap than a plastic part mold tool. It determined by the steel you selected, high expensive steel cost you hundreds or thousand of U.S. dollars for steel itself. Since designing a molding tool through selecting a steel and made Rapid Prototyping till the mold output, the factory will Cutting, Machining, Milling, EDM, Trial molding, a lot of process would need extra values a lot.

How to select the materials for mold tool ?

 

Selecting a correct steel is very important for the mold tool life time, good quality steel could push the mold life time working shots from 100k to 200k or 500k. In China mold tool factories often use DC53 steel for current mold tools, while you selecting the steels you need to think about what materials you want to use as the first. Below is current reference for various plastic which steel materials you need to use:

 

 

■ Current steel :SKD11,DC53, Cr12,SKS3,SUJ2,718,P20,M3100

Current Plastic Resin like: PVC, ABS, PC, LDPE, HDPE, Rubber like TPE, TPO,TPU

 

■ Steel for elastic plastics : Aluminum mold materials 5052, 6061, 7075

Soft and elastic Resins: Silicone,

 

 

■ Hardness steel(Strengthened steel): SKD61,S600

Serve for high corrosion and high toughness plastics like: PEEk, POM, PSU,

 

 

■ Corrosion and abraison proof steel(Strengthened steel): SKD61,S136, S600

Serve for high corrosion plastics like: PSU, Nylon+Fiber glass, Teflon high temperature plastics like PTFE,PFA,FEP,

 

 

If you need to molding an electronic components, you’d better use Low Pressure Injection Molding.

 

 

Totally speaking, the plastic higher toughness or high chemical corrosion you need to choose better quality steel for your mold tools. Another, the mold tool factory heat treatment is also an reason to affect your mold tool life time.

 

How to Make Plastics Molds ?

Not everyone in the plastic industry have the knowledge on how to make plastic molds. Or they have at least a rough idea on how the project goes like. However, there is still confusion and misunderstanding with product engineers, designers and other professionals involved about the inputs and outputs of the process. Essentially, there exist a number of ways that can be used to make plastic molds as well as manufacturing of large volume of identical products. Each method that can be used usually take different duration of time and amounts of financial investment. The following are the steps will help you understand the process of how to make plastics molds.

 

 

• Budget:

After determining the number of products that you will need, you must set a budget for your project. The budget should cater for design and your mold creation as well as other future modifications if need be. The budget that you set can also influence the plastic molding method to use, as some of them are relatively cheaper than others. Note that the more complex the overall design of your plastic mold is the more expensive the mold creation process will be.

 

 

• Determine the quantity:

The first thing when creating plastics molds is to determine the amount of products that you will be producing. The custom plastic pieces and the number of parts that you will need so that you can be able to determine the molding that you will use as well as the manufacturer you will work with. Most manufacturing companies demands that your entire production of molds to be one hundred, one thousand or more. So, if you find that this figure is too high for you then you will have to shop around to find out the right manufacturer to hire.

 

• Overall Size and Design:

The type that your plastic molding design will need will be determined by the design and size of the product. It is possible to adapt your mold design so that it fits into specific molding process. For example, when using the injection molding process generally you will need to use smaller designs.

 

 

• Project materials:

After you have completed the above stages you will need to select the types of plastic and materials that will be used. Note that your project design usually influences the choice of materials and plastic types to be used. In most cases, the designs have certain materials that should be used for the product to function well while in other scenarios materials are more flexible. Ensure you liaise with your manufacturer to ascertain that you are using the right materials for the job.

 

 

Additionally, you should note that there are different methods that can be used to create plastic molds. The method used usually depends on your unique project characteristics and specifications. The most common methods are injection moulding, bow moulding, compression moulding, gas assist molding, rotational molding, film molding, and thermoforming. This is the entire process and specifications on how to make plastic molds if you need to create perfect plastic molds for our product. It is not a process that you will rush over because a simple design mistake at the beginning might make you to start the entire process from the scratch.