Mold Building Solutions for Injection Molding
Injection mold building is an important part of plastics manufacturing and has various options in mold choice. The selection of mold type depends on the individual needs of the parts and the company. Here are some basics of injection mold building from some the most knowledgeable sources in the field.
Master Unit Die (MUD) units
MUD units offer some advantages when faced with injection mold building. When a variety of different parts must be produced in a short period of time it is a major plus for just-in-time scheduling. Hours of production time and labor are gained by these fast changeovers. Great for smaller and simpler part designs if the part requires side actions to form features.
Unscrewing Molds
Some plastic parts with details, like threads or ridges, cannot easily be ejected from a mold using standard knock-off methods. When these parts are molded they need to be carefully unscrewed from the mold to avoid thread damage. For it to be a cost-effective, these complex molds need to move at high speeds and clear previously molded parts efficiently and then begin the next cycle. This is good for products like medical syringes, vials, caps and connectors.
Action Molds
Action molds are molds that have some sort of mechanical 'Action' incorporated into the design to enable molding of complex parts with detailed geometry. Any significant hole, slot, undercut, or thread that is not perpendicular to the Parting Line requires action to enable the mold to produce the part.
Hot Runner Molds
Hot runner molds usually make a mold more expensive to manufacture but allow savings by reducing material waste, cycle time and labor costs. Hot runner systems can produce more complex components and provide companies with a variety of gating options that offer improved part quality. Hot runner gating options fall into two main categories: thermal gating and valve gating.
Stack Molds
Stack molds are two molds connected inline, it has two parting lines and double cavitations, so it produces twice as many components. The molding machine will need at least twice the shot capacity than required for a single level mold for the same part. The initial costs of these mold is typically higher than two single cavity molds, less handling of material, product and typically fewer services are required. If this mold breaks down, it has twice the effect on production and the molding machine would have to be slightly modified to accommodate a stack mold.
Plate Molds
Three plate molds have a runner plate in between a moving half and a fixed half. These molds will have two parting lines and are utilized for their gating location flexibility.
Two plate molds have a mold split into two halves and generates one parting line. The sprue, runners, gates and cavities are all on the same side of the mold. This is the simplest of all the molds and for plastics parts that do not need an undercut.
Family Molds
Family molds are used when all the products being manufactured are from the same material. Family molds help to eliminate coloring matching problems because all products are made from at the same time with the same material. It is important for these molds to have proper flow balance, runner shutoffs and additional cooling circuit control.
About Us:
You will find these types of molds being built at Crescent Industries for low and high production runs. Crescent's journeyman mold builders utilize technology and skill to manufacture new injection molds.
http://www.crescentind.com/crescent_industries_mold_building.html
For more information please see our website www.crescentind.com or call Toll Free: 1-800-411-3844.
