Plastic Injection Molding Future

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It appears to me that the future of the plastic injection moulding industry is alive and well! I say this only from personal, anecdotal observation, not any actual statistical information.

The friends I have in the industry, which are many, all seem to be saying some very similar things. That is, if you can provide high quality, on-time delivery of value-added products, you should be able to stay busy. In some cases that is quite busy indeed.

Things never seem to stay the same for very long these days, which means that you must be nimble and flexible to meet the ever-changing needs of the marketplace. What used to be the norm can vanish almost overnight and suddenly you are presented with an entirely new playing field. This also makes things rather interesting for the right type of entrepreneurial type.

All in all, I hope this year is the best ever and plan on having a great time on the journey!

Randy Hough writes about plastic injection moulding.

Plastic Injection Molding And Short Delivery Dates

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Remember when your plastic injection mold delivery date was 2 or 3 months out? And the molding product date was even further out? My how things have changed!

These days about the only way to get good molding work is to promise a very short delivery date and then actually deliver.  On top of that, the quality and price must be extreme as well.

This requires the best of almost everything, all at the same time. 5 axis machining, hard milling, CNC EDM with robotics, WEDM’s running 24/7, a flawless mold design, great surface finishes done with little polishing, and so on. Presto! There you go, you are in the dough!

Randy Hough writes about plastic injection molding.

Plastic Injection Molding And Mold Polishing

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The business of plastic injection molding is mostly scientific and technical, yet there is this element of undefined experience that can only be termed “black art”.  Mold polishing seems to fall into this category for many engineers and mold techs.

If the part has blemishes of one sort or another, or is sticking in the cavities, or maybe not filling properly, very often the solution is related to the surface finish.

This is often overlooked, which is unfortunate because it is much less costly than a major engineering change, for example. When the process has been tweaked over and over again, maybe take a second or third look at the mold polish, it could hold the answer.

Learn more about plastic injection molding and mold polishing.

Plastic Injection Molding Machines

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Lately, I have noticed a trend in which companies gradually reduce their plastic injection molding machine supplier base to just one company. This makes a lot of sense, in many ways, yet it also is limiting in other ways.

Sure you can get great discounts by buying several machines from the same supplier, such as Engel,  but once you get more or less into a mono-culture, you miss out on the innovations of other companies.

This presents somewhat of a dilemma for companies however. Perhaps one way to deal with this issue is to have various brands on the floor, each specializing in the things they do best. Hydraulic vs. electric, rotary presses, vertical, or stack molding presses are some examples.

Learn more about the injection moulding of plastic parts.

Tip For Better Plastic Injection Molding

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A small, but very effective tip for easier plastic injection molding set up is to standardize the clamping slots on the top and bottom plates of all mold bases. This little trick might seem obvious, but it is surprising how many custom molders have every size imaginable in their mold base inventory.

With this method you need only one size clamp, which can be custom made or likely purchased. The set up techs won’t need to be fumbling about for the right size clamp, there will be no shims under clamps and you can be sure the molds are held in place securely.

This is also a good idea from the standpoint of training. There is enough to learn without adding another item to the list of how to set up a plastic injection mold. Once this is in place, it will quickly become a SOP, standard operating procedure.

All your future designs must have this incorporated, which, for some reason, is not as easy as it might seem. You likely will still have the occasional mold that comes in the wrong size, but in time they will all be standardized.

Learn more about plastic injection molding and injection mold making.

Understanding The Plastic Injection Molding Process

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Very often, when somebody is trying to understand how the plastic injection molding process works, they are referred to a detailed explanation of the mechanics of an injection mold and molding machine. the property of each plastic material, and all of this information to get the injection molding cost. This is an interesting and fascinating topic, to be sure, but there is another aspect of this process that needs to be addressed.

Most people probably never really consider just how all the plastic products they use each and every day are manufactured. This is understandable because few people have had an insider’s look at a mold making or molding facility.

Just consider for a moment how many professions are involved in creating a cell phone, for example. First, somebody had to come up with the idea, then he had to find somebody to analyze the feasibility of pursuing the idea.

Marketing experts, industrial designers, artists, prototype mold makers, plastics engineers, molding technicians, injection mold makers, mold designers, and process engineers are just some of the professionals that could be involved.

This does not include the electrical engineers, all the countless people involved in the electronic functions, the apps engineers, the commercial artists, and the quality engineers required to bring such a commonplace item to market.

On top of this, consider for a moment that this is done on a global scale. Parts are made anywhere these days, designs can be done in India and sent electronically to California, the mold built in the Czech Republic, molding done in Romania, and the marketing done in New Jersey.

You can read more about the plastic injection molding process at https://www.plasticmold.net/plastic-injection-mold-process-for-plastic-parts/

Plastic Mold Design Service

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There is a new website out there called www.BestMoldDesign.com, which is about Plastic mold design for plastic injection molds. The site discusses how to design gates, how to design runners, how to vent a mold, tips for general injection mould design and much more.

Plastic Mold design

You can find out how to find and pick a mold design company, learn about hot tip mold design and find out where to buy the best injection mold design tutorial anywhere.

Mold design is a highly skilled, specialized profession that is in big demand. Despite the fact that many companies have chosen to outsource their work, many designers are very busy working on high-end proprietary projects.

HOW TO CHOOSE A MOLD DESIGN COMPANY

The plastic injection molding future is looking quite bright for those companies who have survived all the turmoil of the past decade or so. The number of companies who have gone out of business is staggering, yet, for those who remain, the business just keeps on growing.

Even with the huge flow of work going to cheap labor countries more and more products are designed that need plastic molding. Here is a link to learn about plastic injection mold making.

www.BestMoldDesign.com

Precision Surface Grinding With A Ded-Tru Machine

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Over the years I have used a variety of machines to make round cores and core pins, but the Ded-Tru is probably the best inexpensive toolroom precision grinder.  I am sure there are high-end CNC grinders available that can do the job faster and maybe better, but, for the money, the Ded-Tru is a great machine.

Not that I like running it, in fact, I really don’t!  However, you gotta do what you gotta do to get the job done, right? The reason I don’t really like using it is because you have to just stand there and do the same procedure over and over again, without ever varying the method.

On the other hand, this grinder can do some very impressive work. It also requires a high degree of skill and patience in order to be used efficiently. Not just anybody can walk up to it and figure out the proper set-up procedures; as well as the endless subtleties of form grinding and concentricity.

Plastic Injection Molding Bosses

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Have you ever had an awesome boss while working in anything related to plastic injection molding? Since I have been in this business, which goes back to 1978, I have had quite a few good and some less than good bosses.

One excellent boss I had in a plastic injection molding company was from Switzerland and his name was Karl. Every day he was immaculately dressed and on top of everything that went on in every aspect of the company. It took me a long time to get hired and I knew I was in for a real experience, but I wanted to learn my trade from the best.

The very first day I was standing with the foreman looking over some prints. There was no heat on because it was early spring, so the shop was pretty cool. I had my cold hands in my shop coat pockets when Karl spied me. He marched right over, yanked my hands out from my pockets, and proceeded to slap them, telling me to “never put your hands in your pockets!”

I should have known better, having lived in Northern Europe for a few years, but, hey, it was cold! In the end, we became good friends and I did learn a great deal of craftsmanship from this old schoolmaster.

One of the nicest I had was an elderly man who had the unfortunate bad habit of smoking and drinking coffe all the time. This was back before the days of no smoking in the shop, so his fingers were actually yellow from the smoke. What made him nice was that he was so patient with us apprentices, but what made him almost intolerable was his breath!

He used to come up to each of us every morning to greet us and give us an assignment or check on our work. That is when his kindness became his curse. Because he was only inches away from our face we just had to eventually breathe in his absolutely horrible stench of a breath! More than one guy actually gagged and nearly vomited!

Another boss I had was a Russian who grew up in the German part of Brazil.  He could speak so many languages and seemed to know a million people. He was great because he took the time to explain things without making any of us beginners feel like idiots.

What about you, do you have any stories of a good or bad boss in your plastic injection molding or mold making career?

If you are looking for a plastic injection molding company to help your business you could try to check https://www.plasticmold.net/ and get more reference.