As the demand for better cutting tools increases, cutting tool suppliers also continuously develop products that can pass manufacturers’ demands. Through the years, a lot of materials for the manufacture of cutting tools have been experimented upon; some have passed the standards while others were simply dropped. Today, there are only two types of cutting […]
Five-axis machining is here to stay and most modern injection mold making shops use it on a daily basis. Finding the right work holding device is critical to success in 5 axis machining. Five axis machining offers many benefits for injection mold making and is rapidly becoming the norm in CNC milling. One of the problems […]
Despite the fact that a great deal of precision surface grinding has been replaced by Wire EDM, there is still a demand for the skillful use of grinding wheel dressers. This is one of those toolmaking skills that requires considerable time and patience to master. The skill to accurately dress angles and radii on surface grinding wheels is half art and […]
By far the majority of copper electrodes are manufactured on CNC machines these days (thankfully!), but the need for grinding copper electrodes still comes up frequently. The main difficulty with grinding copper electrodes is the loading of the wheel and the burrs thrown up. There are several simple solutions to this problem. With the proper technique you […]
Many times I have heard salesmen proclaim that the grinding department is obsolete because of Wire EDM. This is always maddening to hear, especially when there are numerous highly skilled mold makers grinding away on parting lines, injection mold components, core pins and the like. I look around at everyone and imagine we are dinosaurs in the […]
Do not skimp on the design Some shops do not have an in-house designer and must outsource their design work. This is fine and works quite well- unless the boss decides to save money by cutting costs on the design. This is just asking for trouble. Even with high-quality mold design, building an injection mould […]
Make sure the project manager, mold designer, and mold maker are all on the same page.It helps immensely to take some time at the outset of a job to have a meeting where the big picture is discussed. It is always much easier to work on the various aspects of the job when you have […]
As a mold maker, I’ve never understood why some bosses are so reluctant to allow the mold maker five minutes to familiarize himself with the molded part he is about to build a mold for. This would save a lot of visualizing and guessing. It is always much easier to begin with the end in […]
Every shop has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. Do what you do best and leave the rest is usually good advice. You may really want to learn something like horizontal milling, but does it make sense to sacrifice your limited time and energy?It is surprising how much time you can waste pursuing pet projects that […]
Electric pallet stackers can really make moving things around much simpler. Electric motor driven pallet stackers quickly lift and move pallets. Picking up and moving an empty pallet manually is difficult. When a pallet is loaded moving it manually would be impossible. You really need some kind of motorized help. Using an electric pallet stacker you will be able to […]