When looking at new parts or attempting to optimize current production it is often helpful to ask “What determines cycle time?”. A typical answer is usually the Cooling Time. This is often the largest part of time taken up by an injection molding cycle but there are a lot of factors that go into determining […]
Author: moldDB
The tool’s in your toolbox can make or break your operation. I don’t mean the tools available to you like tips and tricks of the trade but the physical tools in your tool box or on your shadow boards. If you walk out onto the shop floor right now and inspect the tools your workers […]
Molding can be a complicated and overwhelming process. Companies often use the amount of molds they run as a badge of honor. Depending on the size of a company, they could have anywhere from a few ten, hundred or thousand molds. How many of molds each company can support is based on the process they […]
Going into this new year there is many things we can reflect on from 2020. The Covid-19 virus has pushed us further than many people had ever expected us to have to go. Looking back at history though it is not all surprising. In fact this push has ever had some benefits which is hard […]
Not everyone gets to play with fire as part of their job, but as someone who works in the plastics industry I get too. Many times it is to melt plastic that ended up in a place that it should not be but it can also be used for a greater purpose; material identification. A […]
Injection Molding has many benefits but I wanted to quickly cover a few of my preferred benefits. These benefits have been determined from real life scenarios when comparing to other manufacturing processes to make medical devices. Enjoy. Some Injection Molding Benefits: Use multiple materials The injection molding process can be used with numerous different materials. […]
Gate Freeze Time vs Hold Time, what is the difference? This may seem like a simple question but if you do not have a background developing plastic molding processes than you may have accidentally thought that they were interchangeable (they’re not). The main difference between Gate Freeze Time and Hold Time can be less than […]
Injection Molding is a very intense process. It involves moving hundreds to thousands of pounds of steel in a few seconds, holding this steel under large tonnages of force from multiple sides and injecting plastic into them not only high pressures but also very hot conditions. All of this just to make what could be […]
Establishing a standard or Standardization is at the forefront of many large companies. It is not easy for a large team to all work in sync without some process established for everyone to follow. This not only applies to kan-ban systems and getting paperwork done but to maintenance tasks as well. Creating a standardized process […]
Injection velocity is one of the critical parameters in a molding process. Set the speed to incorrectly and there are many defects you can get such as flow marks, jetting, dieseling and weld lines. However if you optimize the velocity, your material viscosity can be consistent shot to shot and you are on the path […]