The use of injection molding machine is becoming more and more of a concern in the industrial industry currently,. Do you know why people want to use injection molding machine? What good does it bring? Here are some of my views.
Only for reference.
Cycle times can be as low as 10 seconds. Combine that with a multi-impression injection moulding tool and you get a LOT of products very quickly. Generally speaking， it takes a bit longer as it’s a specialist material and has a lot of features to be moulded correctly, but at about 50 seconds you’d still get 70 parts per cavity per hour. CNC machining a one-off would take half a day – 3D printing it even longer!
Whilst there is an initial high investment for the plastic injection molding tool, after that the cost per part is low. Other plastic processing techniques may require multiple operations, like polishing, whilst injection moulding can do it all at once. If you chose to Guanxin machine the part above, it would cost hundreds of pounds per part. If you’re looking to go into full production, injection moulding is the way to go.
In addition to a range of colours, the injection molding tool can be made with a special finish which will show on the moulding. Just about any finish you like, for example leather look, soft touch, sparked, high shine, you name it. You can also have logos or other text engraved in the tool. Finally, you can have your mouldings printed, as a range of inks are available.
Once your mould tool made, identical products can be made over and over again. A decently made mould tool has a very long mould tool life. as long as it’s treated well by the moulding machine setters !
Sounds good right ? Of course there are some disadvantages:
Several rounds of designing and modelling are needed before the go-ahead or production is given. Then, the injection moulding tool need to make the mouldings will need designing & manufacturing.
Plastic mouldings need very careful design to avoid tooling issues like undercuts, locked-in features and not enough draft. The material and temperature will need to be taken into account in wall design, otherwise the mould may not fill fully. The placement of ejectors and cooling lines will need to be considered to ensure the product is aesthetically pleasing.
As mentioned under advantages, once the tool exists, it takes very little time to run the mouldings, especially when you have a multi-impression mould tool.
Huge machines are needed to make plastic injection mouldings. Large parts need an enormous mould tool and become very expensive to make, in which case a process like may be a better choice, depending on the tye of product needed.
Your Name (required)
Your Email (required)
Your Country (required)
Your Message (required)
* We never spams. Your information is SAFE with us.
Plastic and plastic molding is one of the biggest industry sectors at this date and time. This industry works on developing different plastic parts with the help of different kinds of plastic materials to make new ones. The (plastic) injection molding process is one of the most commonly used processes in the plastic manufacturing industry to manufacture new parts and minimize waste production as much as possible.
Here it is essential to note that the injection molding process has its own advantages and disadvantages, with the pros outweighing the cons in the end. It is a fast and time-saving process that results in a large quantity of plastic in a brief period of time.
Plastic Injection Molding ProcessThe plastic injection molding process, nowadays, includes materials like thermosets, thermoplastic, metals, or elastomers. However, as the discovery of high-performance plastic emerges in front of us, it is quickly replacing materials like metals, which have been traditionally used in the injection molding process for years.
To put it into simple and basic terms, the process of injection molding includes the following steps:
To make this process easy and fast, it is essential to ensure that the parts that play a significant role in the injection molding process are carefully and appropriately designed to facilitate a high-performance molding process.
This plastic injection molding process is generally divided into two parts and handled by two different people, the ‘Plastic Designer’ or ‘Industrial Engineer’ and then the ‘Mold Maker,’ who is essentially responsible for setting all the conditions, materials, features, and the material of the end product in place. This mold maker or toolmaker is also responsible for setting the final properties of the machines used in the injection molding process.
The injection molding process is completed with the help of the following steps in total:
Furthermore, on this subject, there is also an option of cutting the plastic injection molding process time or cost. This can be done by cutting down either one of the times of the process, which is divided into 3 different parts;
If one wishes to cut down on time or the end cost of the whole process, one can cut down on either one of the process’s duration, and it also helps increase the final rate of plastic production.
The final product of the injection molding process is then utilized for several different purposes and industries in the real world. The plastic parts and products created through the plastic injection molding process are then used in various industries, including the Automotive industry, Defense and Aerospace industry, different kinds of consumer products, semiconductors and electronics industries, dental and medical industry, hardware setup industry, energy industry, robotics industry, purchasing and supply chain industry, and more than anything else.
Furthermore, it is mainly used in the industrial sector of countries. As the injection molding process produces a large number of plastic products, they can be used anywhere in different industries in abundance, as plastic has become a necessity for most industries and sectors of our world.
Injection molding is one of the plastic industry’s most used and preferred processes because its fast production results enable many parts in an hour. The speed of the process usually depends on and can be adjusted based on the size and complexity of the mold.
The injection molding process is also an automated process that is maneuvered and managed by machines without the help of much labor. Often, one labor is enough to manage a single machine. This helps in reducing labor and overhead costs in the end.
The high-pressure molding in plastic injection molding machines allows for better design flexibility, as more intricate and detailed designs can be imprinted on the plastic in these machines.
It is a highly efficient production process that enables thousands of products in an immensely reduced time duration.
The plastic injection molding machines allow more materials to be used. Not only that, but the machine also enables the usability of more than one material simultaneously in production.
Compared to the traditional injection molding processes, this process gives off an immensely reduced scrap rate by the end of production.
This process also enables the plastic or metal inserts to be molded quickly and more efficiently because of the high-pressure machines.
The injection molding process is automated and handled mainly by giant machines, not by manpower or labor. So most of the cost that goes into this process is spent on purchasing, operating, and maintaining the humongous machines of the process. Other than that, once the plastic injections have been converted into a mold, the production cost of every component decreases, specifically when produced in bigger batches.
This process is also consistent and repeatable, which means that this process of injection molding enables the production of millions of identical products with ease.
First, one of the biggest disadvantages of this plastic injection molding process is the overhead costs. This is because this process requires an initial set of designing and prototyping, then the designing of the tool used in prototype molding, and then the overhead costs of testing before the process can officially begin.
Another challenge of this process is that every plastic must be designed, considering the injection molding and following the basic injection molding rules at any cost. For instance:
Another disadvantage of this process is the inability to change designs once they have been created firmly with materials like aluminum and steel.
To add any amount of plastic to a part, one will need to cut the cavity in large sizes along with steel or aluminum. But on the other hand, if you want to remove plastic from the mold, you will need to cut down on the large tool cavity size by including more metal or aluminum in the mold. This, in many cases, can get extremely difficult as one might be required to scrap the whole piece and start all over again.
As well as, the larger the size, the more expensive and difficult it will get to scrap and remanufacture it all over again.
This process requires all the used material to be thrown out before another production batch can start, making the small run parts more costly and time-consuming. Not only this, but this process also requires a complex tooling process. This is why small run parts or batches of plastic injection molding are always considered too expensive and avoided by many.
Do you have a booming, market-million-dollar plastic injection molding process setup idea? Leave it to Prototool. We will take your idea and turn it into an approachable, reliable, and valuable product without you even worrying. Prototool work with efficiency and effectiveness to turn your dreams into reality regarding plastic molding. We are a leading service provider for rapid prototyping and mass production in all of China. Come to Prototool for the most effective, adaptive, quick, and unique mass production and prototyping services!