Manufacturing plastic parts is not all fun and games. Most of the time, production managers need to take all information into account before making a move – especially when it comes to mass producing pieces.
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In this article, we’re going to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a mass production process known as injection molding. If you’re a production manager, or someone in the field with the power to make beneficial decisions for your manufacturing company, keep reading. By the end, you’ll know exactly whether or not injection molding is right for you.
If you have detailed parts that you need produced, injection molding is right for you. Add small features or large features, either way, the precision will still be pristine.
As soon as you have your mold set in stone and ready to mass produce, you have magic. From that point on, you’ll be able to make 100% identical products time after time. The first and last mold run will be the same, no matter when you stop and start that plastic product.
There is an initial high investment involved in injection molding, but once you break even, the cost per part will be extremely low. Plus, the entire process can be done in one fell swoop once the material is added to the mold, unlike other processes that require polishing once the layered product is done.
Depending on the complexity of the plastic product will depend on the turnaround time it takes the injection molding to make one piece. Sometimes, that cycle time can be as low as 10 seconds! Which means production can happen very fast depending on detail.
Material choices are vast, giving you plenty of options to choose from including but not limited to plastic, rubber, biocompostables, etc. Color choices also vary so that you can get your exact desired look.
Having a mass production process already yields little waste, which sets injection molding up for success. Plus, any leftover plastic materials can actually be reground and reused down the line for optimum waste usage.
Getting involved in injection molding processes can yield a high investment cost considering designing and modeling takes a long time. Production isn’t automatic and it does take lots of experimental rounds to finalize a design. Plus, molds can be quite pricey, machine hours can add up, and material costs can vary.
In the beginning, the lead time for a fully produced product can be quite lengthy. The design needs to be perfect, as you can’t really edit it once you start producing parts. Not only that, but the testing and manufacturing process can take months before going live. If you know exactly what you’re looking to make, the process can be done in six weeks give or take. And once you get going, the lead time shrinks dramatically.
Injection molding machines don’t fit in the corner of any normal-size room; they’re very large and if you’re looking to produce large plastic products, you’ll need an even larger machine with ample area to run your processes through. That being said, you will come across size limitations with large parts unless you’re willing to pay a pretty penny.
You may already have a bit of knowledge about plastic injection molding if you have landed on our blog today. Plastic injection molding is among the most commonly used processes for manufacturing, creating a huge number and a massive variety of pieces and parts.
Injection molding is commonly known as injection molding, a manufacturing process utilized in plastic parts mass fabrication. It consists of injection of the molten plastic material into the mold, where it will solidify and cool to its final form. It is the best mechanical assembly for the higher volumes of plastic products serving various individuals and industries.
The mold is customized during the design & development stage giving the proper shape to the part. It can also create several parts that are dimensionally consistent and identical, even on parts having complex designs allowing lower tolerance on dimensions.
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In terms of manufacturing intricate parts, plastic injection molding is perfect. Molding allows you to incorporate several features at smaller tolerances than other techniques. The mechanical assembly of this machine has several smaller parts.
The identical products are made repeatedly once the molding tool is created. The mold tool has longer life as it is made decently as long as it is treated appropriately through molding the machine setters.
The cost per part is quite low, while there is an initial high investment for the tool for plastic injection molding. The other processing techniques would involve several operations like polishing; injection molding can be done all together at once. The CNC machine will cost hundreds of pounds for each part. Injection molding is the best way to go if you are searching for complete production.
The cycle time is as low as 10 seconds. Combining this with a multi-impression injection molding tool can allow you loads of products quickly. Some parts take a bit longer since it is a specialist material with several features that need molding in a precise way.
There are a massive amount of materials that are available for plastic injection molding. There is a range of more common materials with things like antistatic plastic, chemical-resistant plastics, thermoplastic rubber, and more. You even have endless color choices, too, with masterbatch coloring or color compounding.
The injection molding tool is made out of special finishes that show on the molding along with the range of colors. You can get all types of finishes like the leather look, sparked, higher shine, l and more. You can even have logos along with other texts engraved into the mold. Lastly, you can have your moldings printed as a range of inks are made available and printed well onto the plastic.
Also Read- Importance of Good Plastic Molding Dies
The part repeatability is quite high for injection molding even the runners and sprues are there, with the leftover bits of plastics being created out of tunnels through which the plastic material reaches the actual mold. And the reground and material is reused.
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Several rounds of molding and designing are required before the production, or the go-ahead is given. After which injection molding tool is required for making the moldings, including designing and manufacturing.
The mold tool is the essential piece of work, cutting down on the manpower and material cost, along with several machining hours for making and representing the largest cost one gets in injection molding. Surely, once everything is done, the part cost is quite low, and repeatability is very high.
The final part can take months of design, testing, and manufacturing of tools from the production concept. If you know what you wish, you can have the finished moldings within 6 weeks. Once the tool exists, it takes quite less time to operate the moldings, especially while you have a multi-impression mold tool, as you have already noted under the benefits.
There are massive machines that are required for making plastic injection moldings. The larger parts require a massive mold tool that becomes quite expensive in manufacturing. The process involving plastic fabrication is the best choice as it depends on the type of product that you needs.
The plastic moldings require careful designing under mechanical assembly to avoid the tooling issues involving the undercuts, locked-in features, and not sufficient draft. The temperature and material will be taken into account in the wall design. Else, the mold will not be filled fully. The placement of cooling lines and ejectors needs consideration to ensure that the product appears good.
So, these are a few aspects you must know about plastic injection molding.
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