What Is Cracking in Injection Molding? When a part is physically fractured or broken, you’re experiencing cracking. Cracks usually occur due to post-molding conditions, but when troubleshooting cracking, you want to know exactly when the cracking is happening as it...
What Is Contamination in Injection Molding? Contamination appears as discoloration, streaks, splay, delamination and other types of defects. Because it’s such a broad area with multiple possible culprits, is best to start with the usual suspect: the material brought...
In all phases of the molding process—first stage, second stage and cooling—the cavities must be treated the same. If not, you run the risk of several different injection molding defects. We can prevent these issues in advance by ensuring six key factors are as they...
When you see a non-uniform fanning out from the gate, which appears as a different color or gloss level to the surrounding plastic, you may be dealing with gate blush. What is Gate Blush? Also known simply as blush, or gate shear or halos, gate blush is a dull or...
Are you experiencing bubbles during your injection molding processes? Let’s go through the possible causes—and fixes—to get rid of bubbles. What are Bubbles in Injection Molding? Bubbles, sometimes known as gas traps or blisters, are cosmetic defects that detract from...
What Causes Plastic Delamination in Injection Molding? When you’re able to peel the surface of a molded part, layer by layer, you’re dealing with delamination, an injection-molding defect that is sometimes also known as lamination or layering. This is a bad...
Ejector pin marks, sometimes called pin push, are the glossy or white imprints caused by the ejector pins that show on the class-A surface of the part. These marks can easily crack during the use of the actual products, so you want to prevent ejector pin marks before...
There are three types of injection mold release coatings within our Nano Mold Coating family and two ways to apply them, depending on the type of coating you’re using. Our HC and HCF (the food-grade alternative to HC) coatings are applied in the tool room at...
One of the most important aspects of injection molding, or anything involving machining, is making sure machines are running at peak performance. Any downtime cuts into efficiency and, ultimately, the bottom line. Prolonged downtime can lead to serious problems with...
Welcome to our Plastic Injection Molding Defects series, where we will explain some common defects seen by injection molders and present ways to fix or prevent them. What is an Ejector in Injection Molding? The ejector is the part of the molding process that pushes...
Welcome to our Plastic Injection Molding Defects series, where we will explain some common defects seen by injection molders and present ways to fix or prevent them. What are Burns? Sometimes known as gas traps or the dieseling effect, burns appear as black or brown...
Welcome to our Plastic Injection Molding Defects series, where we will explain some common defects seen by injection molders and offer ways of fixing or preventing them. What is Splay? Splay is a cosmetic defect that occurs in plastic injection molding, when silver or...
The infographic below is from our friends at Economy Glass in Australia. It does a nice job of explaining nano coatings, and their impact on manufacturing. Check it out:
Quality. This one word sums up the need for having a defined mold maintenance program. Quality parts come from quality molds. But just like anything that is used as a tool, wear and degradation are part of the process. Having a maintenance program is an investment in...
View image | gettyimages.com One of the challenges for injection molders is efficiency. The cycle times for plastic parts can range from 30 seconds to more than a minute. One of the primary contributors to that time and one of the longstanding constraints is cooling...
In today’s ever-increasing competitive environment, the ability to produce parts profitably is harder and harder. One of the areas that many molders have looked towards to save time and costs is the concept of Rapid Injection Molding. One area that can make this idea...
Lean Manufacturing is often associated with a focus on cost reduction. However, through the implementation of lean manufacturing processes, many injection molders also realize reduced lead times, improved on-time delivery scores, and an increase in overall customer...
There is a direct correlation between having a well planned and managed mold maintenance and preventative maintenance program and realizing maximum value from your tooling investments. With the expectation that each and every part must be perfect, and that production...
Rapid Injection Molding, or RIM has really changed the plastic injection molding industry. By offering lower production quantities and quicker turnaround times, it has allowed many products to be molded versus other manufacturing methods. One of the benefits of RIM is...
Optimizing The Molding Process The use of Scientific Molding has had a dramatic impact on the efficiency of molding operations. The following 6 steps should be considered to help optimize the process robustness of your molding operation. Viscosity Curve The scientific...
