Mold Making and Injection Molding: Two Separate Worlds
During the first 14 years of my career, when I was building and designing injection molds, gating and runners were not really a focus. In most cases mold making and Injection Molding are two different worlds, so in my case I had no idea what was going on over in the injection molding side. The gates and runners had no impact on my focus, which was to build robust tools. In 2002 when I made the switch from Mold Making to the Injection Molding arena, gating and runners were an area that jumped out at me right away as not really having any type of standard. (more…)
This is the final installment in a series on flash free molding. [Read Part 1 and Part 2.] In this article, we will get into issues with tool design with shut-offs, parting line maintenance, and where the machine can contribute to flash. First, I would like to briefly go over how to define flash. Flash at times can be difficult to eliminate, and many will give up and accept this defect. Flash also can be miss-diagnosed at times with miss-matched parting lines or feather flash. I have seen miss-match called flash many times, but if it is flash you can see or feel it from both sides, miss-match will only be seen or felt from one side. (more…)
I hope you found the first article on flash free molding interesting. [Read Flash Free Molding Part 1.] I covered cavity pressure versus clamp pressure and will talk tool deflection in this article. Tool design and construction can be a contributor to flash issues. But, if you read the first article and the three conditions are met, flash is not possible. An inadequate tool design can contribute to flash by allowing deflection in line with clamp force and perpendicular to clamp force. Also, on the construction side, improper spotting, timing of components, and fitting of components can be contributors to flash. (more…)
My name is Randy Kerkstra, and I have been living and breathing injection molding for 26 years. I’m excited about starting this blog to share lessons learned over the years and to assist the industry (more…)
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Mold Making and Injection Molding: Two Separate Worlds
