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.
Plastic Moulding Advantages
1.Fast
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!
2. Low cost per part
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.
3.Special Surface Finishes, Engraving & Printing
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.
4.High repeatability
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 !
Plastic Moulding Disadvantages
Sounds good right ? Of course there are some disadvantages:
1. High Initial Cost
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.
2.Careful design needed
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.
3.Initial lead time
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.
4. Large Part Size Limitations
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.
