Model of Injection Molding Die?

Greets all..
Am doing some self-learning on injection molding.
goal is to learn to design dies.. though I don't forsee this happening
anytime fast. there sure is alot of information out there.

I was hoping for two things:
1. recommendations for good (practical) design literature and,
2. a solidworks model of a real die thats been produced and put to
work
with good results. (its my 2nd best option to actually having a real
die here on my desk).

Thanks,
-Tony

 

AFAIK Molding (moulding) is not done with dies. Though molds
(moulds) might be made by tool & die shops.

 

I would recommend taking a mechanical or plastics technology
curriculum at a college. Knowledge of plastics, processes, molding
and in-use parameters, etc. are just plain required to translate into
successful tools.

Get the online catalogs from the mold base builders as a start.

Then remember that all the variations on tools for short run, RP
Tools, high-heat conductivity, specialty materials and functions, and
even such things as metal injection molding exist, so there is no one
thing which adequately describes an "injection mold base".

I'm not going to get all the URLs for you and all the accessory makers
but use Google to get:

Hasco
National
DME
Mold Masters
Inco
Omni
PCS
Progressive

and a few dozen others.

There are a good half dozen magazines & most have online versions for
mold making, plastics, product design, etc.

http://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/

It is a long road, but I think a productive one if you can stick with
it to get the training required to be a good product & mold designer.
But I don't see any short term solution. It takes a lot of diligent
time to get good.

 

As an aside to what top product designers get, someone quoted what
entry level competent expierenced designers get at Apple the other
day. $200k/yr was what the number was.

Aim high.

 

Bo,
Thanks for the leads. There's some good info on the MoldMaking site.
Though its still a bit "advanced" for me.. in that I'd like to get a
good look
at the big picture before dealing with things like flow analysis.

I'm trying to get some general molding info.. things like:
what are molds made of? are they hardened? hand polished?
where do the mold guides go? how big should they be? how many do i
need?
how many ejector pins do i need?
does my mold need to be heated or cooled? how do you heat/cool a
mold?
what kind of clamping forces might be required? whats the best way to
clamp a die?

things like that.... not to mention all the other elements i am
unaware of.

thanks again.

still reading...
-tony

 

I would simply get a book from your local library, or from a library
they can share books with, and find one on "Plastic Injection Mold
Design" or similar.

You can buy books like that from Amazon in used or new:

Type in "injection mold" in Amazon and look at all the titles.

Bo

 

It depends. Some short run or prototype molds, and even a few longer run
production molds are made of Aluminum. Most molds are steel, with many
different choices available. A few are made of other specialty materials,
like Copper alloys. (Usually just inserts, not the whole mold.)

Again, it depends. Some molds are made of relatively soft pre-hardened
material, like P20. Some molds are made of S7 or H13 and then hardened.

Again, it depends. (Are you noticing a pattern here?) Some molds are
machined or EDMed and then polished, then have a texture added to them. Some
are EDMed and the EDM texture is left on.

As you probably guessed, it depends. How big is your mold? How accurately do
the two halves need to match up?

You should know the answer by now. How big is your part? What material is it
molded in? How deep are the walls and ribs? How much draft do they have?
Where can you put the ejector pins? Can you allow for push marks opposite
the ejectors? How flat does the surface need to be near the ejectors?

If you don't want to run really long mold cycles, yes. The temperature you
wnat to run the mold at depends on the material you are molding, the
cosmetics you require, the tolerances you can allow and other variables I
can't think of right now.

Generally with water lines. For hotter molds, with oil.

How much pressure do you need to put into the plastic to fill and pack the
mold? What is the projected surface area of your molded part(s) and the
runner system? Multiply those two numbers together and add a bit and you've
got a good guess at what kind of clamp force will be needed.

With a molding machine?

I'm not mold maker, nor a mold designer, and I have never played either one
on TV, in a movie, or in a play. Some of my best friends are, though.


Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

Sprayed metals too.

 

There are some other links here that you might find helpful.
http://www.injection-moldings.com/faqlinks.html


Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

whats the best way to clamp a die?

lmao.

thanks again, all. more reading it is...

-tony