This is the final entry regarding custom plastic injection molding. As you can probably gather by now, you have quite a number of options before you to choose the best suite for you. The process sounds really simple: you get an idea, you make a design, you get the material, you shape out a mold, you melt the plastic, you pour it into the mold, you let it cool down, and you get a final product. Unfortunately, not everything is so cut and clear. There are a number of issues that can come up with your custom design, and the production run is taking place, even after having a successful test run.
Here are some examples of what you might be able to encounter along the way and some suggestions on how to fix it.
Warped Products
Even after casting out a perfect mold your products can get a bad case of warping. This happens to be a deformation or shrinkage on the finished product coming out of the mold and the usual cause for it is by not letting the mold cool down following the right procedure suited to your cast. What it can also happen is the molding process is tampered with on any stage. The only way to fix this issue is to follow the right procedure to cool down the mold and double check the process to make sure that the error is not coming from human hands. The other option is to change materials and improve their quality is needed.
Burning Marks
It’s when a rust-like mark appears on a section of your product, or a discolored section appears on it. These are usually caused for using low-quality materials or for using materials that have been stored for way too long. Most of the time they can also appear when a human error causes excessive heat pressure or when the injection of materials into the mold is done too fast. The only way to fix this is by working with quality materials that are up to date and to review the injection speed to optimize the process related to venting gasses. You can also simply reduce the molds temperatures on the basis of trial and error until you find the best point of heat for a successful production run.
Flash Extrusions
This is a minor inconvenience at best, but one worth checking out to fulfill your standards of quality. A flash extrusion is something that happens when the molten plastic gets out of the mold cavity when the product is being shaped using high heat pressure. It’s only visible after the mold cools down and the product is released from it. It happens when the mold is not closed down properly or when the molds have been used for a long time. It can be fixed by doing a manual checkup of the state of sealing of the molds, by cleaning them regularly, or by retiring them and make new ones if they have fulfilled their lifespan.
Thanks for paying attention! We do hope that these entries on the subject of plastic injection molding help you out in the long run.
Related Artilces:
Custom Plastic Injection Molding Processes Part 1
Custom Plastic Injection Molding Processes Part 2