Developing a Project

Scope for an Injection

Mold
By:

Basilius Inc.
Below Is a quick checklist to help you develop a project scope and work with an injection mold builder.

1) Tooling Intent
a. If you're testing a design, it could be beneficial to start with a lower cost, short lead time
prototype tooling. At the same, understanding the long term intent of your molding project
will drive the type of tooling and the design details.
2) Budget
a. Production tools, built to produce thousands or millions of parts, can be much more
expensive than prototype tools. It’s important to budget accordingly.
3) Specify the expected annual units (EAU)
a. The number of parts a mold needs to generate without major maintenance will drive the
design of the tool both from a cavitation* and mold class** perspective.
4) Molding Material
a. Plastics shrink as they cool. The amount of shrink varies by the type of plastic. The design of
the mold is based upon that amount of shrink.
5) Prints with Tolerances
a. It's best to know in advance what the most critical dimensions. Because it's not possible to
precisely predict how a plastic part will change during molding, a mold design could be
tweaked to stay "steel safe" for the first run. Then the parts can be checked, and the mold
adjusted as needed to meet specifications.
6) Kick-Off Date
a. If possible, its good to let a builder know when you intend on kicking off tooling. They can
then plan accordingly.
7) Mold Testing / Sampling
a. Tool builders with in house Injection molding
i. When a tool builder can test a mold at their facility and make any adjustments, it
can save you some headaches. Once in production, they can also more easily plan
maintenance, address tooling issues, and respond quickly to changes or updates.
b. Outsourced Molding
i. You'll need to plan to test the mold at another location, coordinate shipping, and
convey information between the two parties.
ii. If your injection molder can't maintain molds, you'll have to plan for downtime and
maintenance costs.
8) Start of Production
a. In cases where your mold builder is providing the injection molding service as well, knowing
when the program will be in production can help them plan resources.
9) Assemblies and Secondary Operations
a. If the plastic part is part of an assembly (both with other plastic parts or others), it's good to
specify that in advance. This includes overmolding, insert molding, pad printing, tape
applications, etc.

*Cavitation is the number of parts produced per molding cycle

**Mold classes define several mold design parameters that ultimately represent how many cycles a mold
should last.