Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Professor Joe Greene Csu, Chico
Professor Joe Greene Csu, Chico
TIN
Mold
TOUT
Ejecting the Product
• Key to ejecting the product is reliability
– Mold must function 100% of the time without getting a part stuck
• Cost of 1 part in 10,000 failing can be substantial
– Assume, 16-cavity mold with 10-second cycle time and 1 part per 10,000 fails
» 3,600 sec/hr ÷ 10 sec/shot = 360 shots/hour x 16 parts/shot= 5,760parts/hr
» Failure of 1part in 10,000 pieces where the machine stops. The it will stop
every 10,000pieces/5,760 parts/hr = 1.74 hours machine stops.
• Failure causes
– Catastrophic failure of mechanical components of machine or mold
– Maintenance problems with power, water, or air service to machine
– Breakage of under-sized (too small) ejector pins,
– Misalignment of ejector and stripper plates causes bending of pins or
wear of ejector pin holes.
– Blocked air circuits for vacuum or air system
– Even distribution of air flow with air actuated ejectors
– Insufficient stroke of mechanical ejectors
– Undercuts or insufficient mold stoke during setup
Economically/Suiting Requirements
• Mold Type and Number of Cavities
– Production requirements of the mold
• Concept mold (test mold) where 10 or 20 parts are required.
– Shape is important, but mold function, and surface finish are not. Short
lead time is important so shortcuts can be made in the construction by
not having cooling lines and automatic ejector system. Can be soft steel,
aluminum, epoxy molds or rapid prototype molds.
• Prototype molds where a couple of thousand are required.
– Shape is important, fast timing on mold is important, function should be
demonstrated with cooling lines and ejector systems
– Surface finish and cycle time can be relaxed as a requirement.
» Assume machine is used 90% of the time or 5,400 hours per year
» Would require at least three cavities, though 4 cavity would be better
Economically/Suiting Requirements
• Mold Type and Number of Cavities
• Production mold where 1 million parts are expected in life of mold
– Shape is important with tolerances on dimensions, function is critical to achieve
low cycle time with the use of cooling lines, ejector system, surface finish
– Example to find number of molds or cavities
» 4 million pieces required per year for 3 years at 10sec-cycle
» 3,600 sec/hr at 10 sec/part = 360 parts/hr
» 4 million parts at 360 part/hr = 11,110 hours
» Assume a year has 5,400 hours by 24 hrs/day x 5 days per week x 50
weeks per year = 6,000 hours per year
» Assume machine is used 90% of the time or 5,400 hours per year
» Would require at least three cavities, though 4 cavity would be better
Economically/Suiting Requirements
• Machine Hour Time
– Multicavity molds maximize the output of a mold and a machine
• Molds cost less than a machine, thus, choose as many cavities as possible as
the machine throughput (Use the 80% rule for machine capacity)
• Example,
– As the number of cavities increase, the incremental savings become smaller and
will slowly approach zero.
– With a 4-cavity tool at a 10-sec cycle, the mold produces: 1,440 pieces/hr
» 3,600 sec/hr ÷ 10 sec/shot x 4 pieces/shot = 1,440 pieces/hr
– Machine cost = $100 / hour ÷ 1,440 pieces/hr = $0.0694/piece
– With an eight cavity mold, 2,880 pieces/hr at $0.0347/piece
– With a 16-cavity mold, the piece cost would be $0.0174/part
• Advantage of Multicavity molds
– Reduces piece cost of parts, reduces time required to use molding machine,
requires fewer molding machines to be used
• Disadvantage of Multicavity molds
– Risk of having production on fewer number of molds, which might break-down
– Cost of 8-cavity is about twice the cost of a 4-cavity
Economically/Suiting Requirements
• Multicavity on big molding machine versus single cavity on
smaller sized (Table-top) molding machines
– Trade-offs
• Compare costs of a multicavity tooling on one big machine versus single or
dual cavity on smaller machines.
• Compare floor space, part costs, labor costs, etc…
• High Productivity within Short Time
– Same product as previous example is required as a promotional
item, for a “one-shot deal” and is needed ASAP.
• Required 4 million pieces in 6 months instead of 12 months
– Use two 4 cavity molds on two machines or get an 8-cavity mold
• Piece cost is most affected by part eight (50% to 70% of total costs)
– Thinning the wall is common to reduce part cost.
Molding Different Shapes
• Rule of thumb:
– Mold should be made for one type of product
– Different shapes have different molding characteristics
• Exception
– Some products, e.g., toys and some engineering products_ which
require the same or multiple quantities of a number of different
shapes of the same plastic and the same color, may be produced in
a family mold.
– Advantage: Economical
• Volumes aren’t big enough for a multi-cavity mold for 1 part, so several different
parts are combined in one mold using the same material.
• Molding cycle is same for all parts
• Parts can be assembled after molding
– Disadvantage
• All parts from mold must use same plastic, even if it is not the best material for some
of the parts.
• One cavity may produce bad parts and need repair causing downtime
Multiple Color or Material Molds
• Molds consist of 2 or more cavities and cores which are fed
from 2 or more injection units.
– Over-molding of one material over another
– One resin is injected into a cavity and core, then the mold is rotated
and the second resin is injected in the new cavity with an identical
core.
– Example,
• Toothbrush handles with 2 types of plastic on them
• Typewriter keys with the letters or numbers molded in the plastic.