Precautions for plastic molds

1、 Don't just focus on product design and neglect plastic mold manufacturing.
Some users often focus only on product development and development in the early stages of product development or new product trial production, neglecting communication with plastic mold manufacturing units. After the initial determination of the product design plan, contacting the mold manufacturer in advance has two benefits:
1. It can ensure that the designed product has good forming process and will not modify the finalized design due to the difficulty of processing the parts.
2. The mold manufacturer can make design preparations in advance to prevent hasty and thoughtless considerations from affecting the construction period.
3. To produce high-quality plastic molds, only through close cooperation between supply and demand can we ultimately reduce costs and shorten the cycle.
2、 Don't just look at the price, consider quality, cycle, and service from all aspects.
1. There are many types of molds, which can be roughly divided into ten categories. Select different types of molds for forming based on different requirements such as part material, physical and chemical properties, mechanical strength, dimensional accuracy, surface finish, service life, and economy.
2. High precision molds require the use of high-precision CNC machine tools for processing, and there are strict requirements for mold materials and forming processes. CAD/CAE/CAM mold technology is also needed for design and analysis.
3. Some parts require advanced processes such as hot runner, gas assisted molding, and nitrogen cylinder due to special requirements during molding.
4. Manufacturers should have CNC, electric spark, wire cutting machine tools and CNC profiling milling equipment, high-precision grinding machines, high-precision three coordinate measuring instruments, computer design and related software, etc.
5. Generally, large stamping molds (such as automotive cover parts molds) need to consider whether the machine tool has an edge pressing mechanism, even edge lubricants, multi-station progressive, etc. In addition to stamping tonnage, consideration should also be given to punching times, feeding devices, machine tools, and mold protection devices.
6. The manufacturing methods and processes of the above-mentioned molds are not possessed and mastered by every enterprise. When choosing a collaborative manufacturer, it is important to understand its processing capabilities, not only based on hardware equipment, but also combined with management level, processing experience, and technical strength.
7. For the same set of molds, there may be significant differences in quotations from different manufacturers. You should not pay more than the value of the mold, nor should you pay less than the cost of the mold. Mold manufacturers, like you, need to achieve reasonable profits in their business. Customizing a set of molds with a much lower quotation would be the beginning of trouble. Users must start from their own requirements and comprehensively measure.
3、 Avoid multi head collaboration and strive to integrate plastic mold production and product processing as much as possible.
1. With qualified molds (qualified specimens), it is not necessarily possible to produce batches of qualified products. This is mainly related to the selection of machine tools for processing parts, the forming process (forming temperature, forming time, etc.), and the technical quality of the operator.
2. With good molds, there is also a need for good forming and processing, which is a one-stop collaboration, and try to avoid multi head collaboration. If the conditions are not met, it is necessary to choose one party who is fully responsible, and it must be clearly written during the contract.