Precautions for mold manufacturing

1. Don’t just focus on product design and ignore plastic mold manufacturing.

When some users develop products or trial-produce new products, they often only focus on product research and development in the early stage and ignore communication with plastic mold manufacturing units. After the product design plan is initially determined, there are two benefits of contacting the mold manufacturer in advance:

1. It can ensure that the designed products have good forming technology, and the final design will not be modified because the parts are difficult to process.

2. The mold maker can make design preparations in advance to prevent insufficient consideration in a hurry and affect the construction period.

3. To produce high-quality plastic molds, only the close cooperation between supply and demand can ultimately reduce costs and shorten the cycle.

2. Don’t just look at the price, but consider all aspects of quality, cycle, and service.

1. There are many types of molds, which can be roughly divided into ten categories. Different types of molds are selected for molding based on different requirements such as part material, physical and chemical properties, mechanical strength, dimensional accuracy, surface finish, service life, and economy.

2. Molds with high precision requirements need to be processed using high-precision CNC machine tools, and there are strict requirements on mold materials and forming processes. CAD/CAE/CAM mold technology must also be used for design and analysis.

3. Due to special requirements during molding of some parts, the mold also needs to use advanced processes such as hot runners, gas-assisted molding, and nitrogen cylinders.

4. Manufacturers should have CNC, EDM, wire cutting machine tools and CNC copy milling equipment, high-precision grinders, high-precision three-coordinate measuring instruments, computer design and related software, etc.

5. For general large-scale stamping molds (such as automobile cover molds), it is necessary to consider whether the machine tool has a pressing mechanism, or even edge lubricants, multi-station advancement, etc. In addition to stamping tonnage, the number of punches, feeding devices, machine tools and mold protection devices must also be considered.

6. The above-mentioned mold manufacturing methods and processes are not possessed and mastered by every enterprise. When choosing a cooperative manufacturer, you must understand its processing capabilities. Not only the hardware equipment, but also the management level, processing experience and technical strength.

7. For the same set of molds, there are sometimes big differences in the quotations from different manufacturers. You shouldn't pay more than the mold is worth, and you shouldn't pay less than the cost of the mold. Mold manufacturers, like you, want to make reasonable profits in their business. Ordering a set of molds with a much lower quote can be the beginning of trouble. Users must start from their own requirements and make a comprehensive assessment.

3. Avoid multi-party collaboration and try to integrate plastic mold manufacturing and product processing.

1. With a qualified mold (the test piece is qualified), it may not be 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 a good mold, you must also have good forming processing. It is best to have one-stop cooperation and try to avoid multi-head cooperation. If the conditions are not met, one party must be chosen to take full responsibility, and this must be written clearly when signing the contract.