The two most important things that go into any manufacturing process happen before any machines are fired up on the line: design and material selection. And when it comes to injection mold design, you can’t ever be too thorough.
Knowing your angles and shapes, tolerances, part application, and if there’s going to be a need for secondary services — your design should account for all these factors.
Agape Plastics details five best practices we’ve seen on how to improve your injection mold design process.
Design for Manufacturability (DFM)
Designing for manufacturability is one of the strongest ways to improve your injection mold design from the beginning. DFM is an encompassing way to account for overall part geometry, ensuring that the component is viable and ready to be molded by taking into account parameters such as wall thickness, draft angles, and undercuts.
Choose Proper Materials Based Upon Product Application
Best practices for injection mold design and material selection are equally important, and that’s why understanding your product, its design, and its application are so critical to success.
As you start to get an idea of what materials are going to be suitable for both the design and the product application, keep those materials in mind when detailing the tolerances of your mold. When you craft your design with material selection in mind, it greatly reduces the potential for defects such as warping during manufacturing.
Enhance Cooling and Ejection Systems
Incorporating cooling channels is an effective way to cool your parts after the molding process. These channels allow for more balanced and uniform cooling to take place as it moves colder air throughout the molded part.
This design practice is especially useful when working with high-performance thermoplastics such as PVC or PEEK. Additionally, cooling channels aid in reducing potential defects during manufacturing like warping, and it also allows for shorter cycle times.
Injection Mold Design Calls For Uniform Wall Thickness
One of the most vital aspects of an injection molded component is that it has uniform wall thickness throughout the part. By having the same level of thickness throughout, you’re left with a consistent feel and minimal weak points.
By having uniform wall thickness throughout the molded part, you greatly reduce the risk of having defects such as warping, sink marks, or stress concentrations. Uniform wall thickness also leads to even cooling and supports consistent material flow.
Ensure Mold Durability and Maintenance
Materials are going to undergo stress throughout the manufacturing cycle with injection molding. Accounting for these stresses with your mold design helps to ensure your parts won’t be at risk of defects during production.
Consider using steel in your mold cavities as a way to ensure your products can handle the grind of manufacturing.
Agape Plastics Can Help You Bring Your Injection Mold Design to Life
Agape Plastics is an industry-leading manufacturer in the injection molding market. Since 1973, we’ve devoted resources to improving what we do best, not just with injection-molded components, but with our other capabilities as well.
It’s not enough to just produce high-quality parts. We place great value on continuous innovation and constantly strive for improved efficiencies and lower manufacturing costs. Producing high-quality parts starts with material selection, and we’re here to help. We offer part design feasibility analysis and part design optimization services to get you on the right track.
Contact us today ahead of your next project where injection-molded components are needed. You’ll see that our high-quality products, backed by IATF 16949 and ISO 14001 certifications, separate us from the competition.