Companies that produce their own parts or produce parts for another company may be molding the parts in limited quantities, taking time and resources that could be used elsewhere. Injection molding can help reduce the time to produce those parts and streamline the facility's production line.
Understanding Injection Molding
Injection molding is not a new method of producing parts but can be expensive for small businesses to set up. The system uses a large press that holds a mold that is in several pieces. When the process starts, the mold closes, so all the parts are pressed tightly together. The system then fills the mold with the material you are using.
Typically, the material used in injection molding is plastic that melts so it can be injected. Once the mold's cavity is full, water is run through the mold to cool the material so the operator can open the mold and remove the finished part.
This process is rapidly repeated, and one press can turn out hundreds of parts a day, each molded to the exact specifications as the first. Often, some minor finish work is needed to take off material that may have flowed into the mold joints, but this usually is pretty minimal.
For companies that can afford to set up multiple presses, the number of parts produced in a day can skyrocket and feed a fast-moving assembly line or supply a vendor that uses the pieces at a fast pace.
Customizing Materials
Injection molding offers the benefits of many different materials that you can use to produce products. Some of the most common are ABS, Polypropylene, Polycarbonate, PVC, and some acrylics. Each of these materials has different properties, so determining which one is the best suited to your product can take some research.
Working with the plastic supplier is often the best way to determine what you need and how to achieve the durability, flexibility, or rigidity of the end product. In some cases, you may need to combine several plastics to get a suitable material base for your product, and the supplier can often create custom mixes for you to use in your production.
Custom Colors
When you are producing parts at a high rate and want them to be ready to use right away, using a colored base material allows you to mold the pieces in the proper color. Injection molding materials can come from the supplier already dyed to your specifications and ready to feed into the system.
Working with pre-dyed material can save another step and further streamline the process, so your injection molding facility is faster, more profitable, and easier to manage.
To learn more, contact a company like Seiler Plastics.
