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Services |
A plastic injection molding plant should put
your needs first in the equation. Just the plastics themselves
can range widely in price from pennies a pound to hundreds of
dollars per pound and there are thousands of different types
of resins that vary in strength, elasticity and other attributes.
Other properties that the plastics engineer has to address include;
outdoor weatherability, thermal properties such as upper use
temperature, electrical properties, barrier properties, and
resistance to chemicals. Proper planning and designing of a
new job determines the quality and delivery of the final project.
Let’s look at the process of getting a new batch of plastic
parts produced from raw sketch or idea to packaged, ready to
sell merchandise.
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There
are many variables
in a plastic injection molding
job and a good plastic injection
molding company will walk you through all
of the steps to insure that you get the best possible job and
part quality for the lowest
possible price.
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Finishing and Machining
Once the plastic parts are made, they might require additional
machining or finishing depending on their intended use. For
instance, a hole might need to be drilled and threaded to
accept a screw or the plastic part might need to be machined
to remove material or shape the part in a way that the molding
process couldn’t accomplish as easily.
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Mold
Design and Development |
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A typical injection molding customer can walk in with as little
as a drawing on a napkin to a 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD)
rendering. The first thing that has to be constructed is the
mold. An estimate for mold making is drawn up. Molds again are
expensive, costing from ten thousand to upwards of fifty thousand
dollars. Again economic considerations come to the fore. If
a company wants to start out inexpensively, they may opt for
a mold that makes fewer pieces at a time while they build the
market for their product, then later on come back for a mold
that makes more parts.
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Here
is an example of 3D Modeling and Design |
Molten plastic is injected at high pressure into
a mold which is the inverse of the product's shape. Production
costs are directly related to the size of the production run,
the plastic chosen, the number of pieces per mold and other
factors. Again, your plastics engineer will assist you in making
these decisions based on your needs.
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Assembly
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Many plastic parts are of course snapped or screwed
together with other plastic parts or even circuit boards to
form a finished piece. Your cell phone is made up of at least
two plastic parts and probably quite a few more than that. Many
phones are made of a back cover, a front cover and all of the
individual number buttons for dialing. Some plastic injection
companies have the facilities for assembling the plastic parts
and getting them ready for packaging. Also the different parts
might be collated and packed into a kit form that allows the
consumer to snap them together to make the finished product.
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At times the final product needs to
be decorated before being ready for the market. The silver front
of your desktop calculator is likely to be a plastic part of
a different color that has been painted prior to assembly. Final
decorating can cover a broad range of methods from paint to
hot stamping to foil lettering. Just look around your living
room and kitchen for a broad range of plastics that were decorated
after the molding process was complete. |
Plastic
Packaging
Finally, the parts and pieces might go into
one of a myriad of different types of packaging, from a heat
sealed bag to a blister pack to a box, ready to be sold in
a retail environment. Again, your plastic injection molding
company may offer these services as well.
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This informational site provided by
Cascade Plastics Co., Inc. Visit our
website
for information about our Plastic Injection Molding and Mold Making
services.
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