How long does it take to manufacture a plastic mould?

The question of how long it takes to process plastic moulds cannot be generalised, and should be considered from a number of factors, such as the ease of processing the product structure, the customer's product requirements, the product material characteristics and the minimum order quantity of the moulded product, i.e. the number of open cavities. The cycle time for plastic moulds is calculated scientifically and is not just a figure that can be quoted to the customer. It depends mainly on the complexity of the product design, size, precision, quantity requirements, product performance, etc.

1, product structure: refers to the difficulty of the structure of the plastic parts samples provided by customers, generally can be understood as follows: the more complex the shape of the plastic parts, the more difficult it is to make moulds. Technically speaking, the more fractal surfaces, assembly bits, buckle bits, hole bits and rib bits there are in a plastic part, the more difficult it is to process, and the mould making time will be extended accordingly. Generally speaking, the more complex the mould structure, the lower the quality, the more difficult the processing, the more problematic it is, and the slower it takes to achieve the final product result.

2, product size: Yes, the larger the size, the plastic mould processing cycle will also be correspondingly longer. The relative spare parts processing time will also be longer.

3, product requirements: different customers' requirements for the products are certainly different, the design of the appearance of the surface is matt or glossy or mirror surface, which affects the production cycle of plastic moulds.

4, product material performance: often our products have special requirements, the requirements of the mold steel and processing technology requirements are also different, the early done PC plus ceramic mold, plus ceramic purpose is insulated fire, generally used in led lighting. The mold requirements are different, the mold needs to be hardened, hardened precision grinder secondary CNC, the follow-up processing links will also be more difficult, naturally will be more time-consuming, there are some mold requirements anti-corrosion or soft rubber mold, the requirements will be different, the manufacturing and processing process will be more complex some.

5: The number of cavities in the mould: that is, a set of moulds have several cavities, a set of moulds to produce a few products, depending on the customer's product market is not large, do two products with a product is certainly a difference, processing time will also be different. Normally, for new products, the market is not yet fully open and the demand for the product is not that big, so the number of cavities in the injection mould does not need to be so many at this time, and the market supply can be guaranteed, so the cost performance is relatively the highest. Of course, after the market for the product has matured, the number of cavities in the mould must be increased, and that depends on the market demand to determine whether to make changes in the number of cavities to feedback the market demand.

The above are the main factors that determine how long it takes to manufacture our plastic moulds. The general mould manufacturing cycle is around 20-25 days year, it is recommended that product developers have a conservative time for each link in the new product development process, even if any link goes wrong, there is still room for manoeuvre. After the plastic mould is made, the injection moulding operation is relatively less complex and the cycle time for plastic parts is basically very easy to calculate.