Plastic mould making - post production assembly

Plastic moulds are not easy or quick

The production time for most tools can vary from 60 days to 6 months. The total production time will depend on how quickly the approval process takes place, the complexity and size of the mould and the number of items currently being produced by the plastic mould manufacturer.

Post-production assembly

As with automation, a larger upfront investment in tooling will help you avoid complex auxiliary processes and save on final part costs.

Some assembly is unavoidable, but you can coordinate with your plastic mould manufacturer and design and manufacturing engineers to establish an efficient process and have a clear understanding of the production path of the part from raw material to the final packaged product. Assembly can also be labour intensive and very often your costs will double. Sometimes you need to combine one assembly process with another to increase efficiency.

Some common auxiliary processes for injection moulded parts are:

-Soldering ultrasonic halves together

-Screwing two parts together

-Snap two parts together.

-Soldering two parts together with solvent (using solvent to "bond" the parts and then placing them in a fixture so they bond properly...)

-Trim ungated or improperly gated runners

Trimming of "flying edges", small, edge-on plastic flakes, usually caused by poor workmanship, damaged or improperly manufactured tools, or the use of raw materials (e.g. PVC in standard steel) in tools not made for this purpose. Final parts of final parts versus injection moulded parts