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Plastic Injection Molding Methods

Plastic Optics Looking Good For Our Industry

It’s no optical illusion:  increasingly, plastic lenses for optical applications are seen as a superior choice to traditional glass. There are many reasons but it comes down to this:  polymers enable optical surfaces to join with other features of the product, chiefly mounting features, are lighter in weight, can be molded into an infinite variety…

Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Methods

Taking Your Machinery’s Temperature Should Be A Non-Contact Sport

Temperature is arguably the most critical measurement parameter in the plastic injection molding process.  In fact,  consistently high-quality production can only be attained through precise temperature control. But traditional measurement techniques involved actual contact between the sensor and the part whose temperature was to be taken.  There were a number of drawbacks to this method,…

Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Methods

NPE 2018: The Smart Factory is Now!

Smart Factory… Artificial Intelligence… Machine Learning… whatever you call it, it’s coming to a plastic injection molding plant near you, and soon. (Maybe it’s your plastic injection molding plant!) At NPE 2018 in Orlando (May 7 – 11),  exhibitors will say they’re not there to sell you something which will simply incrementally improve the status quo.  Instead,…

Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Methods

Size Matters In Particulate Additives

Yep, it’s true: size matters. But in the case of particulate additives, (unlike, ahem, other instances) smaller is definitely more beautiful.  In fact, nano-sized or even particles measured in micrometers are much less problematic for fabricated plastic products than adding pure organic polymers.  The smaller particulate additives  not only can lower the cost of plastic…

Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Methods

Plastic Parts That Need To Have Some Nice Threads

On this blog, we love plastics — all sorts of plastic, especially the plastic-injected molded kind.  But there comes a time when plastic doesn’t have the metal, eh, mettle,  to get the job done right.  Plastic parts that have to be assembled and re-assembled multiple times, for example.  Plastic threads just won’t cut it, in those…

Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Methods

Process Standardization: History is Prologue

A good working definition of process standardization in plastic injection molding:  Creating a repeatable process with 100% efficiency that results in standardized products with little or zero scrap. Any real process requires consistent variables.  These include — but are not limited t0 fill time, peak pressure, barrel temperature and fill temperature.  Paying attention to such…

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Plastics: Whether 3-D or Injection Molded, They’re Cool, eh ‘Lit’!

There’s a famous scene in “The Graduate”, the iconic 60’s movie that made a star out of Dustin Hoffman, and which besmirched a material that 50 years later has made a stunning comeback. It comes at a graduation party for Hoffman’s character:  one of the adult party-goers corrals “Ben”, the Hoffman character, leads him outside…

Filed Under:plastic injection molded electronic parts , Plastic Injection Molding Methods

Take the Guesswork Out of Plastic Injection Molding Warpage

Plastic injection mold manufacturers have a nemesis when it comes to resolving warpage.  The culprit is the gap between the conventional assumptions, i.e. guesswork,  of mold temperature warpage and actual warpage of parts that occur in real time. Because of advances in software technology, including software simulation packages, trial and error experiments at the production…

Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Methods