PLLS 0003 - Plastic Injection Mold Design: Basic and Advanced Topics
Course Description
In this plastic injection molding course, you’ll enjoy a comprehensive exploration of injection mold design that not only enhances your understanding but also equips you to drive overall project success. Through a unique approach, you’ll gain a profound comprehension of detailed mold design concepts set forth in the context of the whole design process.
As you progress, you’ll cultivate a strategic mindset for achieving cost savings throughout the process and review projects at each important juncture to master advanced concepts.
By enrolling in this course, you’ll emerge with an enriched perspective on injection molding and design, equipped to make significant contributions to projects’ triumphs through your comprehensive grasp of both design intricacies and cost-efficient strategies.
Course Outline/Topics
Days 1 and 2:
- Introduction and Overview
- The Anatomy of a Mold
- Mold Types
- Stripper plate molds
- Unscrewing molds
- Quick change molds
- Hot runner molds
- Shuttle molds
- Basic Mold Construction
- Use and placement of bolts and dowels
- Major suppliers and differences between them
- How to specify and order mold bases and components
- Common Components and their Function
- Leader pins, return pins, support pillars, rest buttons, etc.
- The Molding Press
- How the mold interfaces with the press
- Horizontal and vertical clamp
- Shuttle and rotary presses
- Plastic Resin Fundamentals
- Amorphous and semi-crystalline
- Basic properties and how they affect the mold design
- Shrink
- How to use shrink to your advantage
- Factors that affect shrink and warp
- Plastic Product Design Fundamentals
- Common errors
- What the mold designer needs to look for in a product design
- Sprue, Runner and Gate
- Common gate design errors
- Runner sizing guidelines
- Runner pullers
- Ejection
- Determining ejector place
- Pin orientation methods
- Knock-out patterns
- Return pins and springs
- Basic Mold Inserting
- Solid vs split construction
- Criteria for inserting
- Slides and Lifters
- A thorough look at how to mold undercuts
- Typical slide and lifter construction
- Mechanical vs hydraulic
- Cavity Layout
- How to efficiently “place“ the cavities in the mold and choose the best parting line
- How it affects runners, ejection and gates
- Cooling
- The economic effect of cooling design
- General rules for waterline placement
- Thermal conductivity of various tool steels
- Venting
- Venting of runners
- How venting affects the molded part
- Why this should NOT be overlooked
- Mold Steel
- What to look for in a mold steel
- A discussion of steel hardness
- Alternate materials used in molds
- Plating and Polishing
- A selection chart for mold coatings
- When and why to use plating
Day 3
- Structural design considerations
- Ejector pin placement
- Support pillar/plate thickness calculations
- Fit tolerances/machining precision
- Mold and part design considerations for multi-shot molding
- Core shift
- LSR and HCR mold design considerations
- Unscrewing collapsible core technology
- Mold maintenance considerations
- Injection molding simulation for toolmakers/tool designers for driving engineering decisions
Benefits and Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate advanced cavity and core inserting
- Analyze your current issues regarding plastic injection molding
- Identify mold design concepts
- Avoid costly mistakes
- Justify and evaluate your purchases of molds
- Recognize advanced parting line, shut-off development, advanced slide and lifter design
Who Should Attend
Anyone responsible for procuring, evaluating, building or designing injection mold tools, including tooling engineers, buyers, toolmakers, mold designers, product designers, managers and molders.Testimonials
"Really effective and knowledge structure. Covered every type of injection molding tooling you could imagine."
- April 2024 Participant
"I came into this course with limited understanding of injection mold tools and the injection mold process as I work in the quality department at my job. Despite my limited knowledge, this course was excellent and has helped me build a good foundational understanding of injection mold tools and the injection molding process that will help me succeed in my current position."
- September 2024 Participant
Instructors
Partners & Professional Credits
- Professional Development Hours 21.0 PDHs