Don’t just focus on product design and ignore plastic mold manufacturing. When some users are developing products or trial production of new products, they often only focus on product development and development at the initial stage, ignoring the communication with the plastic mold making unit. After the product design plan is initially determined, there are two benefits to contacting the mold manufacturer in advance:
- 1. It can be guaranteed that the designed product has a good forming process, and the stereotype design will not be modified because the parts are difficult to process.
- 2. The mold maker can make design preparations in advance to prevent inadequate consideration in a hurry and affect the construction period.
- 3. To produce high-quality plastic molds, only if the supply and demand sides cooperate closely can the cost be reduced and the cycle shortened.
Don’t just look at the price, but consider all aspects of quality, cycle and service.
- 1. There are many types of molds, which can be roughly divided into ten categories. According to different requirements of parts materials, physical and chemical properties, mechanical strength, dimensional accuracy, surface finish, service life, economy, etc., select different types of mold forming.
- 2. Molds with high precision requirements need to be processed with high-precision CNC machine tools, and the mold materials and forming processes have strict requirements. CAD / CAE / CAM mold technology must also be used for design and analysis.
- 3. Due to the special requirements for forming some parts, the mold also requires advanced processes such as hot runners, gas-assisted molding, and nitrogen cylinders.
- 4. The manufacturer should have CNC, EDM, WEDM and CNC copy milling equipment, high-precision grinding machine, high-precision three-coordinate measuring instrument, computer design and related software.
- 5. In general, large-scale stamping dies (such as automobile cover parts dies) should consider whether the machine tool has a blank holder mechanism, or even edge lubricant, multi-station progressive, etc. In addition to stamping tonnage, it is also necessary to consider punching times, feeding devices, machine tools and mold protection devices.
- 6. The manufacturing methods and processes of the above-mentioned molds are not possessed and mastered by every enterprise. When choosing a cooperative manufacturer, you must understand its processing capabilities, not only depending on the hardware equipment, but also combining management level, processing experience and technical strength.
- 7. For the same set of molds, quotes from different manufacturers sometimes vary greatly. You should not pay more than the value of the mold, but it should not be less than the cost of the mold. Mould manufacturers, like you, must make reasonable profits in their business. Ordering a set of molds with much lower quotations can be a troublesome start. Users must proceed from their own requirements and make a comprehensive measurement.
Avoid multi-head collaboration and try to make one-stop plastic mold making and product processing.
- 1. With qualified molds (qualified test pieces), batches of qualified products may not necessarily be produced. This is mainly related to the selection of machine tools for the parts, the forming process (forming temperature, forming time, etc.) and the technical quality of the operator.
- 2. If you have a good mold, you also need to have a good forming process. It is best to cooperate in one stop and try to avoid multi-head collaboration. If the conditions are not met, it is necessary to choose one party to be fully responsible and make sure to write clearly when signing the contract.