This is injection mold making project of customer from Netherlands. The injection molded plastic parts are packages applied to 3D printer.

Basic part information:

• Part size: 220.15*145*220.15 mm
• Plastic material of part: ABS
• Finish: SPI-A3
• Color: RAL 9003
• Production volume: 5K

Basic part information:

• Part size: 204.317*265*204.317 mm
• Plastic material of part: PC
• Finish: SPI-A3
• Color: RAL 3004P
• Production volume: 5K

Considering the usage of this plastic product, a transparent PC upper cover is equipped with an ABS lower cover. The annual production capacity is 5K, so we use 1 * 1 mold design. PC products and ABS products have each set of their own injection mold.

Basic mold information：

• Mold type: 3-Plate
• Gate type: Point Gate
• Cavity number: 1*1
• Material: ABS
• Shrinkage: 5/1000
• Molding Machine (Tons): 350T

Basic mold information：

• Mold type: 3-Plate
• Gate type: Point Gate
• Cavity number: 1*1
• Material: PC
• Shrinkage: 5/1000
• Molding Machine (Tons): 550T

Before injection molds making, we firstly did DFM for product analysis. We confirmed with customer about important information, such as parting line, gate type and gate position, ejection, etc.


In initial quotation phase, this set of plastic products was evaluated to use direct gating method. After communicating with customer, ACO Mold injection molding manufacturer knew more about the product. Considering it is display package for 3D printer, there is high requirement for product appearance. According to the product structure, there was some positioning mounting holes on the side of the plastic product. Direct gating method may cause a serious bonding line near the side hole surface of the product. At last, the point gating method of 3-Plate mold was used, so that the gating can be more even, and the bonding line at the side holes would be inconspicuous.

After confirming with customer about related questions and information in DFM, we did mold 3D design, pictures as below:

Above picture are mold 3D design drawing of transparent PC product. Considering the importance of product appearance, we mounted the slider located at the side hole of product on the side of the mold cavity for lateral core pulling. So there is no excessive slider parting line on the side of the product to ensure the consistency of the product appearance.

Above pictures are mold 3D design drawing of ABS product. There are side hole structures on both sides of the product. There are more holes on the one of the side, and the specifications are different. We adopted slider design on the one of the side, and the other side is designed the same as the PC product design.

After mold design, we started ordering mold steel for mold making. Mold making took 4 weeks. Mold making is done and performed sampling as scheduled. We checked the samples ourselves when gaining them, the products assembly is smooth. The only defect is that there is gating mark at the mold gate. We feedback it to customer. After confirming with customer, we shipped T1 samples for testing. Mold and T1 samples pictures as below:
Mold:               

T1 samples:         
After receiving samples, customer tested them and evaluated. Overall, customer was very satisfied with them. Besides the improvement in the gating location, the diameter of the some hole on the product and the product color are required to be changed. Feedbacks about T1 samples of customer as below:

Modification took 5 days. Then we re-sampling. We changed the gating method and removed the crater located at the gate. Therefore, the gating mark at the gate is improved. T2 sample pictures as below:
   
Since the customer urgently need 150 pcs, the low volume plastic products for internal trial operation, by communicating with customer, we send the T2 sample photo to customer, and the customer confirmed the mold and sample through photos.

After confirming and approving by customer, we did low volume production of 150 pcs plastic products. After the end of the customer’s internal trial run, we would start large volume injection molding of plastic parts. Low volume plastic products as below: