Basic mold information

• Mold type: 2-Plate
• Gate type: Side-gate
• Cavity number: 1*2
• Material: PP
• Shrinkage: 16/1000
• Molding Machine (Tons): 120T

Basic part information (Plant Pod)

• Part size: 48.04X47.05X48.04
• Plastic material: HDPE
• Finish: SPI-D3
• Color: Pantone 160C

Basic mold information

• Mold type: 2-Plate
• Gate type: Side-gate
• Cavity number: 1*4
• Material: HDPE
• Shrinkage: 16/1000
• Molding Machine (Tons): 120T

Basic part information (Plant Cap)

• Part size: 48.04X18.48X48.04
• Plastic material: HDPE
• Finish: SPI-D3
• Color: Black

Basic mold information

• Mold type: 2-Plate
• Gate type: Side-gate
• Cavity number: 1*4
• Material: HDPE
• Shrinkage: 16/1000
• Molding Machine (Tons): 120T

Basic part information (Tray)

• Part size: 240.83X52.71X504.65
• Plastic material: HIPS
• Finish: SPI-D3
• Color: Black

Basic mold information

• Mold type: 2-Plate
• Gate type: Pin point gate
• Cavity number: 1*1
• Material: HIPS
• Shrinkage: 16/1000
• Molding Machine (Tons): 380T

Basic part information (Tray cover)

• Part size: 246.12X25.45X477.00
• Plastic material: HIPS
• Finish: SPI-D3
• Color: Black

Basic mold information

• Mold type: 2-Plate
• Gate type: Pin point gate
• Cavity number: 1*1
• Material: HIPS
• Shrinkage: 16/1000
• Molding Machine (Tons): 250T

ACO Mold did DFM and product analysis before mold manufacturing, and verified some important information and details with customer. The DFM process is about design optimization for manufacturability, and we review and propose proper optimized design on the standing of the manufacturing.

Once DFM is approved by customer, ACO Mold starts mold design immediately and orders steel and mold base for mold making. Usually, injection mold maker design mold based on customer’s part design. If customer is not 100% sure about the design, we propose to make prototypes to verify the part design before mold making to avoid unnecessary design modification and cost.

After mold design was confirmed, ACO Mold cut steel, performed CNC machining etc. It took 5 weeks to make the 5 sets of plastic injection molds. We regularly reported injection mold manufacturing progress to customer via sending pictures or videos.

After injection mold manufacturing was done, ACO Mold did T1 sampling. We sent 5 sets of samples to customer for the checking of appearance, function, assembly etc. The 3 little plastic parts are ok, while there is deformation on the 2 large-size injection molded plastic parts.

It is impossible for pp that there is no any deformation. So ACO Mold proposed to change the material of the 2 large-size injection molded parts from PP to HIPS at next sampling. When customer received samples, they are pretty happy with the plastic parts made in HIPS. So HIPS resin is approved to do large volume injection molding of the two parts.

ACO Mold comments
Deformation is a typical defect for injection molded plastic parts. The deformation of injection molded plastic parts is related to the shrinkage rate of the part material and the wall thickness. When the wall thickness is smaller, and the shrinkage rate of the material is larger, the plastic part is more easily deformed.

The method of controlling the deformation of injection molded part is usually to increase the reinforcing ribs for the part without interfering with the assembly of the plastic part, and secondly to increase the wall thickness or to replace the part material.

Under normal circumstances, after adding ribs to the plastic part, the part deformation will be improved to some extent.