How Does Plastic Injection Molding Work?
The manufacturing process for molded parts is intricate. Even before molding begins, we provide comprehensive manufacturability feedback and consultative design services to help you avoid mold design issues. Our production process is meticulously documented and optimized using scientific molding techniques to ensure you receive high-quality parts consistently with each production run.
Critical-to-quality dimensions indicated in your models identify the key areas essential for your parts' success. Once molding begins, the process and samples are verified using automated inline CMM technology, producing a comprehensive FAI and process capability study without increasing lead time.
Our thermoplastic injection molding uses an aluminum mold without heating or cooling lines, resulting in slightly longer cycle times. As part of the scientific molding process, our molders independently optimize and monitor fill speed, hold pressure, and hold time, and regularly inspect part quality and appearance. During molding, we use automated inline CMM to ensure dimensional accuracy and produce a detailed process capability study and FAI report.
Resin pellets are loaded into a barrel, melted, compressed, and injected into the mold’s runner system. The hot resin is injected into the mold cavity through the gates, forming the part. Ejector pins remove the part from the mold, dropping it into a loading bin. Once the run is complete, the parts (or initial sample run) are boxed and shipped promptly.
