Components of injection molds

A plastic injection mold consists of a series of metal plates along with intricate machined components on both the cavity-side and core-side of the mold. All mold components are manufactured with very close tolerances and the overall quality of the mold will directly affect the part quality and the mold's useful life expectancy.

Manufacturing Of Custom Plastic Molds

Building plastic injection molds involves two primary machining methods, EDM and CNC machining.

EDM Machining

This process involves using a copper or graphite electrode to electrically burn the specified mold shape into the mold component. EDM machining is slower and more costly than CNC machining, and it is only used for mold features that are not practical to cut with a CNC machine, such as sharp corners and very thin rib features. The steps of this method include:

✔CNC machining the electrodes in a high speed CNC machine

✔Submerging the mold component and electrode in dielectric fluid

✔Programming an electrical discharge machine to sink the electrode into the workpiece with a precisely controlled pace and amount of electricity

CNC Machining

CNC machining uses advanced computer technology to cut complex and precise surface shapes into the mold materials. Our mold designers create a 3D model with the required mechanical dimensions and shapes of the mold details using CAD software. Final mold designs that are ready for machining can take one or two weeks to complete.

The 3D CAD models within the final mold design are then used within our CAM software. Our CAM programmers can tell the software how to machine the raw metal into the final mold shape and the software creates the commands to execute in our CNC machines.