Designing and producing injection mold tooling is time-consuming and expensive in many cases. This critical equipment allows businesses to mass-produce plastic parts and enclosures in large quantities at a high level of accuracy and quality, so it’s a key investment for companies on the road to mass production. But what if we could reduce the time necessary to make faster injection mold tooling?
Here are 7 tips that will help to speed up the process.
7 Tips to speed up the production process and get faster injection mold tooling
Injection mold tooling needs to be designed and then fabricated; both steps can be focused on to save time and get the tooling done sooner.
Here are several tips that may help you to get faster injection mold tooling:
1. Inform your suppliers that you are in a rush
If you don’t inform your supplier that you are in a hurry, and another one of their customers keeps pushing them, which project will be prioritized? At the very least, you need to communicate about your timelines.
Now, don’t push them in a way that forces them to rush and cut corners. If, for example, they just have 1 CNC machine, they might subcontract to a cheap CNC workshop and the result might not be satisfactory…
2. Simplify the part design
If you can reduce component complexity, this, too, will influence the t0oling’s complexity. Essentially, reducing the ‘work’ required to fabricate the mold will yield time savings, so that’s avoiding:
- Numerous finishes or textures
- Mirror finish
- Sharp angles
- Walls of varied thicknesses
- Complex geometries
- Sliders and inserts
- Etc.
This makes sense because tooling with more features naturally requires more work to build.
Allowing the tooling fabricator to design and fabricate the tooling in a way that best fits their competencies and processes will also save time over them needing to do something that’s out of the ordinary.
Simplifying the plastic component design should occur relatively early during the NPI process, as it’s at this point that your supplier should be doing a DFM review that should flag opportunities to simplify them while getting the expected results.
3. Create single-cavity mold tooling only
Single-cavity mold tooling significantly accelerates the tooling manufacturing process relative to multi-cavity tooling. By simplifying the design, reducing machining time, and streamlining assembly, businesses can attain faster production timelines and lower initial investment costs.
This approach is particularly advantageous for low-volume production, rapid prototyping, frequent design modifications, and complex part geometries.
However, it is crucial to assess the trade-off between initial costs and long-term production efficiency. For high-volume production, multi-cavity molds may provide much greater efficiency. Ultimately, the optimal choice hinges on specific production requirements and business objectives.
4. Use soft metal instead of hard steel
To reduce tooling manufacturing time, consider using soft steel instead of the hardened steels commonly utilized for high-volume production. Soft steel exhibits enhanced machinability, resulting in reduced processing time and associated costs. Although it may not possess the same durability as hardened steel, soft steel is well-suited for low-volume production, prototyping, and short-term applications. By adopting soft steel tooling, businesses can accelerate the production process and expedite the introduction of products to the market.
Note: this may only reduce the total lead time to get to approved parts by a few days, while the tooling may see its useful lifetime reduced by 80% or more, so make sure, again, that this fits with your business objectives.
5. Use 3D-printed inserts to avoid complex side actions where possible
Fast iterative tooling is a revolutionary process that leverages 3D printing technology to create molds from soluble resins. This unique approach enables the production of complex parts that would otherwise require intricate and costly tooling.
How it Works:
- Mold Design: Design the resin tool that will be used for injection.
- 3D Printed Mold: A 3D printer creates a mold using a soluble resin.
- Injection Molding: Production intent polymer is injected into the 3D printed mold, forming the desired part.
- De-mold: Once the part has cooled and solidified, the 3D-printed mold is dissolved in a specific solution, leaving behind the finished product.
Why use 3D-printed inserts?
- Complex Undercuts and Geometries: 3D-printed inserts can be used to create complex undercuts and geometries that would be challenging or impossible to achieve with traditional tooling methods.
- Reduced Tooling Costs: By eliminating the need for expensive lifters and sliders and replacing them with resin inserts, you can significantly reduce tooling costs.
- Faster Time to Market: The rapid prototyping capabilities of 3D printing and the simplified tooling process can accelerate product development and time to market.
- Design Flexibility: Fast iterative tooling enables designers to explore more innovative and complex part designs without being constrained by traditional tooling limitations.
Some companies have used this technology to make much simpler molds without side actions, by 3D printing inserts that later get dissolved. You can see an example of such an insert (blue) used to create the barbs on a plastic part here (source):
By utilizing FIT and soluble resins, manufacturers can achieve greater design freedom, reduce costs, and accelerate the product development process.
6. Do in-depth DFM earlier, without waiting for the payment for tooling
Traditionally, many businesses follow a linear process: receive an order, invoice the customer, and upon receiving payment, initiate the production process, including tooling design and manufacturing. While this approach is straightforward, it can often lead to delays, particularly in the tooling phase.
To streamline this process, consider implementing early Design for Manufacturing (DFM) analysis. This involves conducting a thorough review of the product design (not only by mechanical engineers who usually design parts, but also by a tooling designer) before the order is finalized and payment is received. By identifying potential manufacturing challenges and proposing design modifications early on, you can significantly reduce the time required for tooling design and fabrication.
If a comprehensive suite of tools is required, execute the DFM analysis on a single component at a time, as CAD files become available, rather than waiting for the completion of all designs before initiating the DFM process. It does cost more upfront, as tooling designers don’t work for free, but that work has to be done at some point anyway, which means you may be able to ask for a small rebate on the tooling cost.
7. Start working on some of the parts that are not likely to change
To accelerate the tooling process, consider prioritizing the tooling of static components. These are parts that are unlikely to undergo significant design changes, such as standard enclosures, base plates, or simple mechanical components.
By focusing on these stable elements, manufacturers can initiate tooling design and fabrication early on, reducing overall lead times and minimizing the risk of delays caused by last-minute design modifications. This proactive approach allows for efficient resource allocation and can significantly accelerate the production process.
Conclusion
Obtaining faster injection mold tooling can help to speed up your time-to-market and control costs.
By using the tips outlined here, like simplifying part designs, opting for single-cavity molds, utilizing soft metals, and leveraging innovative techniques like 3D-printed tooling, it’s possible to streamline the tooling process. Early and thorough Design for Manufacturing (DFM) analysis and prioritizing component suppliers that you can rely on can further enhance efficiency while maintaining quality.
