Demand:
Hi Tim
Having found your website, I am interested in discussing the possibility of Acomold manufacturing a tool for us, then do molding production in Melbourne Australia.
We would demand and expect a high standard high quality tool to manufactured, so your website mentioning the use of DME Standard components is a positive sign. We would require the tooling to be through hardened so it lasts a long time.
At the moment we produce parts from a tool that is now about 20 years old and it now requires a new tool to be made.
Can you please let me know what you need from me, in order for you to quote on a mold to me made. I can supply you with a product drawing and pictures of the product. I understand you would eventually need a CAD file however I would need to get this produced as it’s been so long since this item mold was made.
Who do you manufacture molds for? Anyone in Australia? I would like to hear about work you have done before so I can try to understand the quality of your molds made.
Looking forward to your reply.
Response :
Hi Peter, thanks for inquiry!
To get a quotation for the mold, please provide part drawings ( or physical samples, we can do reverse engineering ) , please advise the plastic material type, finish, color, mold cavity number, injection machine tonnage, expected cycle time, expected mold guaranteed molding cycles( or mold classification, see attached pdf), assume DME standard is desired? hot nozzle needed or not? what branding is preferred? …….
I have many happy customers in US and Europe, l also have one in Australia, but it is not export mold business, this customer only asked the molded part shipped, molds stay in my factory. l have quite a few professional customers who are injection molding factory and mold making factory in US and Europe, l can share more details with you later after if we can work out on quotation phrase.
Demand:
Hi Tim,
Thank you for the quick reply.
You will see from the drawing attached and the website link a plastic security seal.
The seal tool we have at the moment is a very old 20 cavity tool, that is 10 seals face one way and another 10 seals face the other way. The 20 seals are linked together. The last two pictures attached show the Energy seal molding from our existing tool. As you can see, we have a lot of flash and the tool is worn out after 18 years of molding.
You will see on the existing part the seal has a Flag of flap at one end of the part. This was many year ago a place for us to print or to write information onto each seal. We no longer have a need for this Flag or flap so the new tool can have this removed. The third file attached shows a possible new design with the Flag removed.
The 20 seals must be molded together, so they can then easily be broken off from each other. We supply our customer with the 20 seals and they the customer breaks each seal off as they need them.
To answer your questions:
● We run this part in a 10% Talc filled Polypropylene.
● Finish is not critical, it can be a slightly polished finish. We do not need a high mirror finish in the cavities but a reasonably good finish is required and it will help with material flow.
● Colours vary as we usually mold about 4 to 5 different colour.
● The existing tool is a 20 cavity mold. Maybe you could quote on a 20 cavity and a 40 cavity (2 x 20 cavity pcs) as an option?
● We have several molding machine sizes available to we can sort this out.
● The expected cycle time is to run at between 15 to 20 seconds.
● Looking at your mold options, I think SP1 Class 101 is the preferred tooling. We need the tool to run about 1.5 to 2 million parts per year, which in a 20 cavity tool is about 100,000 shots to make 2 million parts.
● Yes I think DME standard parts, components and mold is preferred. That way we can easily repair, replace parts over here if needed. For example if we break an ejector pin, we can simply go to DME and get a suitable replacement and it will fit straight in.
● At the moment we do not have a hot runner tool. We have a three plate tool which is the preferred tool design.
● No branding is required, but maybe you can add some small cavity number to each cavity.
Hope this answers your questions and looking forward to receiving a quote.
Question
Hi Tim,
Thank you for the quote. Just want to confirm a few points please.
● The three plate tool design will mean the runner system will fall / be ejected out of the mold when the tool opens, as well as the parts falling out via ejector pins. Please confirm the tool will be able to run automatically without having the need to open the door and manually remove runner or parts.
● Does your trial run include proving the tool works as it should, including filling the cavities easily, running to expected cycle times, ejecting from tool as it should, parts are to correct size, etc. etc.
Response :
Hi Peter,
The part can fall out automatically, you will need robot to pick up the gate bar.
My quotation includes DFM, mold design, sampling to verify the mold, in addition to samples verification, the mold trail includes verification of reliability of mold mechanism, cavity can be filled easily, smooth ejection, correct size as the design etc… The current similar mold we have made cycle time is 20 seconds.
Further Question:
Hi Tim,
I have spoken with production. We don’t have a robotic arm to remove the runner system from the tool so I guess we need to look at an Air blast to knock the runner out of the Three (3) plate tool.
So this leads me to the question, can you build the three plate tool and guarantee that an air blast from a standard air hose can and will knock the runner out first time every time. If you can guarantee this then we would also want to see a video of this when you run the trial production to prove the tool works ok.
Maybe you could add a simple feature whereby we simply hook up an air hose and the air nozzle or pipe is already built in place into the tooling??? What do you think?
Response :
Hi peter
Yes, air blast to knock the runner off will work. Of course we will ensure the mold run automatically as designed, it is our standard procedure to film a 10 minims video for records, we can build the air nozzle in the tooling.
NOTE: Mold making take about 4 weeks, 2 times mold sampling before approval to ship to the customer.
Feedback :
Hi Tim,
Thanks again for your efforts.
Everything looks great so far, Well done !!!
I assume the tool will be provided with a lifting strap so the tool won’t come apart in two halves when lifting?
Can you please let me the entire size and weight of the tool including the timber wood crate you make for it? I need this information so I can work out some sea freight to Melbourne Australia.
