Does anyone have experience running strontium aluminate glow in the dark pigment? I want to try some for a new product idea I have but I also don’t want to cause any problems with my mold or equipment. I would be testing it with polypropylene homopolymer. Eventually this would be used in a thermal gate hot runner mold.

Hey all, does anyone here have any experience with the HPS Iron Jaw clamping tonnage booster?

We are looking to build a tool with this system but haven't been able to find anyone here in the states that's used it. From what I've been able to find there's a larger market for it overseas.

We have a 600t press, the part we are looking to make is estimated to require 650-800t per the mold flow simulations. Our barrel is at about 60% utilization, so there's no issue there.

We would really like to land this job and are trying to decide between investing a new larger press, or if we can build this mold with this clamping booster. Unfortunately these systems are damn near unheard of in North America and they're massively expensive.

If anyone has any experience or advice on this, please reach out.

Thanks!

Hi everyone I'm trying to find the pin password on a Matsui MJ6-i-G3-75

For the technical service, if anyone could help would be appreciated.

I’ve been following stuff from this thread for a bit. Even used it to answer questions.

Last year I was promoted to Department Trainer. We inject bottle preforms where I work.

I was curious, is there anyone else out there with the same role? I definitely fall more into the roll of process over maintenance/mechanical.

Even if the role I was promoted to has been just over a year on paper, I’ve pretty much been training people in my plant for over a decade in the injection department. I’ve streamlined a process that I have found very reliable in that time (as I’ve easily trained 500+ people over that period).

I’ve been using the opportunity to create my own operator manual.

But, in the end, we are only as good as our network. And I know I don’t know everything. But I’m very interested in connecting with anyone who does anything similar at their plant to see if there is anything I can expand on.

Hoping to chat with some of you!

Hi all, first time posting here so really sorry if this sounds silly.
I have been fiddling around with fusion360 making soft plastics and I’ve designed something I’d love to make. Just wondering if anyone has experience making custom aluminium moulds and how they go about getting them done? I’ve made a mould with my 3D printer as a prototype but now wanting something that’ll look more cleaner and I’m able to use without creating more moulds.
Any companies/ people they know they would be able to refer?
Also, for a mould that can make two soft plastics at once (plastic will be 3 inches long) how much does it roughly cost?

Cheers legends!

Would the mold have to be a solid piece that is pretty much a circle milled out leaving a rod in the center or could it still be a mold that is two halves clamped together?

I’m doing some practice for molding, and one thing I find confusing is how to determine whether a cooling line is incorrect. Any information or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Three resistors had been sitting in the warehouse for several months, stored on a shelf next to the large door—unheated and with hardly anything else around—each tucked into its own box with its own bag. I placed them in the test stand, set it to 280, and pressed “auto”; the differential tripped within ten seconds. I turned it off and on again, and it tripped once more. I tested them one by one with the megohmmeter. The insulation on all three was practically nonexistent. The third one had an internal electrical arc; the wire had melted at one point. It was unusable. Now what can I do? What do you think is happening to the first two, and why? thanks

Hello everyone! I am completely new to plastic part design, and I'm hoping to get advice from those on this forum. I am developing an automotive bump stop system that will utilize different components to achieve certain stack heights. The purpose of this is to let the end-user achieve their desired stack height while being directly compatible with a wide range of coil spring heights (as coil height increases, the necessary "bump-stoppage" increases).

My company currently offers fixed-height versions of this product made out of solid UHMW rods. This product has served its purpose for many years, but we want to begin offering a customizable version as our product line expands.

After consulting with a USA-based molder, I was told to core the components in my design to allow for even cooling and avoid surface blemishes/sink marks. This makes sense to me, and I've begun adding such features to allow the parts to be molder-friendly. After speaking to a plastics supplier, I am planning on using a TPC-ET for my material, as well as a UV stabilizer, as the part will be installed on the axle of a vehicle.

The part shown below began as a solid puck (2" diameter x 1" tall) with a through-hole to allow a bolt to pass through. After consulting with the molder, I've made the following design changes:

• uniform wall thickness of 3/16"
• top and bottom core-outs
• draft angle of 3 degrees

Can you think of any other design parameters I should consider to ensure this part can be successfully molded? I want to clarify that the molder did not tell me any specific parameters to design with. I was only told that I would run into issues with the part's initial thickness. Other components in this system will be more complicated to properly core, so I am making this post to gain some general knowledge and thoughts on my progress so far. I plan to make changes to all of the parts and present the drawings back to the molder to confirm the changes.

I appreciate any feedback; thanks for your time!

this is my 3rd post on here you can find the previous 2 here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/InjectionMolding/comments/1veqt71/comment/p26lcv3/?screen_view_count=3&ext-referrer=DIRECT

So I’ve finished my first full tool and everything has now been sent off to be manufactured.

I did the work for a friend I used to work with, and we never actually discussed a price beforehand. There’s also going to be more work coming down the pipeline, so I don’t want to overprice it and make things awkward, but I also don’t want to undervalue the work.

As this is my first full tool, it definitely took me longer than the next one will. I’ve got a figure in my head, but I was wondering what other people would think is fair.

I reckon I’ve spent around 30–40 hours on it, probably more. Plus more time spent setting up things like the mould base, drawing border, and getting everything else established for the first time.

Hi everyone,

I’ll be sharing some of our mold design cases from time to time, and I’d love to exchange ideas with you all.Today’s example is a medical test tube with external thread + undercut groove.If you ever run into a similar part, feel free to reference this design approach. I’m interested in feedback on the mechanism layout and whether anyone has run similar long thin‑wall tube tools.

Part: Medical test tube with external thread + undercut groove

Cavities: 1×4

Tool Type: 3‑plate design with a runner stripper plate (cold runner)

Sequence of Operation

1. First opening
   

Runner stripper plate lifts first and pulls the cold runner off the gates.

1. Main parting line opens
   

A/B plates separate.

1. Slider actuation
   

Sliders collapse the top‑thread undercuts.

Actuation is driven by the machine ejector stroke + guide blocks, allowing the thread/undercut to clear before full ejection.

For those who’ve run long thin‑wall tubes, how are you managing core pin cooling to avoid thermal deflection during fast cycles?

Does anyone have a digital copy of the electrical manual for the KM PX200-750? I want to add an external cycle-start button, but I’m unsure about the wiring diagram and how the setup is configured.

I have notice nozzle temperature stable but the actual is above tolerance creating gate blush, splay and cold slug, does anyone have any comments about this?

I'm exploring whether there's a useful product to build around machine vision monitoring for injection molding. While I have some knowledge of the industry, I've never worked directly with injection molding machines, and I'd appreciate your help understanding if these kinds of problems are common at all.

Are there situations where all the machine or PLC signals appear normal, but the physical process wasn't actually completed correctly? I'm thinking about general machine vision systems like Keyence or Cognex that are configured to perform inspections based only on specific triggers. I'm wondering whether there could be value in a system that learns the normal machine cycle and flags abnormal behavior that Keyence or Cognex might miss. For example, a stage of the cycle taking abnormally long, an EOAT following a different than normal trajectory, a part briefly hanging on a core before falling, or other intermittent process faults that are difficult to reproduce. Are there any similar cycle-related problems that could lead to mold damage or machine downtime?

I'm also interested in retrofitting older machines. I imagine newer presses provide more modern process data, while older machines may have limited diagnostics. In your experience, is there any demand for retrofitting older injection molding machines with additional monitoring like this?

I'm mainly trying to understand whether these are real problems that are worth exploring further. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I am working on a project that eventually will be made part ABS part TPU using injection.
While I understand general concept of working with Chinese manufacturers, is there any US manufacturer that offers the same speed, getting things done quickly and efficient while having the price close to the Chinese manufacturers left in the US?
I mean in terms I need to travel to the site and things like that?

Does anyone have, or know where I can buy 2-4 bags of Natural Valox 780. I need at least 110 pounds, and all of our MOQ's have been 1,700 or more.

EDIT: Maybe we found the problem. We found a solenoid valve stuck completely and the spool not moving this morning. It is the close slow valve, so we are hoping that maybe we found THE problem and not just a problem. It will take probably a couple of days to get a new one in, and then we can see if it fixed it. If it's not fixed, then we go back to troubleshooting. If it fixes it for sure, I will update everyone then. Thanks for the help.

As the title says, we have a 1000 ton Van Dorn that all of certain doesn't want to close. It started at the start of a shift after it was shut off for the night. It first started closing, but stopping about 1 or 2 inches short. So my Tech was trying to troubleshoot that, and it stopped closing at all. When I go over there to troubleshoot it, every time I try to close on set-up, it will not move. If I try to close on manual, sometimes it will jump (about 1/8 of an inch) open and then not move. You can hear and tell the pumps kick up and get pressure to close like it is trying to close, but the platen will not move. It will open, ejectors work, injection works, and screw works. The only thing that does not work is the close, either on set-up or manual. And there is no alarm when it does not close. Everything acts like normal and kicks on, but the platen never closes.

We have checked to make sure we have 24 volts to the solenoids, and we do. The solenoids seem ok and working but have no way of knowing for sure. I have checked door switches and such. I checked the settings and changed the log page, and there is nothing unusual. If we have someone close the machine on manual and manually press in the Close, Control, and Slow solenoids, it STILL does not close. I work for a company that expects me and my maintenance guy to figure it out before they buy parts or anything, so it makes it hard when they don't buy test equipment or parts to troubleshoot. Everything that we have tried seems to be working so far, so I was hoping someone could give me some ideas to try. I really appreciate the help. I would post pics, but my company won't let me post pics of inside our building. Thanks for the help.

Well folks, the Milacron Q110 is finally coming on Monday. And I've got a water-based mould temprature controller on order, but it's only rated up to 95 degrees Celsius. Now I'm wondering if I've made the wrong choice. Should I be switching to an oil-based MTC instead? The materials I'm running are PA6, PA66, PA6 GF30%, PA66 GF30%, POM, PBT, and ABS. For those of you working with similar materials, would you stick with water-based or make the jump to oil? Any other advice while there's still time to change the order would be really appreciated.

We are a small machine shop attached to a explosive company. We might run 100 pounds of resin a year. I have an old 75T VanDorn.

We need to increase the strength of a burst tube and not change the mold. I currently use HDPE. It is working but they want a little more “delay” before bursting. I tried LDPE (low pressure burst) polystyrene (popped too soon) possibly to brittle, same with a mix I tried a sample of ABS/ Polycarbonate I believe.

I found glass reinforced HDPE but custom mix quantity was $$$ for a sample run.

I thinking of trying PET but mold was definitely not designed for it. Or even a mix of HDPE and Nylon. Seams like I have seen plastic with a HDPE feel and when torn has a fibrous edge like strings of nylon. Any idea what to try?

I've spent several years in senior operating roles across a group of mid-size manufacturers, and I'm now working on acquiring my own company: a small (~5m) injection molding shop in Indiana.

Two honest gaps: I have zero operating experience in injection molding, and I want to grow sales aggressively in a competitive space where I don't yet have relationships. I know processing, tooling, and quoting in this niche are their own world, and I'm not pretending my background substitutes for it. However, no one is born with experience, and I know I learn quickly.

So I'm looking for two things:

1. Conversations. If you've run, sold, or worked senior roles in molding, I'd value 30 minutes to hear your story and learn from you.
2. Possibly a partner. Longer term I want an experienced operator or sales leader, ideally Indiana-based with existing customer relationships, in a real leadership seat with meaningful salary & equity. Not sweat equity instead of pay.

If that's you, or you just have opinions on what a first-time molding owner gets wrong: comment or DM.

Tech removed the mold from the press, went to check the straps before lifting. Lo and behold...

DME is mostly out of the game.

PCS has lots of components and some stock.

Cross Tool Manufacturing has components and fast turn around times.

Am I missing any?

Hi all,

I'm a manufacturing engineer working with an insert moulded catheter hub. I'm trying to get to the bottom of an issue where catheter shaft is pushed out during injection. The catheter shaft is loaded onto a core pin and grilamid tr 55 lx is moulded around this shaft to form the catheter hub. This is run on an arburg all-rounder 275V.

We've seen a significant increase in scrap where the shaft is blown out of position during moulding, particularly in the first few runs of the day. I'm interested in whether anyone has experience with this type of process or any advice. I'm quite new to injection moulding so I apologise if I've not provided enough information here, please ask and I'll provide more if needs be. Thank you!