Product Design and Tooling for Injection Molding April 13, 2013

This combined course is designed for toolmakers, apprentices, technicians, product designers, process engineers and other plastics personnel desiring to acquire basic knowledge of product design and tooling technology. This course provides an overview of the design process for injection molded plastics parts. The emphasis is on concurrent engineering practices, which leads to elimination of barriers between various engineering groups, toolmaker and manufacturer. The student will learn about the importance of proper material selection, part design fundamentals, manufacturing (moldability) considerations, design for assembly, tooling considerations, rapid prototyping techniques and testing. Design fundamentals discussed are applicable to parts designed for all plastics processing techniques. In the tooling portion the emphasis is on various mold components, mold design principles, cooling, venting, draft considerations, shrinkage, mold polishing, and tool surface enhancement techniques. Topics such as use of simulation software to enhance mold design, how to improve productivity, reduce down time, and lower maintenance costs by optimizing tooling design will be covered in detail. Course content: Plastics materials and material selection process; Plastics material identification techniques; Concurrent engineering, plastics part design process overview; Manufacturing considerations; design for molding; Basic part design and design related product failures; Rapid tooling and prototyping; Design for assembly and review of assembly techniques; Tooling considerations; Injection molding process; Injection molds (types of mold construction); Tooling considerations; Mold metallurgy, runners, gates, sprue bushing, sprue pullers; Tour local tool making facility; Mold design and simulation software; Venting, cooling; Draft angles, shrinkage, mold polishing, tool surface enhancement; Hot runner molds and systems. In addition, students will receive a variety of useful handouts showing How and Where to get more detailed information on a variety of plastics-related topics.