The final pieces of the injection molded product are removed from the mold where they are commonly painted for aesthetic reasons. They can also be silk-screened or have specialty coatings. Thermoforming Injection Molding. With the combination of tooling and production, it can give an accurate measurement on the amount of time it takes to manufacture your products. In thermoforming, the average time for tooling is weeks. Following tooling, production usually occurs within weeks after the tool is approved.
With injection molding, tooling takes weeks and can be up to weeks after when production starts. The cost of tooling in thermoforming is much cheaper than the cost of injection molding. However, the cost of production per piece in injection molding can be less expensive than thermoforming.
Secondary operations, if required, such as painting, silk screening, additional assembly, or attachment point bonding are accomplished to complete a finished part. Injection molding is a process that uses thermoplastic material in a heated resin form to produce 3 dimensional parts. Two sided and highly engineered injection mold tools are clamped together to form a 3D cavity of the desired part shape. The tool is then fed with melted plastic material into the cavity. The material is then allowed to cool to a solid state in the shape of the intended part design.
The molded part is then ejected from the tool and any secondary finishing, such as surface painting, is applied to produce the finished part. Comparing Plastic Thermoforming and Injection Molding The choice to manufacture with plastic thermoforming or injection molding may at time be very obvious.
This is most apparent in production volume. Low to mid volume tends to favor thermoforming, while high volume is usually more cost effective with injection molding.
This is due primarily to differences in tooling complexity and cost between the two processes. This is just one example of an application where deciding between injection molding and plastic thermoforming may not be a clear choice.
Complex part geometry and large size capability with little impact on lead time and cost. Significantly lower tooling cost than injection molding.
Injection mold tooling is more time-consuming, as the molds are double-sided and composed of harder materials such as steel. Comparatively, thermoform molds are easier to design, fabricate, and modify, making them ideal for development and testing. Thermoforming offers a variety of benefits for product design and branding. Bright colors can be incorporated into thermoformed plastics, facilitating vivid, durable coloring throughout the material. In addition, thermoform materials accept painting, silk screening, printing, stenciling, and coatings that provide unique designs, textures, and finishes to enhance the appearance and the longevity of the product.
Since thermoforming uses a simple single-sided mold made from highly formable materials, thermoform designs can be modified quickly and with minimal cost. Injection molding, on the other hand, requires dual molds with heavier materials that are more time-consuming and expensive to tool. The lower costs, versatility, and adaptability of thermoforming make it ideal for many applications, including:.
Injection molding requires a great deal of upfront design and engineering to develop detailed tooling or molds. Crafted from stainless steel or aluminum, split-die molds are injected with molten liquid polymers at high temperatures under extreme pressure.
The molds are then cooled to release complete plastic parts. Plastic injection molding is ideal for large-volume orders and mass production in projects requiring thousands or even millions of the same part. One of the primary benefits of injection molding is the ability to create extraordinarily complex components with an exceptional degree of detail.
The high pressure used in the injection molding process allows the production of intricate components and unusual geometries, as material is forced firmly into even the smallest detailed cavities. Multi-cavity mold options allow the injection molding process to be further tailored to meet specific needs.
Injection molding involves the use of durable and reusable molds for repeated runs. However, the per-piece production costs on vacuum formed parts are higher than injection molded parts. Today, attitudes in business have shifted to be more about, "How quickly can you get me this? In manufacturing, the struggle is, "How do I get my product to market quickly and how do I only buy what I need?
With vacuum forming, you can do that very easily. Have additional questions about these plastic forming methods? Please contact us. Joslyn Blog. Plastic Forming Methods: Injection Molding vs.
Vacuum Forming.
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