u/gneisslab

Hi all,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, but I saw a post about prototyping the other day and thought there might be some relevant knowledge on here.

I'm not an injection molder but have worked a fair bit on plastic component development over the last few years. We've always opened steel tools even for low-volume parts and even prototypes. It strikes me as very wasteful if the tool isn't being used to produce hundreds of thousands or millions of parts, and so I wanted to hear the community's thoughts about typical prototyping workflows.

I'm aware tools can be made in aluminium or even high-temp plastic, but for some reason our molding partner has always been reluctant to do this. Any thoughts as to why?

Something that may complicate it slightly is that we're looking to make overmolded or parts which combine soft TPU with a rigid polymer component, and we're targeting a strong chemical bond (the parts will be used to seal a pressurised vessel, so the bond must be airtight even at pressure). Would you always open a tool to test the part geometry from the start or is there a generic tool simply to test material compatibility?

Any advice on how best to prototype this kind of part in a cost-effective way is much appreciated!

Hi all,

I'm not an injection molder but have worked a fair bit on plastic component development over the last few years. We've always opened steel tools even for low-volume parts and even prototypes. It strikes me as very wasteful if the tool isn't being used to produce hundreds of thousands or millions of parts, and so I wanted to hear the community's thoughts about typical prototyping workflows.

I'm aware tools can be made in aluminium or even high-temp plastic, but for some reason our molding partner has always been reluctant to do this. Any thoughts as to why?

Something that may complicate it slightly is that we're looking to make overmolded or 2K molded parts which combine soft TPU with a rigid polymer component, and we're targeting a strong chemical bond (the parts will be used to seal a pressurised vessel, so the bond must be airtight even at pressure).

Any advice on how best to prototype this kind of part in a cost-effective way is much appreciated!

Hello Swedish Spurs fans,

I was going to be watching the final game of the season at the stadium, but unfortunately have been forced to travel for work on that day. Fortunately I'll be in lovely Stockholm!

It would be great to watch the game in a dedicated pub with like-minded Yids, unsure if this actually exists in Stockholm but let me know if so!