Basic Injection Molding

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A Basic Injection
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Process - How To Mold Translate this site - in
a Plastic Part place of DHTML menu,

use text menus on the
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each page to stay in your
The Basic Injection Molding chosen language
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The basic injection molding
Up process, which is the process taking a
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polymer or generically a “plastic
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resin” from a solid state, heating it and
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changing it to a semi-liquid state,
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forming it into something, and cooling
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it back to a solid state. Injection
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molding is an extremely versatile and
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popular form of molding. Other
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processes include extrusion,
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thermoforming, and blow molding. This process can be used to create untold types of products including toys, everyday
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items we use, medical items, and car parts. It’s uses are almost limitless and are ever expanding day by day, as new
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technologies for both injection molding machines and engineered resins are developed and implemented.
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But, that’s not why you are here visiting this page. We could spend all day discussing the different types or resins, their
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uses and applications, the various types of machines and their processes but we won’t at this time. I hope that you are
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here because you want to understand the basic injection molding process and how it works. Based on that, we are going
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to take a very simplistic approach to this process and keep everything very generic. You can get training through most of
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the injection molding machine manufacturers and it can often be done as onsite training vs. offsite, but if you choose to do
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onsite training, it is important that you can create an environment where the staff that is being trained, can do so
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uninterrupted by their normal daily tasks. I have seen many failed attempts at using onsite training because proper
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arrangements were not made to cover the personnel involved in the training, and interruptions rendered the training
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useless. If you are looking for a more advanced explanation of injection molding, you will need to take some classes,
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seminars, workshops, or other more advanced training in the area of injection molding. You would then learn about basic
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polymer chemistry all the way through advanced polymerization and processing conditions and much more. This is not
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intended to be an answer to all your problems, nor will it be 100% applicable to all equipment or processes, but it should
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give you something to start with. So with that in mind, off we go.
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The basic injection molding machine is comprised of a
few unique major components. The major components of an injection molding machine are: the feed hopper or hopper,
the screw and barrel, the barrel heaters, the nozzle and nozzle tip, the platens, the tie bars, the clamp, or clamping
mechanism (usually toggle type or hydraulic), the mold, and a whole lot of electronics, hydraulics, and/or servo
motors and controls, to make it all do what it is designed for, over and over again. You also will have a number of
external auxiliary equipment units, such as material dryers, mold heater or thermolators units for temperature control, hot
runner controllers, valve gate controllers, and other items required for your unique processes.
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Written by: WM8C, July 28th, 2006. Not for use without written permission
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[ Basic Injection Molding III ] [ Basic Injection Molding IV ] [ Basic Injection Molding V ] [ Basic Injection Molding VI ]
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A Basic Injection Molding

Machine Process
Translate this site - in
Material Drying and Material Hoppers place of DHTML menu,
bottom or bottom left of
Material Drying each page to stay in your
Depending on the resin you are using and whether or not it is a “hydroscopic” resin (absorbs moisture form the air), you chosen language
Alternate Menu for may have to first dry the resin. This is a process of removing any moisture from the individual plastic pellets, so as to
incompatible browsers make them usable in the injection molding process. This is done with a material dryer, which is provided my many
different manufactures, and it’s sole purpose is to remove moisture from plastic. This is accomplished by circulating
Up
heated “dry” air through the resin inside a drying hopper at a manufacturer specified temperature. This causes the plastic
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resin to release it’s moisture and most commonly this moist air is run through the material dryer through a bed of
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molecular sieve (desiccant) which retains the moisture inside the dryer bed and sends dry heated air back out to the
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hopper. This air needs to be maintained at a dew point level somewhere between -10 and -40 degrees F. Any higher
than this and you run the risk of having wet material. The material can be checked for moisture using a couple of glass
slides and a hot plate, looking for small pockets of gas in the pellet. This is done by heating the slides on the hot plate to
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a high enough temperature to soften or melt the plastic you are checking, laying a few pellets on one of the heated slides
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and sandwiching the pellets between the plates. You can then inspect the flattened pellets between the plates for small
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gas bubbles which would indicate moisture. The other method involves a lab device called a moisture analyzer, which is
considerably more expensive but much more accurate. Once the plastic resin is dry, which usually is anywhere from 2 -4
Photography hours on average, it is ready for processing and we are going to feed the resin into the machine hopper to begin the
Morel Mushrooms molding process.
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DIY Enclosed Trailer The Machine Hopper
Article Submission Questions These can be very small (shot hoppers) to very large in size but they all serve the same purpose and that is to hold plastic
Astrids Embroidery pellets or resin, which will be used in the injection molding process. The smaller shot hoppers, are typically used when
Tribute to America you are drying resin either in a mezzanine or machine side drying hopper. These small hoppers only bring a small
Win An Award amount of resin each cycle to the screw feed area, thus controlling the likely hood of the pellets regaining moisture while
Awards I've Won waiting to be fed to the screw as can be the case with small shot sizes and larger machine hoppers that are not being
Vote Exchange dried on very humid days. The other very common method, but will require some reinforcement of the hopper mount, is to
PSP Tutorials mount a sufficiently sized drying hopper directly over the feed throat of the machine. This method is commonly used but
Pond Set presents it’s own challenges as they are much more difficult to move out of the way when you have to inspect the feed
PSP Projects throat. Some machine makers have added an air assisted hopper slide option to aide in the process of moving the
Web Tools hopper out of the way as needed. All of these options, should be mounted on a magnetic drawer base. The purpose of
Web Rings this unit is to try and eliminate any metal objects that may have gotten into the material, virgin or regrind, and yes this
Insurance does happen from
Bird Feeding time to time. Sometimes it’s a
malicious act but most of the time it’s
carelessness or disrepair that causes
this to occur. Metal and screws don’t
mix and it can make a mess out of
your molding process depending on
where the metal ends up. It can get
lodged in the screw, nozzle or nozzle
tip, in your gates, or simply scratch
your beautiful mold surfaces should it
make it’s way through the entire
system. Each case has it’s related
costs to repair and these magnetic
bases can prevent much of it from ever
happening.
Written by: WM8C, July 28th, 2006. Not for

use without written permission
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A Basic Injection
Molding Machine
Process Translate this site - in
place of DHTML menu,
Barrel, Screw, & Barrel Heaters bottom or bottom left of
The Screw and Barrel chosen language
Alternate Menu for The reciprocating screw in injection
molding or just “screw” resides inside
Up the barrel. It is made up of two
Ham Radio components which are the injection
Motorcycling molding screw and screw tip
Hunting assembly. It serves two purposes, the
Building Our Pond first being to convey material forward
Raised Bed Gardening in the barrel to the front of the injection
WM8C's Link Directory unit for each new shot, and two, inject
Christian Pages the plastic under high pressure into the
Inspirations mold. It is very important that these
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Plastic Injection Molding I least yearly as they are very high tolerance components and very critical to the injection molding process. One way you
Photography measure your screw and barrel performance is to record your recovery time and screw RPM’s, when the screw and barrel
Morel Mushrooms are both new, and also note which resin that measurement was performed with. Then at 6 month intervals, check your
Metal Detectors recovery times, and make sure that they remaining relatively the same. If you start noticing a longer recovery time (20%
DIY Enclosed Trailer or more), there is a chance that you are starting to get some wear. The only way to know that for sure is to remove the
Article Submission Questions screw from the barrel, inspect them both and measure them with micrometers and compare the size to the print. The
Astrids Embroidery manufacturer can give you the recommended maximum where for your particular screw and barrel but usually it’s
Tribute to America around .006 - .010 of an inch. There are three main zones to most standard injection molding screws and these are the
Win An Award feed, transition, and metering zones. You can also get specialty injection molding screws with mixing sections or other
Awards I've Won sections built to your own specifications as needed. Mixing or barrier wave injection molding screws would be an example
Vote Exchange of a different flight options for a screw. The screw, during the rotation phase, can also provide heat to the melting process
PSP Tutorials through friction, improving the quality of your melt. The injection pressure applied by the screw is the heart of your
Pond Set process.
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Web Tools Barrel Heaters
Web Rings The purpose of the barrel heaters is somewhat self-explanatory, and that is to “heat the barrel”. The reason we need to
Insurance do this is provide an environment in which to begin the plastic processing portion of our cycle. It is imperative that your
Bird Feeding barrel temps are up to your “set temperature” for the type of resin you are using, before turning the screw. You will also
want to add some “soak time” to this to be sure that all of the solidified resin in the barrel and on the screw has fully
softened or melted. The result of not doing this is usually a broken screw tip assembly or in some extreme cases, even a
snapped of screw. You'll notice I don’t mention how much time your soak time will need to be, and that is because it will
vary by the material you are using and the efficiency of your barrel heaters. Normally, at least a half hour of “soak time” is
recommended for most plastics and this is commonly a standard feature on most machines made in the last 10 -15
years. If you have the ability on your
machine to “bypass” this part of the
process, my recommendation is don’t
and that is from experience with
seeing the results of people who have
tried that and failed. At upwards of
$1500 for a screw tip assembly and
upwards of $15,000 or more
depending on the size of your screw,
you don’t want to have to explain to
your manager how that happened to
you.

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Barrel Temperature Control, bottom or bottom left of
Nozzles & Nozzle Tips chosen language
Alternate Menu for
incompatible browsers Barrel Temperature Control
Each zone of barrel heat is individually
Up controlled and range from a couple of
Ham Radio zones to 6 or more depending on
Motorcycling machine and barrel size. They are
Hunting controlled through the use of
Building Our Pond thermocouples which are attached in a
Raised Bed Gardening central location of each heating zone
WM8C's Link Directory and provide feed back to a controller
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Inspirations heater bands, maintaining a constant
I Quit Smoking stable temperature for your process. Thermocouples come in two types on most injection molding machines, types J &
Plastic Injection Molding I K. It is always important to make sure you have the correct type of thermocouple when replacing these or you can have
Photography process issues due to inaccurate temperature readings. Same thing goes for heater band replacement. If you replace a
Morel Mushrooms 400 watt band with one half the size or double the size, it can dramatically affect your processing. You also need to pay
Metal Detectors attention to the voltage of the heater bands you are replacing as they typically will be one of three voltages which are 120,
DIY Enclosed Trailer 240, or 480 volt. These bands are not simply interchanged. I have seen 120v heater bands hooked up to 240 volt
Article Submission Questions circuits, and turn cherry red before they failed, which can be very dangerous. The opposite can also be the case where a
Astrids Embroidery 220 volt band is used in place of a 120 volt band and though these will not turn cherry red, you might never get enough
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Awards I've Won Nozzles and Nozzle Tips
Vote Exchange The nozzle and nozzle tip are the exit point for the plastic resin from the screw and barrel on it’s way into the mold.
PSP Tutorials Nozzles come in a multitude of lengths and designs and you will need to know which is right for you and your process.
Pond Set The most commonly used are the two piece nozzle which incorporates a separate body and tip. The reason for this is
PSP Projects that you have more versatility for use between the most common sprue bushing radii, which are ½” and ¾”, and also
Web Tools different material types which may require different tip styles such as a continuous taper or reverse taper for nylons resins
Web Rings and other high crystalline materials. It also allows you to easily change the tip opening size which can vary from mold to
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Bird Feeding mold. You always want to use a tip orifice size that is equal to or slightly less than the sprue bushing orifice in the mold to
aide in leak prevention between these two areas. If you use a nozzle tip that has a larger orifice size than your sprue
bushing, or is damaged, be ready to replace some heater bands as at some point you will likely leak plastic between the
tip seat and the sprue bushing sea.
This will then leak back over and cover
your nozzle and eventually the barrel if
it’s not caught in time, which causes
unnecessary down time and cost to
replace destroyed heater bands and
thermocouples.. It is very easy to
change tips during production with this
type of nozzle either due to a radius
change or if the tip has been damaged
in any way. Nozzles and nozzle tips
come in a variety of flow through styles
as well, such as general purpose,
continuous taper, and a few others.

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Platens & Tie Bars bottom or bottom left of
chosen language
Alternate Menu for Platens
incompatible browsers On most machine there are two
platens, referred to as the movable
Up and the stationary platens. Most
Ham Radio commonly you will have two stationary
Motorcycling platens, one front and one rear, and
Hunting one moveable platen. The platens
Building Our Pond serve a couple of functions. The first
Raised Bed Gardening thing that it does is provide a place to
WM8C's Link Directory attach your mold. The platens will
Christian Pages normally be drilled and tapped with
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I Quit Smoking to attach clamps to the mold, holding it in place during the entire molding process. Some platens in less common cases,
Plastic Injection Molding I are built with slots in them instead of drilled and tapped holes, and this is actually a more versatile way to attach clamps to
Photography the mold. This was more commonly used with European machines then it is on Japanese or American machines. The
Morel Mushrooms placement of these holes are usually determined by an industry standard unless otherwise specified by you for a given
Metal Detectors platen and machine size. The sizes of the holes in the platens are typically determined by the platen and machine size as
DIY Enclosed Trailer well. The larger the machine, the larger the bolt sizes required to clamp the molds into them. I’ve often been asked how
Article Submission Questions many clamps are required for a given mold. While I’ve not really found a “hard rule” about this, I can tell you from
Astrids Embroidery experience that if you have one clamp for every 18 inches of mold length, you will not drop a mold on the floor as long as
Tribute to America it is properly attached. So, on a mold of 36” in length, you would have a total of 12 clamps, 3 per side, and 6 each per
Win An Award mold half. Now this will vary some in different molding facilities and is meant only to be a guideline. You should follow
Awards I've Won whatever rules your company has set forth for this procedure in your injection molding facility. There are also some
Vote Exchange “through holes” in the platen in a number of pattern options for ejector rods. The use of these will be explained in a later
PSP Tutorials section. These holes are also laid out as per a specific standardized location as with the threaded holes for the clamps.
Pond Set There are multiple patterns available, which will handle 99% of all standard molds.
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Web Tools The second function of the platen is to provide the steel to develop a uniform force on the mold and move the mold halves
Web Rings or cover and ejector, either to the open or closed position. In the open position, parts can be ejected and removed from
Insurance the mold by means of an operator or by some other robotic means. In the closed position, tonnage is applied to the mold
Bird Feeding halves via the platens and this is when the plastic under high pressure is injected into the mold. The term “platen
deflection” is derived from the amount of movement that is exerted on and results from this injection pressure being
applied. A hydraulic clamp machine usually will resist the platen deflection issue better than toggle clamp press because
in a hydraulic clamp press, the tonnage is developed by a large hydraulic ram located in the very center of the movable
platen. On a toggle press, the attachment location of the toggles to the platen are more towards the outside edges and
deflection in the center of the platen is more common place. This can make a difference when you are close to the press
tonnage threshold on a given mold, and puts the mold at risk for flash problems along the parting line edges.
Tie Bars
The tie bars are the mechanism that actually develops the tonnage of the press. Tie bars are made of steel. The size
will vary from a few inches in diameter on small machine up to well over 20” in diameter on the very large presses and the
length is determined also by the type and size of the press. The rods will be attached most typically with a very large nut
on the outside of both the front and rear stationary platens. There will be four tie bars in the case of most common
injection molding machines. The only place this won’t really apply is with some of the “C” type clamp mechanisms, which
aren’t very common in most standard injection molding machines. The way this tonnage is developed is by moving the
movable platen forward until the two mold halves contact each other and then high pressures are applied causing the tie
bars to “stretch”. It is this stretch and the force being applied that will determine the final tonnage capability of an injection
molding machine. Often, this stretch is
measured with a strain gage that is
located on the end of one or even all 4
tie bars, and this stretch or “strain” is
measured to deliver an output back to
injection molding machine controller in
order to get a “tonnage reading” from
the machine. This is tie in with safety
mechanisms to avoid over stressing
the bars which can literally cause them
to crack or snap, as well as feed back This site is rated
for the process itself. This information
can also be used by many newer
machines that have the option for
“auto tonnage setting” of the machine,
which takes most of the setup or
technician requirement out of the
function as it is automatic.

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Mold Clamping Systems bottom or bottom left of
chosen language
Alternate Menu for Mold Clamping Systems
incompatible browsers Clamping your molds on the platens
for the injection molding process is a
Up fairly basis principle and the methods
Ham Radio used to accomplish this task are not all
Motorcycling that different from each other. The
Hunting most common method is the use of
Building Our Pond mold clamps. These clamps are
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I Quit Smoking usually made of forged or cast steel and look like the picture shown here. While this
Plastic Injection Molding I is a fairly common clamp style, you can find a number of variations of this type of
Photography clamp. It consists of the clamp, an adjustment bolt, an attachment bolt, and a spacer
Morel Mushrooms or washer for use on the attachment bolt.
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DIY Enclosed Trailer The alignment of these clamps is critical to their function and they must be used
Article Submission Questions properly. The result of not using these clamps properly, could mean the difference of
Astrids Embroidery a mold remaining in your machine and lying on the ground beneath it. The safety hazard of this is self explanatory, not to
Tribute to America mention the damage that could be done to the mold or machine. It is very important that the clamp adjustment bolt is set
Win An Award the correct height which is level with the clamping surface of the mold. You can measure the clamp plate thickness and
Awards I've Won if it’s 1 “, set you adjustment bolt for 1” height. This provides the most surface contact with the clamp plate and results in
Vote Exchange the best clamping forces being applied. A small amount of error can exist without serious issues, but level is still the
PSP Tutorials desired and safest approach.
Pond Set
PSP Projects Another important factor in proper attachment of a clamp is the depth of the attachment bolt into the platen hole. The best
Web Tools rule of thumb used to calculate this is “one and a half times the diameter of the bolt being used should be used as a depth
Web Rings into the platen hole”. In other words, if you are using a ¾” inch attachment bolt, you should use a bolt length that will get
Insurance you at least one and one eighth of an inch into the platen. .75 x 1.5 = 1.125 or 1 1/8”. The formula applies to all bolt
Bird Feeding sizes being used. Make sure you also account for the height of the spacer or washer you are using to determine the bolt
length needed. Let’s assume the spacer is ½” in thickness. We already know we need to get 1 1/8” depth into our platen.
To determine the length of the bolt required you need to make some measurements. First measure the height of your
clamp plate. Then you need to know the thickness of your clamp and add the spacer thickness to that. Lets assume our
mold clamp plate thickness is 1”. Our clamp thickness is also 1”. Our spacer is ½”. We total these amounts and then
add the thread depth needed to determine our bolt length or, 1” + 1” + ½“+ 1 1/8” = 3.625” or 3 5/8” bolt length required for
our task.
This is important for a couple of reasons. The first is that if we are using too short of bolts, we will likely strip the threads
right out of the platen holes when the mold is mounted on the platens. As the mold is opening, closing, and ejector
system running, you could literally strip the mold off the platens and the mold could fall out of the press. Does this sound
like the voice of experience? That’s because it is and I’ve seen it happen. The other problem I’ve seen that ends with the
same result is using bolts that are too long. Each platen hole has a finite depth, meaning that you can hit bottom if the
bolt is too long. The result of this if you don’t notice is once again a loose clamp and a dangerous situation, so pay
attention these details and you’ll never have a problem. Keep your platens holes in good condition too, as this makes
everyone’s job simpler and safer.
Other methods of clamping a mold to

a press is using holes in the clamp
plates and bolting directly through
them You will need to apply the same
calculation to determine bolt lengths
for this method as well. This method is
easier and safer than clamps, but
requires precise hole placement in the
molds to line up with your press platen
holes. The last common method is
hydraulic clamping, which is the This site is rated
fastest, safest, and most expensive
method but well worth it if the
investment is made as this is a great
time saver, saves wear and tear on the
platens, and cuts down the risk of
mistakes. These are the types of
financial decisions your company will
have to make for itself. Another less
common and even more expensive
clamping method is magnetic platens
or clamping plates that are added to your existing platens and use extremely powerful magnets to hold the molds into
place. These are typically only used where time savings and quick mold change are a way of life as their costs are tough
to justify in many situations.

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A Basic Injection
Molding Machine
Ejection and Core Pull Systems bottom or bottom left of
chosen language
Alternate Menu for Ejector System
incompatible browsers The sole purpose of your ejection
system is to remove the finished
Up injection molded parts from the mold or
Ham Radio die. The ejection system is comprised
Motorcycling of a hydraulically driven ejector plate,
Hunting sometimes referred to as the butterfly
Building Our Pond plate, and some type of ejector rod or
Raised Bed Gardening bar, which is used to drive the mold
WM8C's Link Directory ejector plate forward, releasing the
Christian Pages part from the cavity or core of the
Inspirations mold, or so that it can be removed by
I Quit Smoking an operator or a robot. Depending entirely on your mold and it’s requirements, there could be anywhere from 1 to 4 or
Plastic Injection Molding I more rods required to perform this task. One critical thing to remember is that if you are using more than 1 rod, it is
Photography necessary that these rods are exactly the same length. The reason for this is so that the ejector plate is moved forward in
Morel Mushrooms a uniform manner, to avoid causing the ejector pins to become scored and bound up. If you are using one rod, it usually
Metal Detectors is placed in the very center of the mold. If two or more are ejector rods are used, it is important that they a installed
DIY Enclosed Trailer symmetrically into the mold, such as opposite corners, directly above each other, all four corners, or similar. These rods
Article Submission Questions can be installed as loose or “floating components” or tied-in. As the term indicates when tied-in, the rods are attached at
Astrids Embroidery both the mold and machine ends of the rods, usually with bolts or threaded rod stubs in the rod. Molds that have return
Tribute to America springs can be used with loose or floating rods, as the springs are intended to provide the return stroke of the mold ejector
Win An Award plate when the machine ejector plate is retracted, allowing the rods to also be retracted out of the way. This is especially
Awards I've Won useful if you run smaller molds with multiple ejection strokes and little or no actions built into the mold.
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PSP Tutorials With more complex molds, the tie-in method is more appropriate and more often used. The difference in using this
Pond Set method is that the machine is controlling the entire stroke and it allows you to safely control the ejection of parts from
PSP Projects molds that have actions built into them such as slides, suicide core pins, or both. This also helps prevent damage to the
Web Tools tool, should something go wrong with the injection molding process or machine. When coupled with a robot or operator
Web Rings removal, the rods can maintain the ejector plate in the forward position until the robot or operator has removed the
Insurance finished injection molded part from the mold.
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Core Pulls
Core pulls do exactly what they sound like they would do, and that is to pull cores out of parts which otherwise could not
be molded any other way. For example, If you wanted to create a hole in the top flange of a part and the hole was not in
“die draw”, you would be able to use a movable core to create this hole. Just to clarify, die draw is anything that lies in the
direction of “mold opening”, with sufficient draft for the part to be removed. In the case of a rectangular box, by adding
some amount of draft, you can mold this box without the aide of anything special besides the ejector system to remove it
from the cavity. But, If you would like
to put a hole in the side of the box, we
need to use a core pull mechanism to
do this. The process is simple in the
case of creating a hole. Once the
mold is closed, we will use the core
pull system to drive a pin into the core
wall, creating an area that plastic must
flow around during the filling of the
cavity. This now creates a hole in the
side of the plastic part. Now if we
were simply to open the mold up, we
would rip or tear away all the plastic
behind this core pin during ejection,
leaving us with a useless part. But, if
we pull that core back up out of the
way before we open the mold, we can
safely eject the part with no damage to
our hole. This is just one of the myriad
of uses of the core pull mechanism on
the machine. It can if desired, be used This site is rated
in certain mold design configurations be used as a hydraulic ejector system addition as well.

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A Basic Injection
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The Machine Controller bottom or bottom left of
chosen language
Alternate Menu for Machine Controls
incompatible browsers This area or component of the injection
molding process can become quite
Up expansive. There have been so many
Ham Radio iterations of machine controls over the
Motorcycling last 25 years, that it’s difficult to know
Hunting where to start. Due to the fact that
Building Our Pond there are so many machines still in use
Raised Bed Gardening today from this same time span, I will
WM8C's Link Directory only touch on the basics of the main
Christian Pages changes in order to keep this flowing
Inspirations and on topic as much as I can. The
I Quit Smoking process of injection molding in it’s basic sense has remained relatively unchanged since the beginning. Molten plastic is
Plastic Injection Molding I injected under high pressure into a mold, creating a non-Newtonian flow condition, which is cooled, and then removed
Photography from the mold. There are 100’s of control mechanisms to create these conditions but they all end with the same purpose
Morel Mushrooms in mind and that is to produce a plastic injection molded part.
Metal Detectors
DIY Enclosed Trailer In the beginning, there were relays! Actually there were other things before that too, but we will start there. Relays, limit
Article Submission Questions switches, relays, and more limit switches, were the flavor 25 to 30 years ago and I’m not referring to the newer solid state
Astrids Embroidery types, but the very large and now impractical mechanical relays used in many molding machines for years. As with now,
Tribute to America these machines were provided to you with a hydraulic and electrical schematic or “ladder diagram” showing line after line
Win An Award of relays, some open, some closed, that all together made a required action occur. In many ways, I felt troubleshooting
Awards I've Won these machines were much simpler in a lot ways than with today’s solid state control systems. If your clamp wouldn’t
Vote Exchange close, you just looked for that line in the ladder logic, started at the end of that circuit which usually was a solenoid on a
PSP Tutorials valve, activated the clamp close button and checked for voltage at that point. If there was none present at the solenoid,
Pond Set you back tracked to the next point along the circuit path which might be a junction block. No voltage there and back you
PSP Projects go again until you found the first point where voltage was present, but not getting through to the rest of the circuit. That
Web Tools point often would be a relay or relay contact that had failed. Replace or re-build the relay and off you went again.
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Insurance Now that is a simplistic approach to circuits of old, but they worked. There weren’t any touch screens, or LED read-outs,
Bird Feeding or circuit boards. Everything today is now touch screens, electronic control modules, programmable controllers, and the
like. Trouble shooting is now more often done to the module level and then replaced if it’s not functioning properly with
another. I would say that today’s machine controllers are much more reliable than those of old, but they are also much
more expensive to maintain. Instead of replacing or rebuilding a burnt relay that cost a few bucks, you will likely have to
replace a $2000 module. This is one of the costs of progress.
In a nutshell, the controller is the brain

of the injection molding machine. It
controls all of the functions of the
injection molding machine and insures
that the machine does what it is
programmed to do. In the case of the
newest machines, they are comprised
of many sensors, such linear
measurement devices, thermocouples,
proximity sensors, speed sensors and
many more. Think of these sensors as
the nerves of your own body, or your
ears, eyes, nose, and tongue. You
reaction to what your senses tell, just
as with the machine. The controller
allows you to input certain set points
into it, which tells the machine what to
do during the injection molding
process. The sensors provide
feedback to the machine controller so
that it knows what’s going on and
when, and what to do next based on a program that tells the controller what to do with the information that it receives. This site is rated
These set points that you have control over will be discussed more in a later module on process setting and controls.

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A Basic Injection
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The Mold bottom or bottom left of
chosen language
Alternate Menu for The Injection Mold | It’s Main
incompatible browsers Components and Function |
Injection Molds Explained
Up The function of the “mold” or “mould”
Ham Radio depending on which spelling you
Motorcycling subscribe to in the injection molding
Hunting process, is simply to be the vessel
Building Our Pond within which a plastic part is born.
Raised Bed Gardening Think of the mold as the reverse image
WM8C's Link Directory of your finished part. What I mean by
Christian Pages that is this…if I took a ball and I
Inspirations covered the entire surface of the ball
I Quit Smoking with plaster and let it harden, and I then cut it exactly down the middle into two halves and removed the ball, what I would
Plastic Injection Molding I be left with is the basis of an injection mold. It is a void or space of some shape that is split into two sections so that we
Photography can inject plastic into that space to create a plastic part when it is removed from this mold. We refer to the halves of the
Morel Mushrooms mold as the cavity and core, or cover and ejector. The cavity and core can be either the front or back half of a mold
Metal Detectors depending on the design. Most molds will have the cavity or cover of the mold mounted on the stationary platen and core
DIY Enclosed Trailer or ejector of the mold on the movable platen. In the case of molds that are built with cavity or cover ejection this would be
Article Submission Questions reversed, and then we often would use the core pull system to run the ejectors forward. We will stick with the more
Astrids Embroidery common configuration of the ejector half of the mold being located on the movable platen and using the standard injection
Tribute to America molding machine ejector system.
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Awards I've Won The “ejector” or “ejection” half of the mold is what will ultimately cause the finished plastic part, to be ejected from the
Vote Exchange mold. It is comprised of a number of components, some of which will be the ejector housing, ejector plate, ejector pins,
PSP Tutorials and water (cooling) lines. As design requires it, it may also have slides, cores, lifters, and other moving components that
Pond Set make up the the ejection system. It also is usually the core half of the mold. Besides being a critical part of the molded
PSP Projects part, it’s only other purpose in life is part removal or “ejection”. Plastic shrinks to varying degrees, and because of this we
Web Tools must build molds with sufficient draft to allow the part to easily slip off of the core of the mold without damage to the parts
Web Rings plastic surfaces. Draft needed for a given material or resin can vary greatly and you should consult your material vendor
Insurance for the specifications for the material you are using for your specific application. Draft can be as little as a couple of
Bird Feeding degrees, to something much more substantial depending the part design and material requirements. When a part is
molded and then cooled, the ejector plate of the mold is moved forward causing the ejector pins and/or lifters to push the
part free of the mold, allow it to be removed by an operator or robot, or to simply fall onto a chute or conveyor to be
moved to it’s next operation.
The cover or core of the mold, except when the part is cover ejected, does not typically have any moving parts. It does
however usually house the entry channel for the plastic into the mold. This is done through a number of different
methods, such as a sprue bushing and sprue, or a hot runner manifold. The channels of plastic flow can be directly into
the part itself or flow through a “runner” system, which is the most commonly used method. The runner system can be
part of the hot runner manifold or a cold runner system that is cut into the surface of the mold itself. We need a
separation point
between the part and the runner and
this is called the “gate”. There are
many “gate” configurations and again,
this all depends on your parts design
and requirements as how this will be
performed. This half of the mold will
also require sufficient draft, as the part
must release from the cavity as the
mold opens which separates the two
halves prior to ejection, with the part
remaining on the ejector half of the
mold. This half of the mold the mold
will also contain the horn pins which
move any slides the mold might have
into place as the mold closes. The
guide pins, which will located in two up
to all four corners of the mold, perform This site is rated
the task of keeping the two halves
aligned as the mold closes. When the
two halves are closed together, they
create a void that will be filled with
plastic to create the finished molded part.

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A Basic Injection
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The Controller | Basic bottom or bottom left of
Clamp & Ejectors Setting each page to stay in your
chosen language
Alternate Menu for Descriptions and Function
Clamp settings:
Up
The clamp settings control the
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distance the mold opens and closes to,
Motorcycling
where it slows down and speeds up,
Hunting
and other miscellaneous settings
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where you might perform other actions
such as core pulling and ejection start
points. Because of the large variety of
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machine types, I will not attempt to
Inspirations
cover every possible setting but only
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the main ones that are common to most machines. Depending on the age and abilities of your machine, these could be
digital settings in the controller interface on newer machines or limit switches on older ones, or in some cases a
Photography
combination of both..
Morel Mushrooms
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Clamp open fast – where you want to start opening the mold quickly
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Clamp open slow – where you want to start slowing down the clamp before reaching full open.
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Clamp full open - where you want the machine to clamp to stop after each cycle
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Eject start – where you want to start your ejection movement if your machine has “eject on the fly capability”, otherwise it
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will usually be at the mold full open point.
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Clamp close fast – where you want to close the clamp at high speed
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Clamp close slow – where you want to slow down the clamp when closing (usually before engaging the guide or leader
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pins)
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Mold safe – just before the mold halves first touch, usually a few thousandths of an inch before zero. This is the safety
Pond Set
feature to help protect your mold from damage if it closes on a runner or part. The clamp is put into a low pressure state
PSP Projects
at this set point to protect your mold. This setting is one of the most critical to be set correctly and precisely.
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Clamp fully closed – this is the point where the mold halves make contact and high pressure is applied to build full
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tonnage.
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Bird Feeding Clamp speeds and pressures – most of the above functions also have a speed and pressure setting. These will be set
according to you needs and will vary somewhat for each mold.
Ejector settings:
The ejector settings control the distance and speed of the ejector rods during the part removal process from the mold.
The settings are crucial to your molding process as they help determine a number of things such as whether or not the
part is going to remain in place for robot or operator removal, or be ejected completely into a bin or chute. They can in
some instances also help in determining part quality with how fast a part is removed in some more sensitive parts and
molds, or ensuring the cores have been removed prior to ejection in order to protect the mold from damage. As with the
clamp settings, depending on the age and abilities of your machine, these could be digital settings in the controller
interface on newer machines or limit switches on older ones, or in some cases a combination of both.
Eject start position – where the ejectors start their forward stroke.
Eject forward position – the distance of travel the ejector rods will make during each stroke of ejection.
Number of strokes – the number of

times the ejectors will make a an entire
ejection stroke each cycle, usually
limited to not more than 5 repeats.
Ejector dwell time or eject forward hold
time – the length of time the ejectors
will be held forward after reaching it’s
forward limit. Usually only used with a
single stroke condition.
Eject retract position – the position the
ejectors must be in prior to closing the
mold for the next cycle.
Eject speeds and pressures – most of
the above functions also have a speed This site is rated
and pressure setting. These will be
set according to you needs and will
vary somewhat for each mold.
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A Basic Injection
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The Controller | Injection bottom or bottom left of
Settings, Speeds, and each page to stay in your
chosen language
Alternate Menu for Pressures | Basic Injection
incompatible browsers Control settings
Up
Ham Radio Injection Settings
Motorcycling
Hunting Injection Phase
Building Our Pond High pressure | 1st Stage | Boost -
Raised Bed Gardening Depending on the area in which you
WM8C's Link Directory live, you will hear a number of different
Christian Pages terms used for this phase of the
Inspirations custom injection molding cycle. No
I Quit Smoking matter what it is referred to as in your
Plastic Injection Molding I plant, it remains the same thing and serves the same purpose, and that is to inject melted plastic into your injection mold.
Photography This in many ways is the most important part of the basic injection molding cycle, as it has a great bearing on the initial
Morel Mushrooms cosmetics and size of your finished plastic injection molded product. You can control the hydraulic pressure and speed
Metal Detectors with which you perform this phase, and on most newer machines the “fill” or “injection phase” can be broken down into 10
DIY Enclosed Trailer segments or more to aide in precise control of this part of your injection molding process. We will get deeper into the
Article Submission Questions profile settings, what they are, and what you can do with them in the troubleshooting segment of this series. Under normal
Astrids Embroidery plastic processing conditions we want to fill the part as close to the 95 -99% full cavity range as we safely can, allowing for
Tribute to America the natural resistance of the plastic to absorb the remaining inertia of the screw. When we reach the injection transfer or
Win An Award “cut-off” point setting, we are doing exactly what it sounds like and that is transferring from fill or 1st stage pressure, to
Awards I've Won pack/hold or 2nd stage pressure. The machine settings controlling these functions are:
Vote Exchange Fill Pressure – the pressure setting for fill or 1st stage. In most processes today, this would be set to the maximum of the
PSP Tutorials machines ability which is usually between 2000 and 2500 psi. The reason for setting this to maximum, is so that you do
Pond Set not “pressure limit” this part of the process.
PSP Projects Fill Speed – The speed control for the fill portion process. We want to control the fill speed of our process and not the fill
Web Tools pressure.
Web Rings Fill Speed Profile – these are the fill segments we spoke of earlier. These profiles can have as few as 2 steps or many as
Insurance 15 or more. 5 to 10 steps are usually more than sufficient to handle the processing conditions for most processes.
Bird Feeding Transfer, transition, or cut-off position – The point of transfer from 1st to 2nd stage injection. This can be done on most
newer machines by position (most common), hydraulic pressure, time (least accurate and repeatable), and cavity
pressure.
Pack Pressure Phase

Pack or second stage pressure is used just as it implies. When used properly it’s purpose is to pack out the injection
molded part. Assuming you followed the 95 to 99% fill rule, you will use the pack pressure to fill out the remainder of your
plastic part, until reaching the desired cavity pressure for you process. Typically, there are only one or two segments for
this function but I’ve seen up to five, and it will have independent time and pressure settings for each. Pack pressure if
used correctly, will finish filling and “pack your plastic into the cavity. Often the 1st step of this pressure will be “equal too
or slightly greater than” your transfer pressure so as to prevent the screw from bouncing back at transfer. Again, if you
follow the 95 to 99% fill rule on the 1st stage filling process, you can even use a lower pressure pack in many cases
without creating a screw bounce situation. This bounce is caused by two things, the first is overfilling the cavity in the 1st
stage of fill and second, packing with too low of a pressure when the first condition exists. If the inertia of the screw is
fully expended before the cavity is fully filled as should be, the likelihood of this happening is low.
Normal pack setting options, if your

machine is so equipped are:
Pack time – Typically, you will have
one or two segments of time available
if your machine has the pack option
installed. This time should coincide
with the amount of time to finish filling
and pack the cavity to it’s peak
pressure for the desired dimensions.
Pack Pressure – settings for the
pressure of each segment.
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Pack Speed – this is not an option on
all equipment but very useful if you
have it, especially if you are using your
pack to finish filling and packing the
part. This will be a low speed option
and on some machines it’s even
limited to 50% or less.
Written by: WM8C, August 8th, 2006. Not for use without written permission

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A Basic Injection
Molding Machine
The Controller | Injection bottom or bottom left of
Settings, Speeds, and each page to stay in your
chosen language
Alternate Menu for Pressures | Basic Injection
incompatible browsers Control settings
Up
Ham Radio Injection Settings
Motorcycling
Hunting Hold Pressure Phase
Building Our Pond The hold pressure phase of the
Raised Bed Gardening process is meant to maintain the
WM8C's Link Directory injection mold process pressure inside
Christian Pages of the cavity until the gate or gates
Inspirations freeze off which then will be released,
I Quit Smoking as pressure no longer need be applied
Plastic Injection Molding I after that point. Once gate freeze off has been attained, no further pressure can be added or removed from the plastic
Photography inside the injection mold cavity, as the gates basically act as a cork after that point of the process. Once gate freeze has
Morel Mushrooms occurred, and the hold pressure has been released from the cavity, the cooling portion of the cycle may begin.
Metal Detectors
DIY Enclosed Trailer Hold pressure on most newer machines is also provided in segments with individual time and pressure settings for each.
Article Submission Questions There is typically only one hold speed for the entire hold pressure phase. This again is usually a very low speed of less
Astrids Embroidery than 30%, as we are not trying so much to move plastic at this point of the injection molding process as we are
Tribute to America maintaining that pressure in the mold cavity until the gates have frozen preventing any further pressure loss. If your
Win An Award particular machine is not equipped with a pack pressure option, you can sometimes use the first one or two segments of
Awards I've Won your hold pressure phase as “pack pressure”. This again will depend on the abilities of your individual machine and
Vote Exchange controller capability. Most machines built in the last 10 – 15 years have at least 5 and 10 segments of hold pressure.
PSP Tutorials
Pond Set The machine settings controlling these functions are:
PSP Projects Hold Speed – this is usually on one speed setting that covers all of the hold segments.
Web Tools Hold Pressure Profile – each segment of hold will have an independent pressure setting and can be ramped up or down
Web Rings for each segment change.
Insurance Hold Time - each segment of hold will have an independent time setting and can be changed up or down for each
Bird Feeding segment change. Use as few of these segments as necessary to provide a good molded product. Many molders have a
tendency to take the approach that if there are 10 segments injection hold pressure, that we should use 10 segments of
injection hold pressure. In reality, most injection molding situations will require less than 2 pressures segments and rarely
more than 5. Some exceptions to that might be when you are using one or two segments as pack. Hold pressure also
will most commonly remain the same over the profile or reduce to lower pressures in each phase when using multiple
segments.
Screw Rotate and Back Pressure Phase

The screw rotate and back pressure portion of the process occur during the cooling phase of the injection molding portion
of the cycle. Back pressure is applied as a resistance pressure to the screw as it rotates, while developing the shot for
the next machine cycle. The purpose of the back pressure is to aide in providing a consistent density of the shot size as
the screw rotates and conveys plastic resin towards the front of the screw. This is very important for the injection molding
process “shot to shot” consistency that is required by today’s high precision injection molding process requirements. On
most machines, back pressure is usually limited somewhere around the 25% mark of total system pressure. Back
pressure in most cases is a very important function of the molding process, but it also contributes the wear of the screw
and barrel components, thus keeping this as low as possible and still be able to produce a consistent and homogenous
melt stream is very desirable. Depending on the resin you are processing, this could be very low in the range of 50 PSI or
upwards of 300 PSI or more. Back pressure also contributes “mechanical heat” to the melt stream and the higher the
back pressure is set, the more mechanical heat that will be added to the injection molding process through it’s use.
The machine settings controlling these functions are:

Screw Speed – This setting controls the RPM’s that the screw turns at up to the machine rated speed. This can be a few
hundred RPM’s on a smaller machine, but typically will be less than 150 RPM’s on larger machines without special
options. This setting also contributes
to the time that it take to get the screw
from it’s forward position during the
injection molding process and the full
shot size position. The ideal condition This site is rated
is to get the screw back to its full shot
size position just prior to the opening
of the mold at the end of the cycle, to
prevent excessive idle residence time
for the plastic in the barrel.
Back Pressure Profile– This function
on most newer machines, is also
segmented with individual pressure
and position settings for each segment.
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In a nutshell, the controller is the brain

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Number of strokes – the number of

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Pack Pressure Phase

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The machine settings controlling these functions are:

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