Why is Injection mould tooling like ice cream?

By Agentdraw Ltd
schedule29th Apr 19

Why is Injection mould tooling like ice cream?

Now I’m not going to try and convince you that some of the most innovative pieces of engineering are just like a scoop of your favourite frozen confectionary. No disrespect to the manufacturers of ice cream but some injection mould tools represent the height of engineering technology available today.

Tooling does, however, come in a myriad of flavours and quality. It can be a daunting task for an experienced professional to choose the correct specification for each project. Do you need a Haagen Dazs to relish and enjoy or a scoop of something cheap just for a moment of refreshment? Choose a specification that is too high, and the tooling cost will destroy the possibility of the project moving forward. Too low and the tool may not deliver the product to the right specification or fail in production.

It's like standing at the ice cream counter faced with all those wonderful colours and flavours and not knowing what to choose, an old favourite you already know or something more exotic?

So, what should you do?

The first thing is to understand the project in as much detail as possible. You should consider the materials the part will be made in, the tolerances required in the manufactured part, the number of parts you need to produce over what period, the tooling delivery expectations of your client (i.e the time allocated for its manufacture) and, if possible, the client’s budget.

These key pieces of information will allow you and your toolmaker to choose the materials in the manufacture of your tooling, feed mechanisms, cavitation, ejection methods and any additional technology that may be required to deliver your project requirements. It's about getting those all-important ingredients right.

It may sound crazy but if you focus on the correct specification according to the project requirements and get those all-important ingredients correct, the cost should align with the project budget. Getting the ingredients right will mean that the recipe is appropriate for the project and tooling is not over or underspecified.

In the most simple form, it’s a scoop of basic vanilla in the form of a single cavity aluminium tool, at its most complex it’s a high cavitation solution that interfaces with an online automation cell attached to the injection moulding machine to provide the most efficient production 24-7 for years in the future.

In the latter “Haagen Dazs” situation the cost of the tooling is irrelevant, the performance (speed), repeatability and reliability are the most important factors.

At Agentdraw we make tooling of every flavour and quality from our state-of-the-art facilities here in the UK and China. We take great care to understand your project and ensure our clients make the appropriate choice for their projects.

So, if you have a project please pop over, our freezer is full of options, we’ve even got the fancy wafers and sprinkles if you need them.

“Possible” words of wisdom by

Darren Parsons | Managing Director