A major part of injection molding is actually the initial design of the product that will be made. This will determine every later step of the molding process down the line, from the tooling used to the particulars of the process itself. Whether you’re looking to learn more about plastic product design or you’re just looking for a refresher, this article is for you!
The Importance of Design in Plastic Injection Molding
The design of a plastic part will ultimately determine how well the rest of the process proceeds, so it’s important to get the product design right before anything else. There are a few goals that the design process wants to meet–first to design a part that is actually manufacturable, second to find ways to minimize costs and maximize quality, and finally to design a part that will ultimately meet its end-use requirements for function, aesthetics, and quality.
The Plastic Product Design Process at World Class Plastics
World Class Plastics has a basic design process that we tailor and adapt to each project that we take on in plastic molding, as well as a team of design engineers to ensure that each product is designed to accommodate the unique features of injection molding. Here’s our process for plastic product design.
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Determine the End-Use of the Product
One of the very first things that we always make sure to do is fully understand the end-use requirements that the product will have to fulfill. Function, structural, aesthetic, or a combination of the three–each of these will bring some bearing on how the product is designed and molded so that the result is a part that meets those needs. It’s important to know exactly what function you want the finished product to achieve, be it structural, functional, or aesthetic and protective, so that the rest of the process will be tailored to achieve those particular goals.
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Finalize 3D Model of the Product
Once we know exactly what our customer requires, our team then collaborates with your Engineering and Design department to finalize a part design that is manufacturable through injection molding. During this phase, the plans for the product are carefully laid out, and various suggestions are made and chosen to maximize efficiency of both cost and time, while ensuring that the part will meet the functional and quality requirements set out beforehand. Things like wall thickness, tolerances, draft angles, the use of ribs and gussets, and other crucial features are all planned out in this phase and added to the design as needed to meet precision, surface texture, structural, and dimensional requirements.
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Selecting the Right Material
A lot goes into choosing what resin will work best to make a certain part. Different plastics have different properties when it comes to dimensional stability, chemical and electrical resistance, and impact and abrasion resistance. The chosen material will also affect the part’s dimensional tolerances, with some able to hold higher precision than others. Certain resins are also rougher on tooling than others, which will require the mold to be made from harder, more expensive tool steel. Once we’re certain of what the design requires and what our customer wants to achieve with their product, we find a plastic resin that meets those requirements.
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Rapid Prototyping for Realistic Testing and Results
Once the resin is picked and the design finalized, we can provide prototyping services to create sample parts that can be used to test and refine the initial design before full production. This can involve 3D printed parts or prototype tooling to test injection molded parts. These prototypes can then be tested for structural integrity, functionality, and proper aesthetics so that any potential kinks in the process that might cause the finished part to fail prematurely are ironed out before production tooling begins. Once prototyping is complete, we can then move into tool building and manufacturing for full production.
About World Class Plastics, Inc.
World Class Plastics is a one-stop shop for custom plastic product design and mold engineering, as well as full injection molding of plastic components. Head over to our website to learn more and contact us about our services.