You are on page 1of 6

14 useful tips for plastics design

Plastic components designing(plastic layout design ) is really a complicated job involving numerous aspects that deal with a number
of specifications from the application. What purpose will the component become utilized.What way does it match to other
components inside the assembly,How much loads will it meet with in use.Additionally to functional and structural concerns,
processing problems play a considerable role with the style of an injection molded plastic component for plastic mold company. How
the molten plastic goes into, fulfills, and cools down inside the cavity largely drives what kind the functions in that component should
take. Adhering to some standard guidelines of injection molded components design and style will lead to a component that,
additionally to getting less complicated to manufacture and assemble, will generally be a lot stronger in service. Dividing a
component into standard groups can help you to construct your design by a reasonable manner although minimizing molding issues.
As a component is created, constantly hold in thoughts how the component is molded and what youll be able to do to decrease
concerning.The following list some concerns in the design.

1. Wall thickness : wall thickness of injection molded Plastic products is usually around 0.80-3.00 mm, too much wall thickness
would invite shrinkage easily and produce voids, as to too thin wall, it is difficult to fulfill the cavity. Large sized plastic products
need a little thicker wall thickness, while small sized one need a little thin wall thickness.Generally,injection molding product take
1.0-2.0 mm, and wall thickness need to be as uniform as possible. Worse comes to worst, some local places could be a little bit
thicker or thinner, but it need to be gradually changedwith no shrinkage and fulfilling cavity oriented. Generally it is hard to fulfill the
cavity when the wall thickness of molded part is below 0.3 mm, but as to the soft plastic and rubber, the cavity could be filled under
wall thickness 0.2~0.3 mm.



2. Ribs: Most of the molded injection parts have enforcing ribs, for they could greatly increase its overall strength and stiffness
without adding wall thickness .The ribs are particularly useful for large size and heavy loading parts , while also they could prevent
product deformation. Thickness of ribs is usually 0.5-0.7 times of the overall thickness of plastic part. Rib thickness greater than 0.7
times of wall thickness is easy to lead to shrinkage. Large and high ribs need 0.5-1 draft to help the ejection , while short ribs dont
need that.



3. Ejection Drafts(stripping draft) : Plastic products are designed with stripping draft normally, but flatten shape(such as a plate), and
some special requirements ( side walls is a large area but without draft,and it need add sliders ). The ejection draft of the mold is
usually 1-5 degrees ,often 2 degrees adopted, according to the specific demand of product size, height and shape.The plastics
design should be with smooth ejection and part full function oriented. Usually the ejection draft of cavity should be 0.5 larger than
that of the core side to help the part stay on the core side.Normally shutoff position and kissoff position all need ejection draft.


4. Fillet (R):Except the special requirements specify that the sharp edges are needed,the edges of molded part need to be filleted
commonly to reduce the stress concentration and help the melt movement and easy ejection.The minimum R is usually greater
than 0.3 , for the too small R would lead to too much difficulties for plastic mold making.


5. Hole: For the sake of the machining of plastic mold,it is better to make a simple ,round shape hole,and try not to make complex
shaped hole as far as possible.Diameter of hole shouldnt be too small .The hole depth to hole diameter ratio shouldnt be too big,for
too long but thin mold core would be easily broken and deformed.The proper distance between the hole and the outer edge
of injection molding part is 1.5 times greater than the diameter of hole, and it is better that the distance between holes is 2 times
greater than the hole diameter, so that the products own the necessary strength and stiffness.The holes parallel to the direction of
mold opening are formed by shut off or kiss off of the core and cavity insert.If the holes arent parallel to the direction of mold
opening,the lift or sliders are adopted to form those holes.Without prejudice to the usage and assembly of parts,the holes on the side
wall should be designed for shut off or kiss off forming possibly.

holes
6. Boss : bosses are typically used for peg-in-hole assembly of 2 plastic parts, or self-tapping assembly. When boss is not very high
and the ejection is finished by ejection sleeve, normally the draft isnt necessary. But When the boss is very high, usually we need
four way reinforcement around the boss, with 1-2 degree draft, boss also need ejection draft sometimes. When BOSS and pillars (or
another boss) need match, the clearance fit usually takes unilateral assembly clearance 0.05-0.10 in order to fit the position error
when processing. When boss assembly is for self-tapping screws, its diameter should be 0.1~0.2 mm smaller than the diameter of
screw to be able to screw tighten. Such as, if the self-tapping screw is M3.0, boss inner diameter usually is 2.60-2.80.


7. Insert: the already existing metal or plastic parts were positioned inside the mold for the second molding, those already existing
components is called inserts. When the plastic product design needs inserts, the inserts in the mold must be complete, accurate and
reliable positioning, but also consider the insert must be firmly connected to the molded parts, when the plastic round the inserts is
too little,the strength is poor there,also consider not leak melt plastic .


8. surface pattern: The surface of plastic products can be smooth surface (good Polish on cavity), EDM mark (mold cavity formed by
electrode electrical discharge) ,texture and engraving surfaceThe deep and big area texture need a bigger ejection draft angel.




9. Letter: the text on the plastic surface may be concave or convex style .The convex letter is formed by concave cavity ,while
concave letter is formed by convex letter on the cavity,which is difficult to machine a bit.


10. Thread: Thread tolerance on plastic parts are usually not very high , and plastic mold sometimes need make a special
unscrewing mechanism. Under some condition for not so tight tolerance screw,the simple force ejection mechanism could be
adopted.
11. Support surfaces: plastic products usually do not need the entire surface as the support surface, but use ribs,convex stands as
support . it is difficult to achieve a large and absolute flat plane for injection molding , which is easily deformed and warp.



12. Assembly of plastic products: the assembly of ultrasonic welding, which is characterized by achieving on the mold, but the
assembly process requires a special ultrasound machine, the cost increases, and the products can not be disassembled. The
cross-sectione of ultrasonic welding is a triangle wtih width 0.30 , height 0.30 and a length of 5-10mm, intermittent 2mm;
2. self-tapping assembly: it is characterized by achieving on the mold, but the assembly process increases the cost, and invite the
disassembly trouble;3 snap assembly :It is characterized by a more complex mold, easy to assemble and disassemble . snap
assembly can be repeated many times. There are various forms of snaps, but the key point is to avoid the some area big
thickness ,and also consider the mold structure for the snap. 4. peg in hole assembly method, which is characterized by simple
structure mold, easy to assemble and disassemble, but its drawback is not very strong.




snap fit
13. Rabbet: two mating surfaces of plastic products usually adopt rabbet, the depth of rabbet is typically about 0.8-2.5, its side need
a gap of about 0.1, too deep rabbet need 2 degree draft angel, while. Mating surfaces of the upper and lower rabbet are usually
contacted (that is, zero gap).

14. Surface treatment: commonly used coating, screen printing, hot stamping, printing, plating, engraving, etch, polish and etc.

You might also like