Great video. This reminds me of when i was about 8 years old, my father used to take me to work with him during the school holidays about 20 years ago. He used to be a die setter/ machine operator at an injection moulding buisness that also had a machine shop with about ten guys working there that made their own dies. My job was to snap the parts off the runners and sort the parts into boxes but i used to sneak off to the machine shop and watch guy that did the cad/cam work, blew my mind when he showed me that you could send the drawing downstairs to the cnc machine and get a die cut. Still blows my mind now :)
So many things in engineering blow my mind, too. I had a metalworking course in college back when our most sophisticated numerical control system was rolls of paper that you programmed by punching holes in it. Heck, I'm still impressed with impact dot-matrix printers... and they've been basically obsolete for 30 years!
Hey John. I clicked so fast on this, I'm a toolmaker so I machine tools every day. A tip for you; with these pre machined plates with the bores in the corners I always clock the back right bore and then clock the front left and split the difference. Works perfect every time
As a plastics injection molder for Corning Inc (Life Science division from Oneonta, NY), I really did appreciate and enjoy this video. I am responsible for maintenance on a Toyo SI 400V electric machine. Along with just making sure our 20+ other machines stay running, and deal with our QC deformities. Some of our biggest molds weight 5700-6000lbs. Great video
Chapeau to you and your video editor. Slide out masks for in-place end mill descriptions, 3D endmill destination graphics, F360 flybys. Icing on the cake of a video that for me had spot on pacing and audio, not to mention clear and relaxed voice-over. Delegating WW to others has been a good example of "work on your business, not in it", too. Your content is outstanding and I appreciate it tremendously. Thanks!
Hello and greatings from Germany, at first sorry about my terrible english ... but i try my best! I follow your channel since a couple of years, and i respect what you have reached form your apartment to your shop now!! I'm an ... i don't know this is so called in us ... master of injection molding with years of practical experience with prototyping injection mold systems. You have done a nice job with your injection mold! Perhaps i can give you some tips what you can do so that the man of molding have a easier life ;). Air is the biggest problem of every injection mold process, it is always good to grind or mill out a tunnle from the cavity of your part, starting with 1mm (sorry metric :D) distance from the cavity, on the opposite side of your injection inlet, all the way out between your cavity plates. Later when the mold is on the molding machine and there are problems with ejecting air, you can easily grind this 1 mm bridge step by step down to help the air going out. The same thing you can do with your ejector bolts, you can grind a flat plane on each, with a distance to your cavity to eject air over your ejector bolts, or open your ejector holes in your cavity plate with a bigger diameter, but with a distance to your cavity. Air isnt just a problem of burning plastic while injection (in germany we call it diesel effect), it can also hapen that the air is inside the plastic part (in germany we call it lunker) and the stability of the part could take a negative effect. I hope you understand what i mean ;) Greeting Dominic
Moldmaker Apprentice checking in: As soon as i saw the solid model, I thought "What? No venting?!" 0 .0002" (around 4-5 microns if my mental math is correct) would be enough to vent even the most flash-prone materials.
I'm also from Germany, I used to machine injection molds and seeing you touch off on the outside edges gave me slight anxiety. You always want to set the offset on the most critical feature that is already machined and in this case that would be the guide bushings. We had some mold bodies that were up to .5mm off on the outside! that can really screw your injector set when you try to eject and it all seizes up. Seems like it turned out fine in your case, just wasn't the best practice.
@@noelbressan8097 At 12:30 you can see that he actually clocked in the guide bushings. But the outside is just rough and not made to tolerance. Always clock two holes to make sure everything is square.
I've been a subscriber since your days of having the desktop machine in your apartment. It's amazing how far you've taken things since those days. Congrats on all of your success! You've earned it and are living proof that people can succeed when they put in the effort!!
I love this so much, I've seen this video in the past, but didn't understand all the concepts that were being talked about then. But now I'm watching again while attending a Machine Shop Basics class at St. Philips in San Antonio and I can already understand so much more about whats going on. Then watching this just makes me eager and excited to learn how to operate CNC machines when that class comes up.
Great Vid John. This bought back the good old days. I spent 4 years working for a company(in Australia) that made moulds for Tupperware. Back then we began using Devleig point to point Horizontal machining centres. the company advanced into Makino VMC machine (at a time when Makino was renowned for Engine lathes and Tool and Cutter grinders). We had a huge EDM department and a growing CNC Milling and Lathe section. We used to grind our own "D bits" for the engraving work. This bought back some great memories Thanks John.
I’m not one to swear in public, but I’m going to go out of my comfort zone and just say...you F’ing amaze me. I’ve been watching your videos for years, however, I don’t comment often. From hobbyist, to full blown machinist/magician. As a hobbyist manufacturer, I love the way you explain the processing, and the video is outstanding. Thank you for sharing this process, as it’s something I’ve often thought of getting involved in. This, and vacuum forming.
I worked in a tool making shop 18 years ago with an in house mould shop as a semi-skilled engineer. We did not have any CNC machines and relied on Lathes, Milling Machines, Grinding (Surface and Cylindrical) and Spark Eroders (those were interesting). We made some real complex mould tools with the machines we had.
Kitamura BridgeCenters are very nice for this type of work. Extraordinarily rigid machines with box-way table and slanted column bridge. They have absolute accuracy of 2 micron across the entire bed length and repeatability of 1 micron.
@@northernsmith it's been my experience that every shop adds a chamfer to tapped holes when there isn't a call out. This can be problematic in certain situations. For example, when using shoulder bolts in said holes. I was bitten by that one during an internship where they actually used my designs in production. Technically, it also bit my mentors/bosses as they checked the drawings (and designs). This was very low run production tooling with ~32 holes across four parts so a "do not chamfer" call-out was in order. If it was a very long production run/something getting a ton of shoulder bolts then adding a chamfer with a +.0000/-.0010 tolerance _might_ increase tap life enough to lower part cost.
It is good practice to chamfer first. But I make 1000s of NPT holes in a year and sometimes impossible to chamfer, you don't even need too. Chamfer doesn't affect the seal at all. Best way to do NPT holes is to treadmill them. That way mold maker puts a tiny bit of Teflon tape and the plugs will stop all in the exact same spot perfectly sealed. I also usually gun drill all waterlines when possible and a gun drill doesn't make a burr. This is such tiny mold, molds I make have 500 to 2000 waterlines crisscrossing through it. Only time you need a chamfer is on the bottom of the mold so the plates sit flat against the mold
@@highstreetkillers4377 NPT plugs suck. I switched to port plugs a long time ago. No leaks and straight threads. Also easy to remove for maintenance. I Use them whenever possible.
You know what's weird? Being a "Jonathan" in Utah and watching this when John says he's sending it to Jonathan in Utah. Obviously there are a few of us here, but it still creates a very brief and very odd moment of confusion.
Hey John, Have you ever measured tool runout before and after a cut with your tap method? I would image if the tool is able to be moved around inside the collet from a dead blow that the cutting forces would be more than enough to move it even more!
The tool rotates while it cuts. So theoretically it would be like tapping hundreds or thousands of times on all sides of the tools. So theoretically it still should be centered.
My names not John but from my experience once you get the tool indicated in, it will repeat pretty well. All of your force is in the z axis, not x or y.
Great job guys! Wathching your channel and every video with a great pleasure, always find something new and usefull. A little tip for future moldmaking - not all mold base blocks have "base" side surfaces, for example Fodesco blocks (which are great, cheap and popular in Europe) have not parallel, not orthogonal and not even straight side surfaces. But! holes for guiding elements are excellent, orthogonal to plates face and bottom, and extremly precise in size and shape. It is a good practise to set up all the plates (excluding ejector plates, in which guiding holes are made "in situ") using that holes. Look at "meusburger h1000" set up system, it is a great example of mold clamping system, handy, precise and easy to use.. or to copy :) We are using similar system for over 5 years of everyday moldmaking job. Also great when it comes to machining plates on mill, then on EDM - helpls not to loose or mix up that microns, that really matter. P.s. sorry for the English, Russian is my native.
As a kid, I worked at Hansen Ski as an injection mold operator. Used to have to jump inside the 2' to 3' molds (when open) to remove the ski boots! For some reason a crescent wrench was involved in the process (don't remember why...), but I remember leaving the wrench on top the then $40K-molds and when the machine cycled, the wrench fell inside the extraction plate mechanism and bent stuff up pretty bad... I don't think I lasted long after that!!! I really wanted to get into programming the many types of injection machines they had!
I found this video very satisfying to watch! I worked for an injection molding company at my previous job and we had small basic tools like this to large complex tools for automotive parts. Keep up the good work John!
Nice to see someone else make and explain a mould I work for a company that makes mould tools as big as 64 imp razors it will mould 32 plastic handles and then spin 180 and mould the rubber grip on the handle it just moulded most off cavity we do are edm sparked and hard milled nice to see one fully milled great video 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I used to work as a machinist and I made tools for injection moulding. Nice with a trip down memory lane =) Edit - that made me sound old as f*ck 😁10 years since i quit as a machinist. Now I´m back at school to become an mechanical engineer.
@@nyccnc That was the first thing I noticed was why only 2 parts. They are using up more material in the sprue than the part. The machine time is being wasted with only 2 parts per cycle.
@@SpaceBuckaroo Probably a investment vs income argument. They might only need to make 10,000 in a month and the investment into a more complex molding wouldn't be worth it for that throughput. It might also be that the machine the customer plans to use cannot handle the amount of plastic needed to fill the mold. Plastic molding is a complex process and one thing you need to worry about is being able to fill the mold before the plastic cools enough to become solid. I'm not super proficient with plastic molding but that's what NYC CNC probably means by shot size limit. Since the part is something they don't need a lot of they can probably charge a little more per part to offset the extra material used. This might seem stupid but in the end a plastic injected part is still going to be darn cheep even if it's not the "optimum" throughput and efficiency you could use to make the part. Also, plastic can be recycled in house to certain extents to reduce the overall wasted material. This is why you still see small machines being used in all trades. Sure you can get the biggest baddest thing around to remove/add umpteen tons of material a day. But if you only need to make 100 small parts every week then what's the point?
Very informative tutorial video, I'm a plastics engineer/mould maker, an excellent example of injection mould manufacture. If we can do this, we can do almost anything. But it is intricate, takes more skill and knowledge....👍👍
Pro tip about the torque wrench at 13:45 Install the accessory at 90* to then handle rather than parallel. With the accessory straight, you are extending the torque measuring length. If you did the math already for the compensation then by all means, keep on going to the moon.
I really like your machining the mold so logically. As more than ten years mold designer's advice, you should eliminate the second mold plate, then make the inserts in Top plate and make another block to fix them. it will decrease the sprue length, and save the material.
We used to use an EDM machine to make those tiny holes leading to the cavity , since you can make an electrode that can be held with 90degree extensions, it's much easier than using 5axis mill
Reamers can be stepped on a reamer/endmill rotary collet indexer, purpose is to cut out stock undersize in hole then the rest of the reamer finishes to size, standard practice in hole reaming, sneek up on it. Better hole finishes and tighter tolerances. Always ease a holes beginning with a lead, small chamfer if possible. Better with steeper angle, 60
DME good way to go, mold base then A and B plate, ejector plate, ejector pins just right to eject the parts and the runners just the right length, lot of work lot of time. important to get the pins and bushings perfect, Spent 20 years designing with cad/cam making drawings and machining injection molds ordered lots of stuff from DME, pins, bushings, ejector pins, springs and plates.
Molds are indeed a very intense assembly to get right...looks awesome...I have a business partner specializes in large die assemblies and valves and with some completed assemblies in the 65+ ton range they are simply staggering to behold...All Doosan 130xx type of stuff. Keep up the great work!
As someone that has 10 years experience machining molds for car bumpers, dashboards, and other huge molds, this is funny to watch. I'd love to show you videos but I would get in trouble. I did the 3d finishing on a machine where the spindle is on a Sine plate. Put the cutting tool on a compound angle, make a program, then pick out corners with a 1mm ball for weeks. I'm more on the boring mill and 6 axis gundrill/mill these days luckily. You should try putting in 2" lifter rod holes on a compound angle 1 meter deep. lol. Even worse is 3 mm ejector pins 1500mm deep with 5 mm clearance 1450 mm deep. That mold has no lifters, inserts, or slides. lol. That's a cake walk man. You didn't even make the ejector box or plates, lol. Waterlines? lol. The one 30 ton Cavity I make has like 800 Waterlines through it with a helluva a lot of intersections. Now that's a stressful puzzle. Luckily I've got the 6 axis machine, cause before I'd put that 30 ton cavity on a sine plate on the boring mill and some setups I have to tilt the sign plate 43.473 degrees and then turn the table 46.238 degrees. That setup with lifting the sine plate on with the crane and block, start until cutting. Takes me 1.5 hours. UA-cam machinists kill me struggled with setups in a vise out by 0.001". lol. I indicate 50 ton molds straight on my machine everyday, 0 - 0, and that's over 3 meters. Sometimes I use a 9/16" drill thats 700 mm long and drill on a compound angle through 11 intersections 650mm deep. Just makes me laugh watching someone struggle on a small simple mold like this. lol. No offence, practice makes perfect
Dude mold and die bases that are pre made are awsome they take up most of the grunt work and all you got to do is machining the cavities or the die steels and your up and running
@steve gale idk sometimes depending on where you go the cost of material and labor the bases end up being cheaper then making them in house also make sure the shit is made in America or anywhere other than china we bought a complete progression die from china once never again spent more money on getting it to run good parts then the cost of the die at the end.
So, one question: the way the cavities are connected below the surface of the mold (the "submarine holes," IIRC), it seems like the sprue connecting the center channel to the outer cavities will have to be cut when the ejector pins actuate -- otherwise the center sprue and the plugs would still be connected post-ejection, and the video evidence appears otherwise. Is that correct? If so, how could you be confident (in the design stage, b/c obviously this works in production) that that will work properly, and not leave debris caught in the "submarine holes" that might damage the next injection?
machining the core and cavity into the mold plate if not the best way to go. i work on high volume molds, 64 cavity and above, the core and cavity are always separate parts from the plate. when you mentioned having to drill long holes for the coolant lines that would work in a small mold like this, but for large molds the coolant lines would need to be gun drilled with a 32in carbide tipped drill.
Yes. Making cavity/core inserts is a next step in making this mold a real mold. So he can run similar sized products or different version of current design.
It´s a really exciting field, and I forecast words like: EDM/Wire EDM, Electrodes, Spot drilling/Center Drilling, Reaming/Honing, Wire EDM, Hard inserts, graphite, S7, H13, Venting, hand grinding, Mold flow analysis, Hot sprue bushing, Hot runners, support pillars, locating rings, return pins, ejector pins/plate/sleeves, Angular pins, sliders, parting lines, shut-offs, etc.. will be appearing more often in your videos!
Congratulations, you have truly come a long way. I've been following you since the garage times and this claerly denotes a breakpoint: having caught up with the best of the industry. Now: Haass is one thing, but the additive DMG Mori Seiki Machines will be the next challenge. Ready to go for it? Btw: I'm still on woodworking DIY machines.
toolmaking is the king class in metalworking. so much to worry about and so much tolerances. Im working in a small company, we make mold for duroplast type plastics. makes it even more difficult to design and run
Good way of making sure you can relocate a mold plate lite cut on front for square on x axes then any where on center line on plate drill hole ream and burnish hole at 1/4 or more depth, you can come back latter if need be to run your indicator along x axes and sweep hole for picking up location even repairs years later just put your info in the drawing. Also its called a subgate that special hole that the plastic flows into for filling the part, it needs to be just right so you can separate the part from the runner.
I always disable my unused rotary axis when holding a part that cannot be rotated, very easy to do on the Haas. That way you can never accidentally move it by jogging, or if programmed it will alarm out.
Hello i just wanted to say I think its awesome you used a DME product for this. I actually work for Milacron and Machine parts for mold units and frames for DME and Mud products.
@@occamssawzall3486 that's a stretch. 100% correct. But a stretch. LOL. I'm glad he owned it. Just like every other mistake he makes. Helps everyone watching learn.
You really should ream all ejector pin holes and core pin holes from the back of the mold base. You will get a small amount of bellmouthing by reaming from the parting line side. That results in a small flash around the pin hole. Good stuff!
Have to watch leaving sharp corners when making runners. It can create turbulence and make the plastic flow very strange as well, in turn bad parts. Also the hot runner or heating rods paired with a very accurate thermocouple play a crucial role as well.
Any reason to indicate in the shank of small end mills rather than the flutes? I don't have a lot of experience with setting them up but I do hear that the flutes can be ground .0004" or more off center from the shank.
How cool is that! You've come a super long way in a relatively short time. My hat is off to you young man! All the best of luck for the future and thanks for the video. Oh not to forget to mention what a fantastic job you did on the part!
5:16 actually you touch off the plate by first getting the rotation from two holes and then touch off all 4 holes to get the exact center because if you want to change something in the contour later you may not get the exact same center if you touch off from the outside walls (which are not precise)
incorrect. So many reasons to not go off the leader pin holes: 1. The leader pin holes are not made to be used as datums. The plates are assembled then the outsides are machined so they match with the leader pins in them. 2. the hole on the operator corner is offset - so if you pick the wrong two holes to measure off of your datum will be incorrectly shifted. 3. sweeping holes is much slower than beeping the outside of the plate. 4.Larger plates do grow and shrink substantially with the heat from machining, switching coolant on and off, and room temperature - so the leader pin hole locations will move from heating and cooling, while the center of the plate will always be the center of the plate no matter what temperature.
i built my own cnc 10 years ago and software was so cost prohibitive my machine sat in the garage as a table since. i used google sketchup to draw, then cambam to set the cutter paths, then emc2 on an ubuntu install. it was all free, so i got to make basic stuff, but today maybe the landscape has changed? i will have to look into it again.
Does this Jonathan guy have any videos on UA-cam or anything teaching injection molding like you said? I have the CNC machine and want to make some molds, I've been looking at getting an arburg press used but I need to do more research on the process before I decide if I want to get one and what I need
@NYC CNC Wow that's great, congratulations to another big step on this channel! Please, please, please add a list how you would quote this mold, spindle time, time for the CAD files, maybe even the time you spent reading all about injection molds etc. Thank you!!!
Did you ever try to use a camera that you can remove the ir filter (an expendable usb camera) more than likely it will "see thru" the opacity of the coolant, but it becomes little difference between looking thru a window on the rain or the spinner windows, but might yield better results.
I make my own small bases. It cost right about the same amount, but im paying my guys, and not DME. Some times if I want something special its cheaper to make my own plates. of course we are talking true "cost." its no where close to what my billable rate charge would be, so if I have other things to do, I just buy the base.
Great video! I work with injection molding and I find it very interesting how you create this mold as I've been deconstructing and servicing molds in the past as well.
@@Lxo96 Interesting! So based on the Haas site, technically the M-3 then stands for "Mold Making Machine" but I guess It's still technically a Vertical Machining Center designed specifically for making molds. As they say, something new every day....
VMC does. But Haas designates by 2 letters. VF and VM for their verticals with a number denoting size VF is the standard VMC. And VM is the mold machine.
its haas's way of upcharging you for slower rapids, and the same accuracy. (ive used both. there is no difference) alot of people dont know alot of haas's machines use the same casting. iirc, the vm3 is the same iron as the vf5. so you might as well get the 5 and have the travel. the only benefit I have found from the "mold making ball screws" is that its a little easier on the axis motors when taking heavy cuts.
yeah once you start introducing undercuts it really gets nasty we had some mold that took 2 months to finish, the finished product was the body of a vacuum cleaner, blueing this thing in was a nightmare... also well done!
It would be totally skookum if those two wizardz did a collab on literally anything... Just don't know how mild-mannered John would be able to handle our old dirty miner boy's @AvE personality... I buy front row seats to that show, though…
Just a bit curious why the rate of injection is so slow. Did you slow the injector down so we could see what was happening? If this is the rate of injection for a two cavity mold, I can't see the economy of such slow production output.
What was the reason for having the gate hidden? Could it not have been on the surface? How did you align the ejector pins? Did you use transfer punches or some other method?
I work in injection molding and tooling, sub gates like this are used so when the part ejects from the mold it automatically separates itself from the sprue, as well as leaving a cleaner finish than cutting the gate by hand. there are many different gate styles depending on part shape, plastic type, and a whole range of factors
If tapping the tool with a screwdriver can affect runout this "much", what can the actual mashining with all the vibrations and horizontal load do to the acuracy? Would be interesting to measure the runout before and after a long mashining session
hansdietrich83 the loading on a small end mill like that is super small. If you look at them funny they break. It’s more seating the collet in the holder when he taps on it.
At 13:45 you use a torque wrench to tighten your er collet but the adapter is increasing the length of the lever which will lead to a higher torque than the wrench is set to. If you rotate the adapter to be perpendicular to the lever arm then you will get an accurate torque.
This is a handy calculator for anything that changes the lever arm. There is one that computes using angles as well, just couldn't find it. www.engineersedge.com/manufacturing_spec/calculator/torque_adapter_extension.htm
question?why did you make it only 2 cavity?it looks like the size of the mould base can make atleast 8 cavities.maximize the mould base size.cycle time is the same but production rate is 4x faster.
Great video. This reminds me of when i was about 8 years old, my father used to take me to work with him during the school holidays about 20 years ago. He used to be a die setter/ machine operator at an injection moulding buisness that also had a machine shop with about ten guys working there that made their own dies. My job was to snap the parts off the runners and sort the parts into boxes but i used to sneak off to the machine shop and watch guy that did the cad/cam work, blew my mind when he showed me that you could send the drawing downstairs to the cnc machine and get a die cut. Still blows my mind now :)
So many things in engineering blow my mind, too. I had a metalworking course in college back when our most sophisticated numerical control system was rolls of paper that you programmed by punching holes in it. Heck, I'm still impressed with impact dot-matrix printers... and they've been basically obsolete for 30 years!
Hey John. I clicked so fast on this, I'm a toolmaker so I machine tools every day. A tip for you; with these pre machined plates with the bores in the corners I always clock the back right bore and then clock the front left and split the difference. Works perfect every time
As a plastics injection molder for Corning Inc (Life Science division from Oneonta, NY), I really did appreciate and enjoy this video. I am responsible for maintenance on a Toyo SI 400V electric machine. Along with just making sure our 20+ other machines stay running, and deal with our QC deformities. Some of our biggest molds weight 5700-6000lbs. Great video
So they are "small" (or "medium") in size. ;-) Fun begins from 10 tons up.
If you make pipette tips or Falcon tubes there's a good chance that I use stuff from your machines daily.
Chapeau to you and your video editor. Slide out masks for in-place end mill descriptions, 3D endmill destination graphics, F360 flybys. Icing on the cake of a video that for me had spot on pacing and audio, not to mention clear and relaxed voice-over.
Delegating WW to others has been a good example of "work on your business, not in it", too.
Your content is outstanding and I appreciate it tremendously. Thanks!
Hello and greatings from Germany,
at first sorry about my terrible english ... but i try my best!
I follow your channel since a couple of years, and i respect what you have reached form your apartment to your shop now!!
I'm an ... i don't know this is so called in us ... master of injection molding with years of practical experience with prototyping injection mold systems.
You have done a nice job with your injection mold!
Perhaps i can give you some tips what you can do so that the man of molding have a easier life ;).
Air is the biggest problem of every injection mold process, it is always good to grind or mill out a tunnle from the cavity of your part, starting with 1mm (sorry metric :D) distance from the cavity, on the opposite side of your injection inlet, all the way out between your cavity plates. Later when the mold is on the molding machine and there are problems with ejecting air, you can easily grind this 1 mm bridge step by step down to help the air going out.
The same thing you can do with your ejector bolts, you can grind a flat plane on each, with a distance to your cavity to eject air over your ejector bolts, or open your ejector holes in your cavity plate with a bigger diameter, but with a distance to your cavity.
Air isnt just a problem of burning plastic while injection (in germany we call it diesel effect), it can also hapen that the air is inside the plastic part (in germany we call it lunker) and the stability of the part could take a negative effect.
I hope you understand what i mean ;)
Greeting Dominic
Never apologise for using metric ;)
Moldmaker Apprentice checking in: As soon as i saw the solid model, I thought "What? No venting?!" 0 .0002" (around 4-5 microns if my mental math is correct) would be enough to vent even the most flash-prone materials.
I had this problem with my mold, when the plastic was injected the mold was forced apart very slightly.
I'm also from Germany, I used to machine injection molds and seeing you touch off on the outside edges gave me slight anxiety. You always want to set the offset on the most critical feature that is already machined and in this case that would be the guide bushings. We had some mold bodies that were up to .5mm off on the outside! that can really screw your injector set when you try to eject and it all seizes up. Seems like it turned out fine in your case, just wasn't the best practice.
@@noelbressan8097 At 12:30 you can see that he actually clocked in the guide bushings.
But the outside is just rough and not made to tolerance.
Always clock two holes to make sure everything is square.
I've been a subscriber since your days of having the desktop machine in your apartment. It's amazing how far you've taken things since those days. Congrats on all of your success! You've earned it and are living proof that people can succeed when they put in the effort!!
I am an injection molding manufacturer from China. It's very inspiring to watch your video.
I love this so much, I've seen this video in the past, but didn't understand all the concepts that were being talked about then. But now I'm watching again while attending a Machine Shop Basics class at St. Philips in San Antonio and I can already understand so much more about whats going on. Then watching this just makes me eager and excited to learn how to operate CNC machines when that class comes up.
Good job, I'm a 35yr molding veteran, a process tech engineer, you did a great job with this video, much success with your operation!
Great Vid John. This bought back the good old days. I spent 4 years working for a company(in Australia) that made moulds for Tupperware. Back then we began using Devleig point to point Horizontal machining centres. the company advanced into Makino VMC machine (at a time when Makino was renowned for Engine lathes and Tool and Cutter grinders). We had a huge EDM department and a growing CNC Milling and Lathe section. We used to grind our own "D bits" for the engraving work. This bought back some great memories Thanks John.
I’m not one to swear in public, but I’m going to go out of my comfort zone and just say...you F’ing amaze me. I’ve been watching your videos for years, however, I don’t comment often.
From hobbyist, to full blown machinist/magician. As a hobbyist manufacturer, I love the way you explain the processing, and the video is outstanding. Thank you for sharing this process, as it’s something I’ve often thought of getting involved in. This, and vacuum forming.
THANK you! Appreciate it :) And I love that I get to do what I do :)
P.S. watch your language :) :) :)
2:48 I believe the VM actually has a lower pitch ball screw; 6mm if I recall correctly. The VF2-SS has 12mm for those crazy speeds. Great video!
As a injection molding technician/mechanic, it was neat to see how a mold is made. Nice work.
I worked in a tool making shop 18 years ago with an in house mould shop as a semi-skilled engineer. We did not have any CNC machines and relied on Lathes, Milling Machines, Grinding (Surface and Cylindrical) and Spark Eroders (those were interesting). We made some real complex mould tools with the machines we had.
Kitamura BridgeCenters are very nice for this type of work. Extraordinarily rigid machines with box-way table and slanted column bridge. They have absolute accuracy of 2 micron across the entire bed length and repeatability of 1 micron.
@@FluxApexEng Chip mfrs don't use VMCs. No comparison between milling machines and microchip manufacture.
You should always chamfer NPT holes before you tap/thread them.
That way you don't roll a burr into the part that prevents good sealing.
tyler gibb it’s good practice on any threaded hole. 😄
@@northernsmith it's been my experience that every shop adds a chamfer to tapped holes when there isn't a call out.
This can be problematic in certain situations. For example, when using shoulder bolts in said holes. I was bitten by that one during an internship where they actually used my designs in production. Technically, it also bit my mentors/bosses as they checked the drawings (and designs). This was very low run production tooling with ~32 holes across four parts so a "do not chamfer" call-out was in order. If it was a very long production run/something getting a ton of shoulder bolts then adding a chamfer with a +.0000/-.0010 tolerance _might_ increase tap life enough to lower part cost.
Not an issue with a thread mill in my experience. Worst case you just use the thread mill to do a level pass at the top.
It is good practice to chamfer first. But I make 1000s of NPT holes in a year and sometimes impossible to chamfer, you don't even need too. Chamfer doesn't affect the seal at all. Best way to do NPT holes is to treadmill them. That way mold maker puts a tiny bit of Teflon tape and the plugs will stop all in the exact same spot perfectly sealed. I also usually gun drill all waterlines when possible and a gun drill doesn't make a burr. This is such tiny mold, molds I make have 500 to 2000 waterlines crisscrossing through it. Only time you need a chamfer is on the bottom of the mold so the plates sit flat against the mold
@@highstreetkillers4377 NPT plugs suck. I switched to port plugs a long time ago. No leaks and straight threads. Also easy to remove for maintenance. I Use them whenever possible.
You know what's weird? Being a "Jonathan" in Utah and watching this when John says he's sending it to Jonathan in Utah. Obviously there are a few of us here, but it still creates a very brief and very odd moment of confusion.
Maybe all of the Jonathan's in Utah are getting one
Hey John, Have you ever measured tool runout before and after a cut with your tap method? I would image if the tool is able to be moved around inside the collet from a dead blow that the cutting forces would be more than enough to move it even more!
The tool rotates while it cuts. So theoretically it would be like tapping hundreds or thousands of times on all sides of the tools.
So theoretically it still should be centered.
My names not John but from my experience once you get the tool indicated in, it will repeat pretty well. All of your force is in the z axis, not x or y.
Great job guys! Wathching your channel and every video with a great pleasure, always find something new and usefull.
A little tip for future moldmaking - not all mold base blocks have "base" side surfaces, for example Fodesco blocks (which are great, cheap and popular in Europe) have not parallel, not orthogonal and not even straight side surfaces. But! holes for guiding elements are excellent, orthogonal to plates face and bottom, and extremly precise in size and shape. It is a good practise to set up all the plates (excluding ejector plates, in which guiding holes are made "in situ") using that holes. Look at "meusburger h1000" set up system, it is a great example of mold clamping system, handy, precise and easy to use.. or to copy :)
We are using similar system for over 5 years of everyday moldmaking job. Also great when it comes to machining plates on mill, then on EDM - helpls not to loose or mix up that microns, that really matter.
P.s. sorry for the English, Russian is my native.
Can you recommend some books about molds (making, maintenance, repair, welding, polishing), in Russian?
As a kid, I worked at Hansen Ski as an injection mold operator. Used to have to jump inside the 2' to 3' molds (when open) to remove the ski boots! For some reason a crescent wrench was involved in the process (don't remember why...), but I remember leaving the wrench on top the then $40K-molds and when the machine cycled, the wrench fell inside the extraction plate mechanism and bent stuff up pretty bad... I don't think I lasted long after that!!! I really wanted to get into programming the many types of injection machines they had!
I found this video very satisfying to watch! I worked for an injection molding company at my previous job and we had small basic tools like this to large complex tools for automotive parts. Keep up the good work John!
Which machine is used to make molds
Nice to see someone else make and explain a mould I work for a company that makes mould tools as big as 64 imp razors it will mould 32 plastic handles and then spin 180 and mould the rubber grip on the handle it just moulded most off cavity we do are edm sparked and hard milled nice to see one fully milled great video 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
HEY! this is what i do for 40 hours a week! make molds for multiple processes. injection roto and blow
@Fernandes assembling as putting together or machining the moulds?
Is your company located near Texas? And what is the turnover time of production?
twoset?
skizzik121 Hi, can I get you contact info, I am designer and would like to order a mold
Florida moldmaker
I used to work as a machinist and I made tools for injection moulding. Nice with a trip down memory lane =)
Edit - that made me sound old as f*ck 😁10 years since i quit as a machinist. Now I´m back at school to become an mechanical engineer.
I used to run and tend 8 molding machines. I would go to the tool making side all the time when I could and watch.
Why only 2 finished parts for cycle? Wouldn't 6 or 8 better utilize the injection molder.
Rookie numbers. Needs to be at least 30. Joking side, 1) shot size limit in machine, 2) increased mold complexity 3) the price and this solution WORK!
@@nyccnc That was the first thing I noticed was why only 2 parts. They are using up more material in the sprue than the part. The machine time is being wasted with only 2 parts per cycle.
@@SpaceBuckaroo Probably a investment vs income argument. They might only need to make 10,000 in a month and the investment into a more complex molding wouldn't be worth it for that throughput. It might also be that the machine the customer plans to use cannot handle the amount of plastic needed to fill the mold. Plastic molding is a complex process and one thing you need to worry about is being able to fill the mold before the plastic cools enough to become solid. I'm not super proficient with plastic molding but that's what NYC CNC probably means by shot size limit.
Since the part is something they don't need a lot of they can probably charge a little more per part to offset the extra material used. This might seem stupid but in the end a plastic injected part is still going to be darn cheep even if it's not the "optimum" throughput and efficiency you could use to make the part. Also, plastic can be recycled in house to certain extents to reduce the overall wasted material.
This is why you still see small machines being used in all trades. Sure you can get the biggest baddest thing around to remove/add umpteen tons of material a day. But if you only need to make 100 small parts every week then what's the point?
Fewer chances of messing it up... and room for mistakes
plenty of reasons why 2 is better in this case
I work at an injection molding company. It's so nice to see someone else do the work
Very informative tutorial video, I'm a plastics engineer/mould maker, an excellent example of injection mould manufacture. If we can do this, we can do almost anything. But it is intricate, takes more skill and knowledge....👍👍
Pro tip about the torque wrench at 13:45
Install the accessory at 90* to then handle rather than parallel. With the accessory straight, you are extending the torque measuring length.
If you did the math already for the compensation then by all means, keep on going to the moon.
I really like your machining the mold so logically.
As more than ten years mold designer's advice, you should eliminate the second mold plate, then make the inserts in Top plate and make another block to fix them. it will decrease the sprue length,
and save the material.
Doesn't the waste material get reground/reused?
We used to use an EDM machine to make those tiny holes leading to the cavity , since you can make an electrode that can be held with 90degree extensions, it's much easier than using 5axis mill
How do you prevent the part from shrinking after molding. Or do you compensate by oversizeing it on the mold.
Reamers can be stepped on a reamer/endmill rotary collet indexer, purpose is to cut out stock undersize in hole then the rest of the reamer finishes to size, standard practice in hole reaming, sneek up on it. Better hole finishes and tighter tolerances. Always ease a holes beginning with a lead, small chamfer if possible. Better with steeper angle, 60
DME good way to go, mold base then A and B plate, ejector plate, ejector pins just right to eject the parts and the runners just the right length, lot of work lot of time. important to get the pins and bushings perfect,
Spent 20 years designing with cad/cam making drawings and machining injection molds ordered lots of stuff from DME, pins, bushings, ejector pins, springs and plates.
Molds are indeed a very intense assembly to get right...looks awesome...I have a business partner specializes in large die assemblies and valves and with some completed assemblies in the 65+ ton range they are simply staggering to behold...All Doosan 130xx type of stuff.
Keep up the great work!
As someone that has 10 years experience machining molds for car bumpers, dashboards, and other huge molds, this is funny to watch. I'd love to show you videos but I would get in trouble. I did the 3d finishing on a machine where the spindle is on a Sine plate. Put the cutting tool on a compound angle, make a program, then pick out corners with a 1mm ball for weeks. I'm more on the boring mill and 6 axis gundrill/mill these days luckily. You should try putting in 2" lifter rod holes on a compound angle 1 meter deep. lol. Even worse is 3 mm ejector pins 1500mm deep with 5 mm clearance 1450 mm deep. That mold has no lifters, inserts, or slides. lol. That's a cake walk man. You didn't even make the ejector box or plates, lol. Waterlines? lol. The one 30 ton Cavity I make has like 800 Waterlines through it with a helluva a lot of intersections. Now that's a stressful puzzle. Luckily I've got the 6 axis machine, cause before I'd put that 30 ton cavity on a sine plate on the boring mill and some setups I have to tilt the sign plate 43.473 degrees and then turn the table 46.238 degrees. That setup with lifting the sine plate on with the crane and block, start until cutting. Takes me 1.5 hours. UA-cam machinists kill me struggled with setups in a vise out by 0.001". lol. I indicate 50 ton molds straight on my machine everyday, 0 - 0, and that's over 3 meters. Sometimes I use a 9/16" drill thats 700 mm long and drill on a compound angle through 11 intersections 650mm deep. Just makes me laugh watching someone struggle on a small simple mold like this. lol. No offence, practice makes perfect
Dude mold and die bases that are pre made are awsome they take up most of the grunt work and all you got to do is machining the cavities or the die steels and your up and running
@steve gale idk sometimes depending on where you go the cost of material and labor the bases end up being cheaper then making them in house also make sure the shit is made in America or anywhere other than china we bought a complete progression die from china once never again spent more money on getting it to run good parts then the cost of the die at the end.
So, one question: the way the cavities are connected below the surface of the mold (the "submarine holes," IIRC), it seems like the sprue connecting the center channel to the outer cavities will have to be cut when the ejector pins actuate -- otherwise the center sprue and the plugs would still be connected post-ejection, and the video evidence appears otherwise. Is that correct? If so, how could you be confident (in the design stage, b/c obviously this works in production) that that will work properly, and not leave debris caught in the "submarine holes" that might damage the next injection?
firehawkdelta it gets pulled out of the tunnels when the sprue is ejected. It’s possible for it to get stuck, but if designed right it’s pretty rare.
machining the core and cavity into the mold plate if not the best way to go. i work on high volume molds, 64 cavity and above, the core and cavity are always separate parts from the plate. when you mentioned having to drill long holes for the coolant lines that would work in a small mold like this, but for large molds the coolant lines would need to be gun drilled with a 32in carbide tipped drill.
Yes. Making cavity/core inserts is a next step in making this mold a real mold. So he can run similar sized products or different version of current design.
It´s a really exciting field, and I forecast words like: EDM/Wire EDM, Electrodes, Spot drilling/Center Drilling, Reaming/Honing, Wire EDM, Hard inserts, graphite, S7, H13, Venting, hand grinding, Mold flow analysis, Hot sprue bushing, Hot runners, support pillars, locating rings, return pins, ejector pins/plate/sleeves, Angular pins, sliders, parting lines, shut-offs, etc.. will be appearing more often in your videos!
Congratulations, you have truly come a long way. I've been following you since the garage times and this claerly denotes a breakpoint: having caught up with the best of the industry. Now: Haass is one thing, but the additive DMG Mori Seiki Machines will be the next challenge. Ready to go for it? Btw: I'm still on woodworking DIY machines.
toolmaking is the king class in metalworking. so much to worry about and so much tolerances. Im working in a small company, we make mold for duroplast type plastics. makes it even more difficult to design and run
Yes, no sissies there, straight real work.
Your work speaks for itself, and the business model of running molds on a B2B basis is pretty clever.
This brings back good memories of when I used to make the molds for injection molded parts.
I'm always excited when I'm watching your videos. Great job!
that Grimsmo Norseman 1:53 is gorgeous! great video dude!
Having not been near a machine shop for fifty years this is truly incredible.
Good way of making sure you can relocate a mold plate lite cut on front for square on x axes then any where on center line on plate drill hole ream and burnish hole at 1/4 or more depth, you can come back latter if need be to run your indicator along x axes and sweep hole for picking up location even repairs years later just put your info in the drawing. Also its called a subgate that special hole that the plastic flows into for filling the part, it needs to be just right so you can separate the part from the runner.
Also, John you should get you a Gate mate or a DMax. the sprue is massive for that part.
I always disable my unused rotary axis when holding a part that cannot be rotated, very easy to do on the Haas. That way you can never accidentally move it by jogging, or if programmed it will alarm out.
Hello i just wanted to say I think its awesome you used a DME product for this. I actually work for Milacron and Machine parts for mold units and frames for DME and Mud products.
How do lego get such sharp corners on there blocks?
In the in sides of of models must be just sharps but i cant think of a tool that could do it
You can put a broach in the middle
*_Ballscrews_* on VM's have a *_lower_* pitch, not higher.
Yea, epic fail on my part there.
@@nyccnc we all make mistakes!! All around great video though!
NYC CNC
Higher Helix angle, lower pitch.
Higher pitch, lower helix angle.
@@occamssawzall3486 that's a stretch. 100% correct. But a stretch. LOL.
I'm glad he owned it. Just like every other mistake he makes. Helps everyone watching learn.
Maybe you meant more TPI? Just trying to help. Of course the ballscrews are metric, so it doesn’t help after all.
You really should ream all ejector pin holes and core pin holes from the back of the mold base. You will get a small amount of bellmouthing by reaming from the parting line side. That results in a small flash around the pin hole. Good stuff!
Have to watch leaving sharp corners when making runners. It can create turbulence and make the plastic flow very strange as well, in turn bad parts. Also the hot runner or heating rods paired with a very accurate thermocouple play a crucial role as well.
I don't remember seeing one, but you should go over how your shop tools have been holding up, like the Arduino curtain opener you did a while back
ARSE door doing great. The height-adjusting iPad - not so well.
NYC CNC Great to hear that. It would be cool video to make at some point. I know you are probably real though
Any reason to indicate in the shank of small end mills rather than the flutes? I don't have a lot of experience with setting them up but I do hear that the flutes can be ground .0004" or more off center from the shank.
It’s very satisfying to see the needle on the dial indicator NOT move.
Very nice! Video quality is fantastic, and keeps getting better.
How cool is that! You've come a super long way in a relatively short time. My hat is off to you young man! All the best of luck for the future and thanks for the video. Oh not to forget to mention what a fantastic job you did on the part!
Thanks!
Just proper, very basic mold design, nothing "fantastic" here.
@@xyzzyx7669 Maybe to you, but I find it fascinating and I appreciate the work they do no matter how "simple" you might think it is.....
@@63256325N Straight facts (this is simple basic mold). No "bashing" here.
Nice work! Why you don't mashine some precise vice to hold the tool centered if you push it in a collet, so you don't need correct it after fixing?
15:08 That coolant line isn't going to do much good with a leak in it. Will be interesting to see how you fixed that. I'm guessing a weld.
5:16 actually you touch off the plate by first getting the rotation from two holes and then touch off all 4 holes to get the exact center because if you want to change something in the contour later you may not get the exact same center if you touch off from the outside walls (which are not precise)
incorrect. So many reasons to not go off the leader pin holes: 1. The leader pin holes are not made to be used as datums. The plates are assembled then the outsides are machined so they match with the leader pins in them. 2. the hole on the operator corner is offset - so if you pick the wrong two holes to measure off of your datum will be incorrectly shifted. 3. sweeping holes is much slower than beeping the outside of the plate. 4.Larger plates do grow and shrink substantially with the heat from machining, switching coolant on and off, and room temperature - so the leader pin hole locations will move from heating and cooling, while the center of the plate will always be the center of the plate no matter what temperature.
i built my own cnc 10 years ago and software was so cost prohibitive my machine sat in the garage as a table since. i used google sketchup to draw, then cambam to set the cutter paths, then emc2 on an ubuntu install. it was all free, so i got to make basic stuff, but today maybe the landscape has changed? i will have to look into it again.
your videos are awesome, thanks for taking time to do them
Have you guys ever used edm machines to make cavaties?
Fantastic CKC machine❤
Ive reamed holes for ejector pin holes with a dewalt drill. Never had problems with material flashing.
Well done! This is right up my alley as my job title is a machinist/mold builder. Enjoyed this video very much!👍🏾
Does this Jonathan guy have any videos on UA-cam or anything teaching injection molding like you said? I have the CNC machine and want to make some molds, I've been looking at getting an arburg press used but I need to do more research on the process before I decide if I want to get one and what I need
@NYC CNC
Wow that's great, congratulations to another big step on this channel! Please, please, please add a list how you would quote this mold, spindle time, time for the CAD files, maybe even the time you spent reading all about injection molds etc. Thank you!!!
Did you ever try to use a camera that you can remove the ir filter (an expendable usb camera) more than likely it will "see thru" the opacity of the coolant, but it becomes little difference between looking thru a window on the rain or the spinner windows, but might yield better results.
Saw the plugs on the SMW site. Excited to get some with my next order.
What would the price difference be between the premade plates and machining your own plates?
I make my own small bases. It cost right about the same amount, but im paying my guys, and not DME. Some times if I want something special its cheaper to make my own plates. of course we are talking true "cost." its no where close to what my billable rate charge would be, so if I have other things to do, I just buy the base.
Great video! I work with injection molding and I find it very interesting how you create this mold as I've been deconstructing and servicing molds in the past as well.
Did u base part on corners or on holes? U should set base on center by setting center on every 4 holes. Sory for my bad english.
I Thought the VM stood for Vertical Machining (From VMC=Vertical Machining Center)?
MrBenjo11 it does
I also thought so, but if you check the Haas website it seems to stand for mold. Jhon is also quoted on the site :)
@@Lxo96 Interesting! So based on the Haas site, technically the M-3 then stands for "Mold Making Machine" but I guess It's still technically a Vertical Machining Center designed specifically for making molds. As they say, something new every day....
VMC does.
But Haas designates by 2 letters. VF and VM for their verticals with a number denoting size
VF is the standard VMC. And VM is the mold machine.
its haas's way of upcharging you for slower rapids, and the same accuracy. (ive used both. there is no difference) alot of people dont know alot of haas's machines use the same casting. iirc, the vm3 is the same iron as the vf5. so you might as well get the 5 and have the travel. the only benefit I have found from the "mold making ball screws" is that its a little easier on the axis motors when taking heavy cuts.
This was incredible!!!! Thanks so much John for you insight, blunders, confidence and tenacity
This is awesome!
Thanks!
yeah once you start introducing undercuts it really gets nasty we had some mold that took 2 months to finish, the finished product was the body of a vacuum cleaner, blueing this thing in was a nightmare... also well done!
Strothy2
Last mold we did in-house had 106 shut offs, and 12 side actions...
@@occamssawzall3486
Nightmare stuff...
Incredible and inspiring. Thankyou for sharing!
Can you get @ave up to speed?!?! Killing it John. Great video.
It would be totally skookum if those two wizardz did a collab on literally anything... Just don't know how mild-mannered John would be able to handle our old dirty miner boy's @AvE personality... I buy front row seats to that show, though…
@@GregFowlerPlus The man from the "Kingdom of Dirt" is a handful!
Just a bit curious why the rate of injection is so slow. Did you slow the injector down so we could see what was happening? If this is the rate of injection for a two cavity mold, I can't see the economy of such slow production output.
8:36 your editing is getting better made it very easy as a third person to see what was happening next 👍
What was the reason for having the gate hidden? Could it not have been on the surface? How did you align the ejector pins? Did you use transfer punches or some other method?
I work in injection molding and tooling, sub gates like this are used so when the part ejects from the mold it automatically separates itself from the sprue, as well as leaving a cleaner finish than cutting the gate by hand. there are many different gate styles depending on part shape, plastic type, and a whole range of factors
45 seconds in and I already learned more than I would from most 20 minute videos. I'll keep watching.
Can i ask, what the name of software you use to make the machine program?
If tapping the tool with a screwdriver can affect runout this "much", what can the actual mashining with all the vibrations and horizontal load do to the acuracy? Would be interesting to measure the runout before and after a long mashining session
We've asked this same question - the few times we've measured *after* the cut, the tool runout remained unchanged!
hansdietrich83 the loading on a small end mill like that is super small. If you look at them funny they break. It’s more seating the collet in the holder when he taps on it.
I would think the high RPM would tend to "center" the tool, only if you bumped into the part while not turning would the runout worsen.
Awesome video, I would have just really loved more shots of the final product and how it works.
Bit late, but are you saying that McMaster's cobalt line of drill is PTD?
At 13:45 you use a torque wrench to tighten your er collet but the adapter is increasing the length of the lever which will lead to a higher torque than the wrench is set to. If you rotate the adapter to be perpendicular to the lever arm then you will get an accurate torque.
Joshua Wentworth he also clicked the torque wrench three times which will lead to over torque also. 😄
This is a handy calculator for anything that changes the lever arm. There is one that computes using angles as well, just couldn't find it.
www.engineersedge.com/manufacturing_spec/calculator/torque_adapter_extension.htm
Its more I think to get a consistent torque value to repeat, not really needed to be accurate
12:53 "pucker level 10.0, full clench mode"
Did I miss the center drilling of the holes to be reamed?
And those are “sub-gates”.
Loved the video, thanks!!!
"submarine tunnel" vs "sub gate", NOT one to get upset about. It not like he's mixing up core pins and ejector pins.
Probably would have pilot drilled those coolant holes but hey I don’t argue with success
So, when will your start with lathe operations? :) Regards from Germany!
question?why did you make it only 2 cavity?it looks like the size of the mould base can make atleast 8 cavities.maximize the mould base size.cycle time is the same but production rate is 4x faster.
Soooo the whole DIY turret lathe is now superfluous?
In fairness, what were the odds that we successfully machined an injection mold on the first go?
So there's still a chance? Or these are the plugs going forward?
I'm interested in the late, did I miss the conclusion?
I’ve never seen a thread mill program start at hole depth and work it’s way out. Any reason behind doing it this way?
Want to ask you how much gap is kept for air escape from cavity as plastic gets injected in it
Do you not have to spot before using those drills?