Injection Mold Machine

[@NicolasBana]

Hey ! I work in injection molding, it's great to see small integrated solutions like these getting developped. The stepper for the mold being at max torque all the time makes sense for the holding pressure. 5 tons isn't much in injection molding ! The valve one is pretty silly if they use a shutter type valve, yes. There is one simple way to see if grain size is the problem with your auger... Buy a blender and try to grind it and feed it smaller pellets ! EDIT : Also, nylon is extremely hygroscopic. It needs to be pre-dried if the bag has been left open for some time. It causes it to exsudes water when it gets heated and it becomes "sticky"

[@bArda26]

Do you need to post process the injection molded nylon pieces like exposing them to humidity ?

[@John_Ridley]

Yes absolutely love any small scale manufacturing videos. This is the first time I've seen a desktop injection molding machine and it was very cool.

[@minproceng1218]

With regard to your third problem with the pellets of plastic hanging up in the feeder. My background is in mineral processing, which is almost all involved with moving granular materials around. A rule of thumb for design of systems handling granular materials is that no openings should be smaller than 3 times the size of the largest dimension of the largest particle. So you will continue to have problems unless you can reduce the size of the glass filled nylon pellets or increase the pitch spacing of the flights on the feed auger of the injection molder. Either solution could be difficult to implement unless the nylon resin is available in a smaller pellet size.

[@FriedrichKegel]

Very useful comment! Just designing my own injection moulding machine with auto feed from a larger hopper. Makes total sense, due three particles can not stuck up on each other - most likely.

[@bryanhearn9924]

Having worked with Industrial size Injecting mold machines before. The augers are at least 100 times the size of the pellet. Then again the machines were the size of a small living room :-) It was tedious as hell operating even those.

[@theovannieuwenhuizen5756]

Finally someone with knowledge and experience. That auger is way to small for those pellets, just my thoughts.

[@purpleidea]

Wait, you spent $12K on a machine that has a non-working auger and two stepper motors that aren't programmed properly?? Feels like a bit of a rip off...

[@henrychan720]

It's literally just a couple plates held together by 4 rods and a few springs. idk why it costs 12K

[@frollard]

@@henrychan720 to be fair the injection auger/heater assembly has to be pretty precise and made of super durable materials. The software for UI and machine control is a bit of development work...The rest is jellybean off the shelf parts.

[@nickr8747]

You can buy a working low hours 2000s machine that shoots 2-5 oz for that price. If you wanna get into plastic injection, simply buy a table top plunger style machine.

[@DrewLSsix]

@@henrychan720 sounds like you should undercut the market and introduce your own superior machine for less. I'm sure that you and you alone know more than an entire industries worth of professionals, so get to it!

[@gayusschwulius8490]

@@DrewLSsix He's right, though. It's one of those examples where something is expensive mostly because the people who buy it can afford it. In terms of parts, I can guarantee you that this machine didn't cost more than 2000$.

[@sixcolors4226]

Magic bullet or ninja blender the pellets to reduce their size or, increase the space between the auger flutes. I was reminiscing about the days of having to clean out granulators damn screens. Always had to use something to poke each hole clean. So tedious and time consuming. Spent ten years in injection molding, I miss that stuff! Machines so large, you could live in them.

[@thomasbraeking6225]

BTDT. 13 years.

[@smellslikeupdog80]

I work in injection molding with some significantly larger machines. the flights on your feedthroat screw are too narrow (your theory is correct). Make the flights wider to drive the resin pellets to the feed the feed section of the molding machine. Alternately, a reprocating cyllinder with a plunger can handle wider variety of material & utilize gravity fed, hopper not the screw auger Are you drying your material at all? Your mold and machine has little to no forced cooling cooling, Interim solution -- consider using compressed air rather than a designated thermolator/chiller setup.

[@Hazdazos]

Open up that feedscrew to let more pellets in. The flight doesn't have to be as thick, so you could just machine down the thickness without having to make a whole new part. Or use smaller pellets. That's the easiest solution to see if it is the pellets simply getting jammed in. It looks like you guys bought 4 mm pellets - try 3 or 2.5 mm for a couple of runs and see if that clears things up. I'm an engineer working in the plastics industry and I design machines that are upstream of the process you guys are involved with now. Really liked the video. Having my own shop to design and ultimately fabricate my ideas is the ultimate dream.

[@court2379]

Change the feeder screw to have a small taper on the sides instead of straight square threads. I think that will reduce sticking. Also they are easier to make.

[@alumnym8035]

beatmetoit... actually small draft angle could be machined... ig that should solve the problem

[@APSXLLCYouTubeChannel]

We offer a new hopper screw with a new design that performs much better and is more efficient.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

What a fantastic machine! That should be great for your knife! I designed a few of those knifes in the past and the slider was always incredible time consuming to cut. It just has to many features and needs to be smooth. So your injection moulding idea should be great for that.

[@proto2580]

I'm a mold designer (mechanical engineer) by profession. @ 14:28, I immediately saw 2 major issues with your mold design. You are gating in the wrong location. Generally, gate at the thickest part of your molded part, not in the thinnest areas as you have. Gating incorrectly results in more short shots (defective parts that did not fully fill out the cavity). Also, you might want to find a way to grind the parting line of your mold, both halves. This will reduce flash.

[@Beanpapac15]

Give us all the nerdy details, there's not a lot of coverage on this topic and I'd love to learn more

[@Arek_R.]

How can anyone release a machine into production with such obvious issues like overheating motors?

[@HeimoVN]

My thoughts exactly, it almosts seems that these days lots of companies use the end users as beta testers...

[@mandem9319]

@@HeimoVN and there you have your answer. R&D is way more expensive (and less income generating) than using the early customers as R&D department.

[@wileecoyoti]

Long story short is that they probably didn't realize how much different the ambient temperature would be in an un-air-conditioned shop in Florida. As far as I can tell they're a small group developing these and, well, any new product takes some time to find all the bugs. Having worked at a multi billion dollar company I saw far worse "oops" things come back from the customer. They seem passionate about these things and I expect they're going to continue to stand behind it and keep improving.

[@joeldriver381]

@@mandem9319 Yeah- Assumed the same.

[@colinjohnson5515]

I don’t think it’s that weird when you consider how no production company would purchase a machine like this. The economies of scale don’t line up. This machine is made for hobbyists and maker spaces. And small companies where it’s more about the joy of learning multiple manufacturing systems. That Tormach 1100M isn’t operating while filming dialog because they aren’t running a for-profit company. Or a least not based on revenues from manufacturing. If one guy works 40 hour weeks the machine is running 24% of the time. 24% duty cycle is probably on the upper limit of what the customers of the injection machine actually run. The machine looks like my Chinese clone of a prusa i3 3d printer and probably as much of a hassle to use.

[@NicklasUlvnas]

When molding with PA66 you need to keep the material dry! Put it in about 170C for a few hours to drive the water out before molding or you will have a hard time to keep the filling consistent.

[@zedsdead7670]

On large injection machines that have thermal couples spanning ~10 foot on the auger system you can easily run just fine without drying it. They could extend the auger system and put thermal couples on it to pre-melt the pellets driving out the moisture in the auger system.

[@elanman608]

Don't know how I missed this one only just watched it. My father was a toolmaker specialising in injection moulds and press tools. I learned a few things but they are probably 30+ years out of date. But one trick with ejector pins is to drill and ream for a reasonable sliding fit but leave the last 30 to 50 thou before the mould space a thou or so undersize and then lap the pins in. This means that you are not chasing a close fit allong the entire depth of the ejector pin hole. This was however in steel moulds It might not work in an aluminium mould as the pins may scrape as they sit into the taper formed.

[@alexanderhuff8758]

I'm watching on a one plus 7, and I definitely appreciate the aspect ratio.

[@CeinX]

THANK YOU for being upfront about costs, really helped me plan ahead for my ideas, 3d printing won't even come close to what I need(small moving parts)!

[@mr2good4name]

Im working with injection molding machines and I have to say that for 12k you could get a 1000x better used industry machine like a small Arburg. Much better camping force, better homogenization of material and overall more reliable. However you do need more space and power too probably

[@GaryMeolaJr]

Very intesting. I saw this machine at the PRI show last December, please keep posting about this.

[@aeroderek]

The stepper motor driver should have a mode that shorts the windings to mostly clamp the position while drawing no current. I can't remember if it is the sleep or enable pin. It might not be enough clamping torque to hold back the spring if the ball screw is back drivable. Heatsink and active cooling will be good regardless if you try to get your rate up

[@1000crazypeople]

We draw polish every mold, it helps to let go of the part when it's ejected and it leaves a nice finish. Another thing for your part, does it have any draft on the side walls? You need a bare minimum of half a degree of draft. Also, your ejector pins are doing their job, but you're still grabbing the part. To combat this, we will either cylce the ejection up to 3 times, or run an air blast, blast of air that turns on and knocks the part off. Your material also needs a specific moisture content, we have material driers for that specific reason... Also venting, normally done with a surface grinder or a really nice mill. It's a small .25 to half inch wide groove on parting line. Depending on your material will depend on the depth the of the vents. With ABS we can get away like .0015 but with nylons and thinner materials, it's normally about .0007 deep. It's the let the air leave the mold when the plastic is entering. You could also do venting by milling in some pockets outside of the cavity, and put some blocks in that pocket that are just a little thicker than the pocket you milled, that will keep the mold apart just to let it vent.

[@nickr8747]

You can buy a working low hours 2000s machine that shoots 2-5 oz for that price. If you wanna get into plastic injection, simply buy a table top plunger style machine.

[@BrokenBuildings]

Once you guys get some more experience with injection molding I'm curious how its learning curve compares to learning cnc machining or manual machining and other machining techniques

[@GuardianAngel1032]

You may want to dry that nylon. Nylon absorbs moisture like crazy and can lead to issues with part quality and may make parts brittle. I've never worked with a tabletop machine of this type. Most use hydraulics.

[@jongmassey]

Could easily be twice as long as still fascinating!

[@Archer198026]

The 5 tons closing force determine the maximum area of the injected part at the parting line. The injection pressure tries to force the mold open, so if the area is too large, you get flashing or even spills. The maximum injection pressure is relevant when molding very thin parts or using some plastics. The easier it flows in a molten state, the less pressure is needed. For the machine itself, maybe a toggle link for the movable jaw would have been better, higher closing forces with less motor torque.

[@lordgarak]

Very cool and interesting. Injection molding is a topic we haven't seen much on youtube about. Everyone is just like it's hard and expensive. Looks what your doing is quite reasonable. Not every mold needs mirror perfect finishes or needs to last for a million parts.

[@jgorton1337]

Hey guys, enjoyed your video. Had some thoughts on your current mold design (engineer with experience in injection molding): 1. Could have missed it, but I did not see any channels for water cooling. Super important for longer runs of parts. The mold will start to heat up and you will either have increased flashing and/or galling as the metal expands. Industrial units are expensive, but you could definitely use a 5 gallon with a small pump to start and expand on that in the future. 2. I would suggest adding steel bushings (or at least brass) around the ejector pin holes in the final version. Aluminum molds gall very easily when rubbing against steel. 3. Add vents for the air to escape from the mold as you are filling. This will reduce the required injection pressures on the machine and reduce flashing where you do not want it and wear on the machine. There are online resources for depths of vents depending on the resin you are using. 4. Just a warning that glass-filled resins are quite abrasive. make sure your nozzle is hardened steel. You may also see premature wear on your gates as that is where there are the highest pressures. Wish you guys the best and good luck!

[@stimpysven]

Atlas, fully agree. Throw in post gate and end of cavity pressure sensors... that’d be cool. Overkill but cool.

[@jgorton1337]

@@stimpysven Hah definitely. The mold would probably be more valuable than the molding machine at that point.

[@Anton-hz4ev]

The real question though, does the injection molding machine run linuxCNC?

[@jeffkeen6943]

Ouch!!!

[@Arek_R.]

Nope it's a windows tablet, probably runs all the logic and then sends G code commands via USB to some 3D printer style board with couple of drivers

[@APSXLLCYouTubeChannel]

@@Arek_R. Just a reminder. This is not a 3D printer. So there is no G-code. No LinuxCNC. All firmware and software are built in-house in Cincinnati.

[@Arek_R.]

@@APSXLLCKZbinChannel That's still not an excuse to release untested product.

[@gtcollection6933]

For your third problem, polishing the screw and cooling down the entry channel (much like on industrial IMs) will resolve your issue. Good vid, ty!

[@ThePlasticTech]

I have a 33 ton Cincinnati milacron I bought for $900, I like the concept of these desktop units but the cost is outrageous

[@xl0xl0xl0]

A simple 2-part Aluminium mould like this is

[@spehropefhany]

SPI Class 101 mold with hardened polished steel parts that will last 1M parts with side actions, cooling channels bubblers etc. Hot runner designs probably more. Large automotive molds, much more.

[@Eggsr2bcrushed]

@@spehropefhany What you just described is a 100k+ mold.

[@genkidama7385]

you know how many microsoft engineers it takes to change a light bulb ? Here is the same. Whatever machine tool you need to purchase, there is a hundred people behind. do it yourself, and save million$.

[@genkidama7385]

also i think the biggest cost is the milling, the machines they use are very expensive, but the same result can be achieved with the $200 cnc machines on ebay, that they will never tell you. these tiny machines cannot mill as fast as the big ones, but they can achieve the same finish, maybe not the same precision but still, for plastic parts you dont need micrometer precision, 0.01mm is good enough, depending on the target product. lets say if you wanted to make toy parts, thats ok, also 3d printers nowadays reach 100 microns, which is 0.01mm, and this is achieved with inexpensive rails/step motors/lead screw or whatever variations.

[@genkidama7385]

i have seen so much american youtubers, if not all of them criticizing chinese metals, machines, tooling in general. While it is true that country is filled with scammers of all sorts, there are also legions of serious businesses, arent apple products made in china, in my house i dont see any device where it is not written "made in china" behind, whatever the brand is, on the back there are these 3 words, the truth is that china has all the manpower, all the materials available, and thus can build everything on their own ground without requiring transport/taxes from foreign countries, also they do not bother with intellectual property and eliminate 80% of the cost of a product for this reason. i dont believe the west can survive to that on the long term, they will have 2 choices : 1) war, 2) change their mentalities and adopt a new way of life. i dont see any reason to use american products if a chinese one does the same thing without crumbling after a few uses.

[@anonymity66]

Just popped up in the recommended. Thought you were bill burr when you jumped on screen! Try changing your pellet diameter as a quick test to see if the auger still gets clogged.

[@hippopotamus86]

I think I can see the issue with that machine. 15:24 - it's the "Made in USA" plate.

[@johnyoungquist6540]

The Morgan Press is a long established prototype injection molding machine. I had one years ago and used it successfully. They cost something like $30K. I have seen them on ebay for a lot less. It would be easier to home build it has no motors. You can buy a used real injection machine for $10k or less. It will do a lot more. After the Morgan I bought a real machine to replace it. I have two Full size machines now. One is for sale. There are lots of books on molding get some to educate yourself and save time. I have a dozen or more. We have made a dozen or more homemade molds and use them regularly. I have never had mold built outside.

[@samybobtim4531]

I'm applying to work at a place that does injection molding in this video will help me look a lot more proficient or at least give me an edge over other applicants without prior experience thank you

[@leeeisenbraun5282]

Water or air cooling your hopper throat would help a lot. Plastic will warm up and stick in the throat so cooling is essential. While you’re at it hook cooling lines to your mold to keep your molds at a constant temperature. To help with flash you can add venting to the mold.

[@NerdInventor]

Watching on a 49" Ultrawide and I am LOVING the ratio! 😂👍

[@Amit-sp4qm]

I had to put my phone on landscape mode after this comment :// 😁

[@LeventAkbas]

This is awesome. Same here

[@CNC4XR7]

Very Interesting topic and machine. If the Steppers Have drivers there most likely is a dip switch for Half Current. If the Auger were polished it may move down better. Great stuff

[@electroayman]

This was a great video. You guys work well together, and the last 4 minutes were very entertaining. Reading the comments and responding like that really creates a conversation with your audience.

[@slucas601]

Please consider adding venting to the cavity of your mold somewhere approximately opposite the gate to allow the plastic being injected to push the air in the cavity out of the mold. If you need additional info on this or other aspects of mold design please ask.

[@joshuahuman1]

You may want to try a different plastic brand i know that when i worked in an injection molding shop some brands fed better than others

[@TheOnlyDamien]

So this could be a dumb question but given that the plastic is mostly just pellets and so the shape doesn't generally matter too much just the size, why not blend it up to smaller bits since it will just be melted down anyways? Seems a quick solution until something more permanent can be found and surely blending those tiny plastic pellets shouldn't be that difficult to just break them apart a bit more.

[@joshuahuman1]

You would think that but at the shop i worked at we would grind up defective parts and if its ground to finely it tends clump and causes consistency problems so every few parts you have to adjust the machine up or down which on a small machine that meant to for left for hours at a time is not a good idea the only time its fine is if you have someone at the machine and you are doing mostly bigger parts i hope this answers your question

[@TheOnlyDamien]

@@joshuahuman1 That definitely does! Thank you a lot for taking the time to write that!

[@drjubierre]

For next step into IMM search a used Arburg or Krauss-Maffei, they start on 35tn of clamping force and they are ready for non-stop production. Autodesk Moldflow could give you a simulation insight, avoiding so much prototyping...

[@spehropefhany]

Boy make some nice small machines too.

[@littlewolf5485]

the feed auger needs to be polished better with the threads more rounded. ived worked in a lot of plastic injection factories making everything from small spring S hooks to car parts and all the barrels screws were near mirror polished rounded on the trailing side of the threads and flat or faced forward leading side.

[@dumbcat]

been looking at this machine for a couple of years. hope you keep at it and get it perfected! good luck

[@rodneyjohnson8910]

To rectify your auger issue try using a tapered auger. Were the space between the auger walls are slanted and the plastic pellets would not be so easily wedged or jammed.

[@awilkoff]

I believe your GF Nylon needs to be dry and is very temperamental to moisture.

[@jgorton1337]

Agreed. I might be mistaken, but I believe it is somewhere around 175 °F for 2-4 hrs. That could be accomplished with a modified toaster oven.

[@mercyngo1154]

I m building one with using wheel chair motor that cool and best motor ever...

[@dwills8844]

Cool video. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a machine quite like that! Here’s my thoughts: Part is too thick. You can see that’s it’s sunken because it’s shrinking more than you can pack it out. How thick is it? Try to make the part thinner, 1-2mm max. Make it a H section? Or C section? Make sure to include enough draft to aid demoulding though. Sprue also looks too thick Nozzle too small for that sprue Nylon needs to be dried because it’s hygroscopic. 2 hours @ 80-120 *C should do it. Tool doesn’t look like it has any cooling. Nylon needs the tool to be 60-90 *C. Those temperatures are just off the top of my head. Check your material data sheet, it’ll all be on there.

[@tylerconant-martin7035]

First time viewer. Came for the injection molding, stayed for the comment response. Probably will do again 😂

[@ericandersen2590]

Was there ever a firmware update to correct the issue with the full voltage on the steppers? I purchased one of these machines for my School and it works well but those steppers get very hot.

[@WickedMachineWorks]

Is there a taper to the auger? If it’s just a square edge cut it would bind and clog. Internal augers usually force their contents out toward the wall of the funnel. Additionally a more aggressive pitch might help. You have a CNC. Make some sample augers and see what works!

[@potatojz38]

I find all this very interesting. I like that your showing all the trial and errors along the way. And that this whole process isnt as simple as it may appear at first glance. Looking forward to seeing future videos. For the issues your having, they all remind me of similar issues I had with my first kit 3d printer. When you mention the first two being related to a firmware issue with the holding torque causing them to over heat. I have a suspicion with the new update (assuming they fixed those issues) may possibly solve your 3rd worm screw issue. Or possibly try a smaller pelt size, toss in a blender maybe to maybe them more random in size if that's of any benefit. Or possibly some sort of a lubricant to prevent binding up. I know some 3d printer users try lubricating their filament so it slides easier in the Bowden tube. Weather that's snake oil or not maybe something true for injection molding with pellets. Just some thoughts and loved the whole process/video can't wait for an update

[@mavigogun]

THAT WAS FANTASTIC! So much good experience/information stuffed into a tight package, with little-to-no time wasted. Thanks!

[@jthespartan]

I agree with Andy. I work with this material daily and It should be dried. For GF nylon I'd suggest 220° for 4 hours before running. Should you like to try some different material types I'd be happy to send you some samples.

[@musicwhiz711]

shopbotix just launched a kickstarter for one of these machines based around resin printed molds. At a price point less than $4k. Its called the micro molder i think.

[@noway8233]

Kikstarters are scam..dont loose yuor money

[@musicwhiz711]

@@noway8233 Definitely, I'm waiting until it goes into production. I hope it works out though, would be nice to have a machine at that price point.

[@proto2580]

@17:30 The screw appears to be an incorrect thread form for shearing plastic pellets. Take a look at the screws from the full size injection molding machines. They shear the plastic which helps heat it up. The thread form is not a constant pitch or root depth. They are also a lot longer images.app.goo.gl/arv299KcQo2TgSJu9 Full size machines use heater bands around the screw barrel as well as the shearing action to melt the pellets. Additionally, they use a hydraulic cylinder to ram the melted plastic into the mold. The ram pushes the screw forward towards the nozzle, which engages the injection point on the mold.

[@almostanengineer]

PA: If your looking at this wondering why you didn’t build one... Me: Erm.... So now you can read my mind 😳

[@Panzax1]

Great video! Too short. Definitely want to see more and more details. Looking forward to see the motor cooling. Regarding your molds: If you polish your mold cavities and put in just a hint of draft parts will probably come out easier. They look kind of rough now.

[@xPlague23x]

The easiest solution to your third problem is to just grind up your pellets to a much smaller size. For a project at work that was recommended to me by the plastic manufacturer. When our molder was having similar issue with flow.

[@TheTsunamijuan]

What about draft angle on your parts? It seems like your design doesn't have much of any draft angle. Which also makes releasing it from the mold much more difficult. Draft angle and using ABS plastic, are often good starting points for injection molding. As the ABS will shrink during the cooldown and help release itself from the mold.

[@sidewinder15599]

Love these videos! Also, a variable geometry screw will help with feeding. Consider 3D printing some augers to test geometries under low load/off the machine. Edit: Also, how about that equipment in the back yard?

[@TizonaAmanthia]

I've found this channel fascinating, the mill restoration, the 3D printer builds, and modding, CNC parts, and it's making me wonder...is there a direction, a goal to this channel? is the α Knife perhaps one of those goals, but perhaps other devices will also come from your shop? My guess would be, that at the start...you just wanted to learn how to be precision machinists, and the learning PROCESS was the goal it's self.

[@wileecoyoti]

Pretty much that- we're definitely generalists so constantly trying new skills making stuff. Pass on what we learn along the way. Ironically my everyday profession stuff hasn't really made to the channel, probably should....

[@ipadize]

13:28 did you leave clearance between the aluminium plate and the ejector pin face?

[@jonjessen]

Hi. nylon is not an easy material to mold with. I will recommend PP, its way more forgiving will likely last longer in your application. Perhaps one with 30% glasfiber infill. I can send you some different materials if you like🙂.

[@PhysicsAnonymous]

Hey Jon, would love try out some pp. Email me at [e-mail]

[@stimpysven]

Glass filled polycarbonate? PC-ABS?

[@jonjessen]

@@stimpysven PC-GF may be too stiff, but the PC-ABS is a good idea. I will include that as well.

[@jonjessen]

@@PhysicsAnonymous cool, i will get in contact.

[@roberth3094]

This machine would be for small quantity sample runs. A mold-making toolroom might use this. I think even then they would use something like an ARBURG or BOY machine. You should look into getting either one of these. Small and many out there used and cheap.

[@Jacob-rt3ch]

Its quite funny to see these mini IM machines. I work with IM everyday, changing molds, setting up parameters for production etc. and I can tell you this can get really difficult really fast. And with complicated molds with multiple moving parts and hydraulic cylinders, man if you crash these molds the cost to fix them can be several thousands €. And lets not even mention really heavy mold 5 ton and higher, but thats another world. Good luck with IM, definetly recomend reading some books about it. Be ready for a headache. :D

[@vilts]

As you're working with that stuff daily - what do you think of the old used industrial machines, something like the Engels etc. These can be had quite cheaply (10-15k€), but what are the risks of getting one and making it run properly?

[@cfnaround1585]

You realize the giant machines you are working with are working under hundreds to thousands of pounds of pressure. These mini machines are much more forgiving

[@camilewis87]

super following! I have been researching about benchtop injection molding machines for a while. I would love to see more videos on molding with this machine!

[@nemesis851_]

17:17 I thought stone ejector design on mud tires. A ridge in the bottom of the auger that prevents the pellets from going too deep

[@windesk5554]

To avoid pellets getting stuck, increase the flute length or in other words increase the heating zone length. Also, flutes have to have chamfer at core diameter.

[@AdventureTechnologies]

I've done 3d printed injection molds out of the form labs with PPE. Way cheaper for quick change molds you are doing until you have figured out all the settings.

[@Cergorach]

I warn you now! Of the curse that is more space: It will lead to way more stuff as time moves by and you'll still end up loosing/finding stuff, now just in more stuff. May you live in interesting times! ;-)

[@TheDeerInn]

Can you polish the auger and put a slight taper from center to outer diameter so the pellets can move freely?

[@court2379]

I commented with basically the same before seeing yours. I think it will help considerably. Any movement on the taper will cuase it to fall out. I guess there is some risk of just jambing into the wedge shaped groove more tightly though.

[@plasticman3952]

It takes an injection molding machine that's around 50 ft long to produce a 50-gallon trash can. due to shot size, clamping force required, and open daylight between mold halves.

[@ligius3]

Regarding injection molding: there are far too many 3D printing videos, quite a few CNC ones, a decent amount of lathe and laser cutting. If injection molding ever takes off as a hobby, we need as much information as you can give us. Hardware-wise, I don't get why that machine would cost 12k, maybe you can walk us through it.

[@AmRadPodcast]

Nice to see the injection molding machine in action!

[@ohsnapfit2096]

Have you thought about hand loading cores to deal with your undercut? Not as sexy as slides, but you will reduce parts and machining ops

[@PhysicsAnonymous]

I have been thinking more and more about that. Might be the next logical step...

[@richness1644]

Would spherical plastic beads work better than cylindrical? Many years ago I worked in a factory that made shopping carts and I remember the plastic being spherical.

[@EcoMouseChannel]

My laser had overheating Z stepper motor... turns out I just had to flip a dip switch on the control board to run it at a different voltage. Problem went away.

[@frollard]

Motor torque not being calibrated to not overheat the motor at no load is pretty inexcusable. I really hope they get their stuff together. Do the step drivers have software or hardware current limits? Might just need a tweak on the motherboard if there are setscrews.

[@EZCarnivore]

As soon as you mentioned 21:9, I realized, then enjoyed the rest of the video in fullscreen on my Acer X34 😎

[@thapthoptheep2076]

I used to do this for a living when I worked for Fullarton, I remember picking out and juggling the hot parts - you could wear gloves but you'd lose dexterity, and you had to quickly carve off small rough edges, watch for shorts and stuff - the moulds would start to break down after prolonged use so you had to examine them. Your hands develop a roughness after a while, i did a lot of different things for that company, from operating steel presses to QA testing IBM and Compaq machines...my time in the plastics factories was probably the most memorable, it was a tough job but it was kinda comfy back then.

[@glennstasse5698]

Well, I liked the injection molding video. I know squat about it and I’m glad to learn watching you learn. But now I’m takin’ a good close look at my knife when it gets here!

[@fyremoon]

An enhancement would be to rotate the part so that you inject the narrow side of the part instead of the wide side, that way you can inject around the blade which would save the operational process. You just have to work out how to insert the blade into the mould.

[@jackrosen1]

Maybe the pellet augur would clog less if you vibrated it beyond what it experiences while running. Increasing the thread distance was also a good idea on your part!

[@KernsJW]

Any heat creep reaching the auger? Also, does the auger motor just keep turning when it is jammed? My guess is the pellets just aren't sliding well due to how they are manufactured. Probably not an exact size, so tweaking thread size may be futile.

[@FriedrichKegel]

Really nice video! About the mould design, if you use manual inlays which you have to remove from each part by hand, you will be still faster than clamp, machine + post process every single part I assume.

[@DavidLeeKersey]

Thank you for Heavy Metal Unicorn T-shirts feels like we've been waiting for ever.

[@BrandonPrentice]

Awesome channel! My work just purchased a tormach 1100 and we're thinking about this injection molding machine. With the layout of the aluminum mold, is it possible to make a plastic handle for a screwdriver metal shaft sticking out of it? Possible video idea to show us your version?

[@mark8664]

Both those guys are so easy to listen to.

[@mikkoheilimo8832]

What is name of this circle saw that will remove part from stock material at 12:30? I tried to find one many times for my 1-13mm ER-20 tool holder and can’t find any!

[@Joshua0689]

Slitting Saw and a Slitting Saw Arbor.

[@ratpark5008]

Fantastically useful video. Thanks for showing the faults and solutions.

[@caltick]

Maybe you need a place for the air to push into as you push plastic into your part, venting.

[@rwhite685]

We have a 55 ton MILACRON injection machine. I'm looking into using SLA printing to make molds for our machine. Have you thought of using that process? I know the molds have a limited amount of times it can be used but it should be cheaper and faster to get the mold design down.

[@RazorSkinned86]

Have you considered scrapping the injection molding machines stock controller with a LinuxCNC based controller?

[@MP1MP1MP]

its definitaly way less than 10k for a mold of a not too big product, for 3,5k you can have a mold for a 40x40x40mm part

[@anthonybenelisha130]

What’s up with the heart monitor in the background?

[@mrtynan]

Full Zoll patient monitor defib.

[@garrettjohnson4588]

Make sure your nylon 66 is EXTREMLY dry. You didn't mention anything about if you are drying the material. Nylon is extremely hygroscopic and will absorb enough moisture to ruin your parts in as little as 20 min. If possible try testing other materials because nylon 66 is not beginner friendly. It also looks like the part you are making is quite thick for nylon injection molding. If possible, change the design to utilize thin walls. This will also cure a lot of headache going forward. My 2 cents as a product development and manufacturing automation engineer. :)

[@VinokDesign]

hey, production cost of mold and 3d design + 3000 parts made size 60*40*50 is around 5000 euro in china.

[@dbansgopaul]

What about using recycled plastic chips?

[@cubfendi8714]

Should really look at the material data sheet for processing information. Nylon can be difficult to work with especially if it's not dry.. 0.02% moisture is generally recommended.. I would love to process that part on that press !!

[@Jergling]

Was this designed by engineers with no polymer experience? That auger geometry is for cold conveyors, not injection. Am I missing something here?