Injection Molding a Spoon - Designing, making, using

I was commissioned to make an injection mold for a spoon by Manning Innovations for one of their customers. At the end of the video, you'll see one of Manning's machines in operation. I show how I modified a spoon CAD file supplied by the customer, designed the injection mold, made the injection mold, and then molding some test spoons.
Support me on Patreon: / johnsl
Injection molding machines shown in the video: www.manninginnovations.com/home
Micro Mesh Polishing Swabs: micro-surface.com/product/pol...

[@mulberryworkshop]

As a guy who has designed a spoon before... God, it is way more difficult that it looks like. This is an amazing job.

[@JohnSL]

Designing the spoon itself would be the hardest thing for me. I'm good with geometric designs, but not free-form designs. I tried using the mesh and surfacing tools to replicate the spoon, but gave up after realizing I had way to much of a learning curve.

[@miguelcastaneda7257]

Yes late friend teacher was one who did the dies for yo yo ..frisbe...and those condiment containers for mustard and ketchup resturant used to have...always Remember we would be out getting food and first few minutes he would always pick items up and slowly look at and point out mistakes he had made or others had made copying design

[@iwontreplybacklol7481]

Easier to just carve one out of wood, lol

[@tstanley01]

I was thinking the same thing when I start watching it...there isn't a flat or geometric surface on the entire dang thing...Once you start dabbling in manufacturing, you never look at everyday items the same...I will be carrying on a conversation with someone and I will look at the item in their hand and be thinking "How the hell did they draw that"...

[@mryodak]

I am not a dedicated 3d artist by any means, but that's just a plane. It's not that hard to make a rough mesh of a spoon moving individual vertices around and then subdivide it for smoothness and then extrude.

[@PeteRondeau]

I've wanted to tackle a project like this for 20 years. Conceptually I know how to do it, but I've never seen the process covered from beginning to end in a way I would be able to replicate in my shop. Thanks John!

[@dfunited1]

"I did it this way because I tried other things but this way worked for me." Words to live by

[@FEEDMEKITTENS]

"I did it this way because I tried a whole bunch of other things and this is the only thing I got to work." This is how you know he's an actual working professional and not just a KZbin tutorial maker or a teacher giving a lesson. Deadlines mean done is better than perfect!

[@womacko]

Typical workflow with Fusion 360 😂😭

[@Fr8train003]

@@womacko Lmao “the part could not be computed” give me a break 😂😂

[@soorkie]

That statement is the true definition of Engineering 🔥

[@josephboen178]

PREACH!!

[@JMD-yn4btw]

"Eventually you run out of ways to do it wrong." Statement copied from another KZbinr.

[@mogadimetsosanele2285]

wow! I don't find a lot of videos that go from design, programming, machining and injecting! You're the boss man. You really know what you're doing. Salute to you!

[@ThomThomV]

Just wanted to thank you for all the incredible knowledge you share so freely, I really appreciate you, John!

[@1ucasvb]

Very cool to see the details of this underlooked process explained so clearly.

[@Tarex_]

Ive had a product that ive been 3d printing for a while (not my design) that ive wondered or had problems making a mold from for a while, this just sparked that idea again as a workflow, thank you for that

[@StonegateCreations]

Very nice and always appreciate videos like this. I bought my first injection molder from Manning Innovations, Rich is a nice guy to speak with.

[@ungratefulfuck4220]

What an insightful journey from design to finished product! Your meticulous approach to injection molding really shines through in this video. It's fascinating to see the entire process unfold, from conceptualization to the practical application of the spoon. Your attention to detail and explanation of each step make it incredibly engaging and educational. Can't wait to see more projects like this!

[@poetac15]

Such a good detailed overview. Thanks for posting!

[@bigdaddy7670]

Well done my friend, the entire process step by step! Thanks for sharing.

[@Theballonist]

I'm working with hot presses for forming wood products, a lot of different requirements from this but it is still really helpful to see all the steps through and through to get a sense of how another person makes their own tooling.

[@azurehydra]

Fantastic work. Well explained and a good look at the manning injection machine. Very cool.

[@GregsGarage]

Cool to see the entire process. We are still working on our first mold, so its good to see other examples.

[@JohnSL]

Let me know if I can help or you want to collaborate (this is a hobby for me, so fun is the most important criteria for projects).

[@GregsGarage]

@@JohnSL Thanks John! We have the machine up and running but we needed a LOT more air. We are in the middle of a 2-stage upgrade, so once that's complete, we will be back on the mold design/prototype. Between you and Dragonfly, I've got a TON of information on how to be successful. We are going to start simple and work our way to more complex operations.

[@norkox37]

@@JohnSL Can you show more about placing gates and injection mold sprue? How material flow? How to realese air safetly?

[@thomasross8400]

Great work Jon. Thanks for sharing.

[@mateoescobar9968]

Thank you for the video and walking through all the major steps. I’m a modelmaker (in training) and I’ve always been interested in mold making.

[@dass1333]

Nice to see the process our everyday items are made. Also glad to see local people making parts for production not just some ACME faceless Corp. Nice work John.

[@katdat1399]

Everyday items are not produced like this, this is more of hobby fun. This is nothing like the process in an actual manufacturing facility. The work shown in this video is far too manual with machines far too small.

[@phillhuddleston9445]

@@katdat1399 they are made in similar ways but on a larger scale.

[@christophersfactory]

This is fascinating! Very well done and informative, thank you.

[@tahakhan88]

The sheer humbleness of this incredibly skilled gentleman made me comment, thumbs up and subscribe to him. Wish you all the best

[@rahimbashiri7009]

thank you john. that was very delightful.

[@Stopes.]

I’d love to be able to get into this at home. Some day I guess. Glad I found the channel in the meantime. Thanks John!

[@Stopes.]

@The Untraveled Path Thank you! What 3D printer do you recommend? Something easy to get into, ready to go. Not too cheap but not a $1,000 printer either.

[@Objectified9946]

Amazing video. So glad we got to see the whole process including a finished part.

[@tobyharries7532]

Great to see the whole process, thanks!

[@guarenchafa4912]

You Sir, are a master.... it was a joy watching your work.

[@ManningInnovations]

Hey John! Thanks so much for helping us out with this project. Great job as always with the mold and very nice video too. Well done !!! Ritchie

[@AdonisNesser]

What an amazing look into the process, start-to-finish!! It looks so easy, all I'm missing is a tormach :)

[@khaled36006]

Cool John, I am a mechanical design engineer myself, the internet in general lacks this kind of content, waiting for more. great work.

[@michaellane7305]

Thank you for the very clear presentation.

[@campbellmorrison8540]

Impressive the level of detail, what amazes me is how they made molds before CNC machines

[@benronan2026]

Tool making and machining have existed long before cnc. cnc just removes some human error :)

[@campbellmorrison8540]

@@benronan2026 True but CNC seems to have opened up curves that would have been near impossible to do manually. While you can mill an arc incrementally, I doubt its ever as good as CNC obtains

[@gregortidholm]

Interesting, informative, and well made! Thanks for sharing

[@localhost123456]

Enjoyed the video, its got a very nice pacing to it. Great work, John.

[@baraaattar6911]

Amazing 😍 Thanks for giving us your experience 😍

[@fcab123]

Great video John! Thank you

[@randatatang9222]

Great video. What wasn't covered however is injection molding simulation. That's usually where optimal clamping pressure, packing time, cooling time and all other useful information come from.

[@austinomonuwa8585]

Clean Job. Well done!

[@wasbeen]

Great video, enough detail without getting too long. I am surprised that the customer wanted to make their own basic spoon, and not just buy mass produced one’s.

[@cogers1994]

As a technician/setter who uses 50t-650t machines. Seeing these little desktop machines is cool.

[@kiblerjim]

amazing amount of detail!

[@rayblankenship432]

Thanks John!

[@suboon3443]

That was so educating. Thank you.

[@gabrieljejeje4560]

Este video es espectacular. Lo mejor que vi en todo el año.

[@chrissartain4430]

You went through great lengths to explain the major steps of tooling.

[@adityabhat295]

Awesome John

[@md_asjad_47]

Very informative. As a designer its very intresting to see from a point of view of manufacturing.

[@varunm7011]

this content is a gem !!

[@jukadokx]

Its pretty remarkable that this is something doable in your home these days. Future t3ch of injection mold slash 3d print tech is probably another 20 years away for self serve home use but this is amazing. Well done with explanation and presenting your skill and joy in producing this video.

[@CarterColeisInfamous]

this is so a prepper will never be without plasticware

[@JONATHANROSASLOPEZ]

Nice job, always learn something new

[@1endell]

What an amazing video! Thank you

[@louisnoel3170]

Loved this!

[@mnesvat]

amazing explanation thanks a lot John :)

[@Saleenmaster1]

As a beginner engineer who wants to get into injection molding some time later, this was quite helpful. Thanks for the video

[@rushminute]

Good stuff! Thanks for the video.

[@TheTarrMan]

I would have thought it would've been a giant mode with many spoons in it all injected molded at the same time. Fascinating process.

[@JohnSL]

For production, absolutely. This mold would not be cost effective for making a commercial product. But it achieved their goals (I'm not allowed to say what there goals are).

[@Artfacility]

@@JohnSL The goal is to eat soup

[@tequilasalad1535]

I was thinking, what exactly would someone be using this for? My conclusion is use in an SHTF/Prepper scenario for on site fabrication of low quantities of common items in, for example, a bunker. Cool video@@JohnSL

[@shaneprice2102]

Awesome job. Thanks.

[@alexisgamboa826]

Excelente trabajo, gracias por compartir tu conocimiento y enseñarnos, saludos desde México 🇲🇽

[@CallMeMisterMouse]

Fascinating, thank you.

[@samsmith9764]

Awesome video, cheers for posting :D

[@shirolee]

So amazing!!

[@TurboBaldur]

Fascinating process. Having no experience in injection moulding myself but quite a lot of experience with various manufacturing, the two things that surprise me are the mould can be made of soft 6061 aluminium (which I guess works because the plastic being used has no abrasives in it), and that the mould does not have to be temperature controlled (heated/cooled) to control the cooling rate of the plastic as it sets.

[@joachimsingh2929]

Super cool! Ive made simple molds without curves and i would really like a challenge like that! It would be awesome if you could show how you generated the bowl/cup of the spoon. I guess it's two curves overlaping? One spherical and one oval? Maybe third sphere for depth?

[@montyburns94]

Great video. Thank you!

[@insulationbigman]

Excellent video, thanks for the step by step & great video quality,

[@ydna]

nice, a useful video for determining the parting shape! I did something similar as a demo but it was for a spork 🧐🧐 I'd like to machine an impression out of stainless just for fun lol

[@Maycaimei]

In the injection molding industry, you can design, manufacture, and use it. You are doing great job. We are also mainly molding in the food industry in China. The process of spoon is very strict. Praise for you

[@robluxipiech4033]

I am a plastic injection toolmaker Tool & Die by trade you got a lot right here but you're not focusing and a lot of the very important things precision and measurement to be cIear. I commend your efforts. My only gripes are an effort to inform the new class. You are obviously well educated i meant the layman watching. You are a blessing sir.

[@karthika8094]

Hats off... You are awesome...

[@hkhjg1734]

Thank you for your service, we dont have enough plastic spoons in our world

[@104kenneth]

Great video! When creating molds for a part with uniform thickness you can simplify it using only surface model with no thickness. And the you add thickness in CAM using negative Stock To Leave on lower half mold

[@JohnSL]

Doing that would mean you wouldn't have any draft. I'm also not sure how well that would work with things like REST machining. I generally like to have the CAD part, and therefore the mold CAD model, as close to the final milled parts as possible. That also allows me to use the CAM analysis tools that show deviation of the CAM results from the desired results.

[@tomsuica8731]

I am jawdropped as what I just witnessed. I am speechless. I am going to learn these skills too! You've inspired me!

[@IronLungProductionsOfficial]

my man!! this is a thing of beauty!

[@yagosantiago10]

This is amazing, thanks for sharing in this quality and detail

[@hybridjohn1]

what did I just watch? Super cool to see this process.

[@MrJasoon13]

Fascinating!

[@OSVCNC]

Increible, me lo e visto completo e tenido que poner subtitulos, pero es muy buen contenido para aprender un montón sobre maquinados, saludos de México

[@reevesrowan3861]

This is a great video.

[@EUPThatsMe]

Great Vid! - you've got a new Patron.

[@JohnSL]

Thank you very much!

[@arinchang6579]

Thanks for sharing this.

[@heathenxyt]

Well done, sir.

[@OhHeyTrevorFlowers]

Thanks for sharing!

[@MeisterTomGaming]

Great spoon!

[@TurbineResearch]

Excellent 👍 thank you ❤️

[@SaharRazavi]

So interesting, thanks for sharing 😊🌸

[@movax20h]

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

[@jackorlove4055]

I'm a plastic injection mold maker, and you did a really great job. Our tools usually have a whole ejection system, and we generally have to "spot" the tool by hand using all types of die grinders. There's generally 10 thou of stock left on the tool, which must be removed by hand, so as to ensure a PERFECT seal off, it is also much faster than machining it to size. Very cool.

[@jackorlove4055]

@@heatround102 It's really hard for me to say in this particular case... This could be prototyping, which happens a lot in my trade. Customer wants to get an idea of an end product. We have a TON of prototype molds at our shop, which are just sitting around collecting dust. To me, this looks like a prototype. I don't think this would run production, it just seems way too time consuming. Unless of course, they just don't need that many spoons? I can only speculate on the needs of the customer. They could be trying out a new material, seeing what full scale production might look like cost wise, might be showing another customer an idea of what the product may look like. It is indeed cheap to buy plastic spoons online, but there is also economy of scale... 2 cents could be adding up to A LOT, and it may very well be the case that running production on your own utensils is only fractions of a penny. Ordering from other places isn't just the base cost of the spoon, you're paying mark up, shipping, and potentially other fees/man hours. If you can make your own spoon, for example, you have cut out a lot fluff. This could also be a competitor trying to squeeze into the plastic spoon market? You never know. Could also be a restaurant or fast food chain wanting to get an economy of scale. There is a reason so many companies opt for owning their own plastic injection molds. These tools pay for themselves.

[@blackkat101]

@@heatround102 At one company I worked for, we had a machine that could hold a mold that would fit about 8 of those spoon molds in size (the whole blocks, not the spoon itself, so you could fit a lot more spoons by layering them up and down instead of a single one at an angle. The machine itself held the mold and didn't need to be removed by hand to take out the parts. Instead was automated to close the mold, inject the plastic, then drop the parts and repeat for as much as you told it to (or however much pellets of plastic you could load into it). Now this was a smaller machine and it was the only one in the shop, as they only used the machine for specific things (not spoons, but parts for things like cars and other machines). But this allowed for relatively small molds to be used in production. While I've not worked with larger machines myself, I have seen them and you can get some sizable molds in those things. By small injection mold machine, I mean the one was about 2/3rds the height of a VF-2 HAAS CNC machine, about as deep and twice as wide. So maybe not so small... but is considering that that was the largest size mold it could handle and it was fully automated. As a CNC machinist, I tended to make the molds, not run this machine. Though it was simple enough, just filling it with pellets, entering in how many times you needed it run and then placing a button pusher in front of the machine to keep an eye on it while collecting the parts and deburring them as the machine dropped the finished parts out the bottom into a bucket.

[@zeldafan599]

@@jackorlove4055yes, normally this is for prototyping, the actual mold would be a lot bigger and heavier to be able to produce on a large scale on an automated injection molding machine, I work in injection molding and some molds are as big as a teenager and weighing 3 tons only on one half of the mold

[@ilyashoshana3950]

Do you know someone making molds but bigger molds for 110 ton injection molding machine Please recommend one Thanks

[@jackorlove4055]

@@ilyashoshana3950 I dunno depends on your region. I'm in Canada and Where I live all the shops cut huge molds for automotive purposes. Our work from beginning to completion can cost anywhere from 100s of thousands to a million.

[@abcmachineryltd]

Nice work..

[@AmirHakimiRezaei]

Excellent video! Subbed to see more like this

[@fliffsultan]

great video. you remind me of my grandad (not in age, but in knowledge and temperament :) )

[@haideral5104]

Great content 👍

[@user-xo2ox4co1u]

You are never too old to learn.

[@chebhou]

Great work ! Subbed

[@MrgnUTube]

Very interesting, thank you very much.

[@THYZOID]

that was cool! subscribed.

[@CiceroMonteiro]

Fascinating

[@jto9866]

cool! thank you for sharing

[@youtubasoarus]

Very cool!

[@jennacat1094]

thank you for sharing this video, I wonder where does the air in the cavity move out of the mold when the material is coming in? I don't see any holes for air outlet in the mold.

[@ibrahimkroglu5484]

Very very nice master !

[@KaletheQuick]

I learned a ton! Sub earned!