Mold Processing and Manufacturing is a critical process that involves both precision machining and assembly. It includes various machining techniques such as turning, milling, grinding, EDM, and wire cutting to achieve high precision and complex shapes. After machining, components are assembled and carefully debugged to ensure smooth operation and high-quality molded products. Quality control and maintenance are essential throughout the process to guarantee the mold’s performance and longevity. This process is vital for producing molds that meet stringent industrial standards and ensure consistent, high-quality production outcomes.

Mold Processing and Manufacturing

I. Mold Processing

  1. Definition
    • Mold processing refers to the use of various machining equipment and technical means to process the dimensions, shapes, and precision of mold components to meet design requirements.
  2. Machining Methods
    • Mechanical Machining
      • Turning: Using a lathe to process cylindrical or rotary mold parts, such as machining the outer diameter and threads of mold cores. Turning can achieve high dimensional accuracy and surface finish requirements.
      • Milling: Using a milling machine to process planes, surfaces, and slots of molds. For example, milling the side surfaces of mold cavities and parting lines. CNC milling machines can accurately process complex mold surfaces.
      • Grinding: Utilizing a grinding machine to perform precision machining on mold parts, mainly to improve the dimensional accuracy and surface quality of the parts. For example, precision grinding of key areas such as mold cavities and cores to achieve high-precision requirements.
    • Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM)
      • Suitable for processing complex-shaped mold cavities and cores, especially hard materials that are difficult to machine using conventional mechanical methods. By using the principle of electrical discharge erosion to remove material, it can achieve complex shape machining of molds. For example, processing molds with complex structures such as deep holes, sharp corners, and narrow slots.
    • Wire Cutting
      • Mainly used for machining high-precision mold parts, such as punch and die in stamping molds. By cutting metal materials with an electrode wire under the action of an electric field, it can achieve high-precision dimensional control and complex contour machining.
  3. Precision Requirements
    • The precision requirements for mold machining are extremely high, typically reaching the micron level. For example, the dimensional accuracy of mold cavities is often required to be within ±0.01 mm or even higher, and the surface roughness is required to be below Ra0.1 μm to ensure the quality of the molded products.
  4. Machining Equipment
    • Includes various high-precision CNC lathes, CNC milling machines, EDM machines, and wire cutting machines. These devices can achieve high-precision and high-efficiency machining and are essential tools for mold machining.

II. Mold Manufacturing

  1. Definition
    • Mold manufacturing refers to the process of assembling and debugging the machined mold components to form a complete mold that meets production requirements.
  2. Manufacturing Process
    • Component Assembly
      • Assembling the machined mold components (such as cores, cavities, guide pins, bushings, and plates) according to the mold design drawings and assembly requirements. For example, installing the core and cavity onto the moving and fixed mold plates, ensuring their relative positional accuracy.
    • Mold Debugging
      • After assembly, the mold needs to be debugged. This includes checking whether the mold’s opening and closing actions are smooth, whether the parting surfaces are tightly fitted, and whether the gating system of injection molds is unobstructed. For example, for injection molds, trial molding needs to be conducted on an injection molding machine to observe the appearance quality and dimensional accuracy of the molded products.
    • Mold Acceptance
      • After successful debugging, the mold needs to undergo strict acceptance. The acceptance includes the mold’s appearance quality, dimensional accuracy, and the quality of the molded products. Only molds that pass the acceptance can be put into actual production use.
  3. Quality Control in Manufacturing
    • During the mold manufacturing process, quality needs to be strictly controlled. For example, during assembly, ensure the cleanliness of the components to prevent impurities from entering the mold and affecting the quality of the molded products. At the same time, the assembly accuracy of the mold needs to be checked, such as measuring the mold’s closing height, coaxiality of cavities and cores, etc.
  4. Maintenance After Manufacturing
    • After mold manufacturing is completed, appropriate maintenance is also required. For example, performing rust prevention treatment on the mold and regularly lubricating the moving parts of the mold to extend its service life.