Plastic Injection Mold Making
Plastic injection molds are typically constructed from hardened or pre-hardened steel, aluminum, and/or beryllium-copper alloy. Steel molds cost more, but are often preferred because of their high durability. Hardened steel molds are heat treated after machining, and they are by far superior in terms of wear resistance and lifespan. Many steel molds are designed to process well over a million parts during their lifetime. For lower volumes, pre-hardened steel molds provide a less wear-resistant and less expensive option. Aluminum molds, on the other hand, can cost substantially less, but they typically are ill-suited for high-volume production or parts with narrow dimensional tolerances. Nevertheless, aluminum molds can economically produce tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of parts, when designed and built using computer numerical control (CNC) machines or Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) processes. Copper alloy inserts are sometimes used in areas of th...