In general, mold parts do not need to be made into inserts, but in some cases, mold parts do need to be made into inserts. Why do we need to make inserts? XP Mold will introduce you below:
In some deep bone positions in injection mold parts, it is difficult for the tool to cut and process. For example, the processing efficiency is too low when using EDM discharge machining, so inserts are generally chosen to reduce the processing difficulty. In addition, it is quite inconvenient to save molds in places where molds must be saved, but it is much more convenient to open inserts in these places and remove them separately.
When the mold parts are fixed, they are all single blocks of relatively regular steel, but the materials of the front and rear molds are determined by the highest point. Therefore, whether it is the front mold or the rear mold, if one place is higher than other places, this place can be made into inserts to reduce the height of the mold core, so that the mold core does not need to be fixed so high, thereby saving mold parts materials.
The exhaust of mold accessories is very important. Poor exhaust will cause air to be trapped in the mold cavity, especially in the deeper bone position. During injection molding, the product is prone to problems: such as bubbles, shrinkage, or defects such as lack of glue, whitening, and black spots. Therefore, inserts can be added to the places where the mold accessories need to be vented, and exhaust can be exhausted by using the matching gap of the inserts.
Generally, mold accessories are cooled by designing water channels, but there are some places where water channels cannot be designed or cannot be reached. These places can be cooled by making inserts. Of course, the material of this insert must be selected from materials with good thermal conductivity, such as beryllium copper.
The places where mold accessories are frequently modified can be disassembled and made into inserts. In the future, only the inserts need to be replaced when the mold is modified. For example, some ODM manufacturers can change the product appearance without changing the position of the product model number to become another brand of product. At this time, the mold accessories can be disassembled from the part with the model number to make an insert. This flexible design is especially used in brand OEM, which can help companies save the cost of reopening mold parts.
The vulnerable parts of the mold are made of inserts in advance, which is equivalent to wearing protective armor for the mold. For example, in some places with sharp steel and thin steel, once the inserts are damaged, they can be replaced.
In the mold accessories, inserts are already a very common structure. Although there are shortcomings, the advantages are also obvious. In the design of mold accessories, it is necessary to combine the specific product structure to determine which parts need to be made of inserts and which parts do not need to be made of inserts. At the same time, it should be noted that the parts where inserts are set generally have insert marks or insert lines. Therefore, before opening the mold, the customer needs to confirm whether it is acceptable.
