We run hundred of thousands of parts with aluminum moulds, and we've found is that in most cases you can buy 2 aluminum moulds for the price of one steel one and the steel one isn't going to last much longer than the aluminum one. There are a lot of toolmakers out there that will only make a mould out of hardened steel ground to perfection, which will make a really good product but technology has now made this an over-engineered requirement. With so many products presently coming and going in the market-place and the many changes in products themselves, it's difficult to understand why people are willing to spend the extra money it takes to build and maintain steel moulds.
98% of the moulds we run are QC7 aluminum and we use all types of plastic with these moulds, including glass filled nylon. We sometimes find it necessary to use some steel in our moulds, such as putting steel inserts in the gate area when moulding glass filled materials through a tunnel gate or steel core pins when the cores are very small to guarantee stability. Sometimes if we need a side action it may be better to use a dissimilar metal to avoid material pick-up. QC7's strength allows you to design and manufacture deeper parts from smaller moulds.
QC7's strength makes it more suitable for a higher pressure forming operation such as injection moulding, this material has outstanding surface hardness, which increases mould life; its narrow range of hardness values, with minimal differentials between surface and centre location readings eliminates problems such as galling or deformation along the split line.
In the past we have taken Irish moulding customers to our plant and they have been amazed by the facility and the aluminium ethos, they have witnessed a six machine cell for manufacturing food containers with aluminium tooling cycling at 5 seconds and robots de-moulding and packing parts on each machine. Our moulding companies philosophy is…if high volumes are required from an aluminium tool, it’s worth maintaining the tool in our in-house toolroom because ultimately our revenue is drawn from moulding volume parts.
Of course steel moulds have their place, if you're certain that a product will sell millions each month, and it's a very intricate part with many side cores, it may be a good idea to use steel or if high volumes are planned and parts need to be moulded out of a glass filled plastic or a very corrosive plastic like PVC, then consider steel or stainless steel as the mould material. But if the annual requirement is hundreds or thousands or indeed tens of thousands, QC7 aluminium is the most cost effective solution. In the past when people first started building moulds out of aluminum they used a very cheap alloy eg 6061 aluminum, which moulded parts but the tools were mainly for prototype purpose and didn't last. This practice had given ally tooling a bad name in terms of its Longevity but thankfully that’s changing now. Are there any US companies out there who are adapting to this philosophy?
Kieran Fegan
98% of the moulds we run are QC7 aluminum and we use all types of plastic with these moulds, including glass filled nylon. We sometimes find it necessary to use some steel in our moulds, such as putting steel inserts in the gate area when moulding glass filled materials through a tunnel gate or steel core pins when the cores are very small to guarantee stability. Sometimes if we need a side action it may be better to use a dissimilar metal to avoid material pick-up. QC7's strength allows you to design and manufacture deeper parts from smaller moulds.
QC7's strength makes it more suitable for a higher pressure forming operation such as injection moulding, this material has outstanding surface hardness, which increases mould life; its narrow range of hardness values, with minimal differentials between surface and centre location readings eliminates problems such as galling or deformation along the split line.
In the past we have taken Irish moulding customers to our plant and they have been amazed by the facility and the aluminium ethos, they have witnessed a six machine cell for manufacturing food containers with aluminium tooling cycling at 5 seconds and robots de-moulding and packing parts on each machine. Our moulding companies philosophy is…if high volumes are required from an aluminium tool, it’s worth maintaining the tool in our in-house toolroom because ultimately our revenue is drawn from moulding volume parts.
Of course steel moulds have their place, if you're certain that a product will sell millions each month, and it's a very intricate part with many side cores, it may be a good idea to use steel or if high volumes are planned and parts need to be moulded out of a glass filled plastic or a very corrosive plastic like PVC, then consider steel or stainless steel as the mould material. But if the annual requirement is hundreds or thousands or indeed tens of thousands, QC7 aluminium is the most cost effective solution. In the past when people first started building moulds out of aluminum they used a very cheap alloy eg 6061 aluminum, which moulded parts but the tools were mainly for prototype purpose and didn't last. This practice had given ally tooling a bad name in terms of its Longevity but thankfully that’s changing now. Are there any US companies out there who are adapting to this philosophy?
Kieran Fegan
