Re: Small Injection molding unit?

Dan,

Usually, the molds are orientated horizontally so that parts can drop
out of the mold. Ejector pins are used for more complex parts that
aren't as willing to *jump* :)

To automate it, you could buy a hydraulic press (spring loaded).
Harbor Freight (ugh!) sells a 10 ton hydraulic for $150. You could
have pneumatic cylinders connected to the mold for the ejector pins.

You'd need a PLC or micro-controller to run it, but it'd be cool as
hell! :)

As for positioning the mold, one could just machine a tooling plate
to bold molds to (a mold boot?).

Regards,

Robin

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., dan.eaton@c... wrote:
>
> Hi Robin,
> The book I have is 127 pages long and he devotes 44 pages to a
series
> of simple molds useful for making things like control knobs. It's a
> start but it won't tell you something I'd like to know like how to
> build a more complex mold to handle something like a G scale truck
> sideframe or bolster.
>
> As for automating the beast, the heart of it is the heater block
and
> piston. I'm sure a feed system would be easy enough to work out if
> you skiped the milk jugs and used plastic pellet feed stock and
> moving the piston via hydralics would in some ways be simpler than
> the current lever arrangement. The hard part would be getting the
> mold in position, removing it after the shoot, and removing the
> finished product from the mold to start the cycle over again.
>
> Dan Eaton (Saint Louis, MO)