Mold Design

Course Description

The Mold Design development course provides students with a solid understanding of the five main systems of a mold: melt delivery system, cooling system, structural system, venting system and ejection system. The content provides a foundation of the systems and how they affect the formation of the plastic part and its associate part quality.

• Lab: Mold tear down and assembly
• 2-Plate versus 3-plate mold bases
• In-mold pressure drop and its variables
• Lab: reading mold prints
• Cooling cart demonstration
• Series versus parallel mold cooling
• Strategies for optimizing mold cooling designs
• How to verify turbulent flow in cooling lines
• Baffles and bubblers
• Structural considerations in plate deflection
• Core/cavity alignment and pocketing techniques
• Ejection strategies for forming undercuts
• Types of hot and cold runner systems
• Runner sizing methods
• Gate design and location strategies
• Cold slug well purpose and design
• Venting details and strategies

This course is designed to provide students with a solid working knowledge of mold design and manufacturing. The course begins with a brief introduction to plastics and injection molding. The remainder of the course is spent breaking down the mold into the five systems and discussing strategies for each one that have a direct impact on part quality. Students will also learn how to identify common mold components and systems on mold prints. Students will also learn questions to ask during a mold design review process and strategies to employ when troubleshooting a mold. The course also provides an active learning session where students will disassemble and reassemble a mold in our injection molding lab.

Complete descriptions and pricing for the American Injection Molding Institute (AIM) courses are provided by AIM. Registration for this course must be completed through the AIM program.