Family Molds
Use Family Molding to Produce a Set of Related Parts Efficiently
Do you need to create multiple versions of the same part or a group of parts that need to be the exact color and finish? If so, you can save time and money by running them in a multi-cavity injection molding or family injection molding tool.
Manufacturers often use family injection molding when they need to produce a set of related parts that will be used together or have similar characteristics. This is especially important in consumer products, where all visible parts need to have an identical color to give the impression of quality.
Family injection molding can help manufacturers save money by reducing tooling and setup time and ensuring consistent quality across all the parts produced.
What is Family Molding?
Family injection molding tools are similar to multi-cavity tools. While multi-cavity tools are used to create multiple copies of the same part using a single tool, a family tool creates a set of different parts that may fit together, such as two halves of a single product. All the parts are usually similar in size, in the same color and quantities, and made from the same material.
Applications
- Automotive
- Consumer electronics
- Appliances
- Medical devices
- Packaging closures
What Does Family Injection Molding Make Possible
Multi-cavity injection molding tools enable you to produce a group of related parts that will be used together in a single product with a high level of consistency. They also give you an opportunity to simplify your tooling and production processes, and to produce a greater quantity of parts, faster.
Benefits of Family Molding
Advantages
Part consistency: Because a group of parts are produced in a single tool, they will be uniform in their dimensions, appearance and material properties. These qualities are very desirable in many types of products.
Cost savings: Fewer tools means lower production and maintenance costs over time. A multi-cavity injection molding or “family tool” can also provide savings in production time and potentially a decrease in wasted material.
Time savings: The ability to produce multiple parts in a single cycle saves time, because it eliminates the need for sequential tooling or tool changes. That enables manufacturers to accelerate their time to market and respond faster to customer needs.
Fewer production variables: Compared to separate tools for each part, a multi-cavity injection molding tool presents fewer opportunities for variances in production settings. This results in more consistent color and part quality.
Less time on press: Because family injection molding tools can produce more parts with each shot, production runs tend to have less time on press, which can save money.
Disadvantages
Longer lead time: Because more cavities need to be cut into the steel, family tools usually take longer to produce and may be more expensive than single-cavity tools.
Non-linear relationship between the number of cavities and the per-part cost: Many customers assume there’s a linear relationship between the number of cavities in a tool and the cost of the part. In other words, if a part in a single-cavity tool costs $5,00 to produce, they expect that a similar set of parts in a two-cavity family tool will cost $2.50 each. But as you add cavities to a tool, the tool gets larger. During production, the tool takes longer to cool, which increases cycle times. You may even need to move to a larger press to accommodate your family tool, which can also increase your processing costs.
Parts need to have a similar size and volume: If the cavity sizes vary too much, the results can be short shots and flash. Why? All cavities of the family mold are filled at the same time and rate. Having parts that vary in size and volume can cause inconsistent fills. A short shot is an under-filled mold. Flash is what happens when a mold is overfilled; excess material seeps out of the mold during injection.
Spare parts can only be ordered in sets: if a customer needs a quantity of one of the two parts in a family mold, they must order an equal quantity of both parts.
Traditional Technologies That Could Benefit from Family Injection Molding
If you’re producing multiple parts for a single product that use the same material and color using separate molds, you may be able to save money and time by consolidating them into fewer tools.
Why Choose Family Injection Molding?
If the assembly you’re designing has pairs of parts – such as right and left sides, an upper and lower half or a front and back – it may be a perfect candidate for multi-cavity injection molding. Because both parts are similar in size, they can be incorporated into a single, well-balanced tool that will perform well and enable you to reach your production target faster.
Why Choose ICOMold for Family Injection Molding?
Multi-cavity injection molding tools are complex. The mold must be designed to enable proper filling, cooling and ejection of each part. In addition, gating and runners need to be designed with great care to support efficient material flow and part quality. That’s we recommend that you seek a family molding expert to guide you from mold design to production.
ICOMold has extensive experience in building family molds and achieving high-quality parts from them.
