When it comes to making items that combine light weight, durability, and pleasing shape, look and feel, there’s nothing that quite matches modern plastics. And this is especially true of hand-held items, such as small electronic appliances, where providing ergonomic shape and a grippy, easy-to-hold surface are particularly important.

Whether they’re GPS receivers, medical devices, toys, or even kitchen utensils, the best way to produce such items is through the process of over molding. It involves the molding of two different plastics, one on top of, or around, the other, so as to produce what amounts to a single, unified structure that’s strong on the inside yet flexible, colorful, and easy to hold on the outside.

Benefits of over molded plastics devices include:

• More Resistant To Shock
• More Resistant To Water
• More Resistant To Dust And Vapor
• More Resistant To Vibration
• Make Devices More Comfortable To Use
• Make Devices Just Plain Prettier

By now, over molding is a standard process in the injection molding industry, but some methods of executing the process is superior to others. The challenge is to make sure the two pieces, rigid substrate and outer elastomer, to fit together just so, with no gaps, no slack, no possibility of slippage and with no chance of one part pulling on and distorting the shape or integrity of the other. Getting these two molded parts to match up just right takes a good deal of skill and experience. No adhesives can be used, and there should be no manual assembly steps involved, either – it’s mainly a matter of making molds that create a perfect fit and then performing the actual molding process with extreme precision.

And it’s here that the right machinery also helps a great deal. Indeed, the best way to produce over-molded parts is with a vertical injection molding machine. It relies on the gentle force of gravity to clamp the inner and outer parts together.

That’s different from a horizontal injection molding machine, which relies on mechanical clamping, a method that requires more time and effort and raises the risk of improper fit: Gravity’s pull is always there, always trying to dislocate parts in a horizontal mold. The vertical mold simply takes advantage of gravity instead of trying to fight it.

Vertical injection molding equipment is designed with open clamps and rotary tables, which gives them the advantage of being able to work with multiple molds and simultaneous operations such as pre-molding, injection-, and post-molding. The result: less need for manual intervention, greater efficiency, greater productivity, and less cost. What’s more, vertical molding machines often save significant space on the factory floor.

In short, vertical injection molding is the method of choice when it comes to producing high-strength, high-touch parts for the electronics, medical, military, and similarly demanding industries.

More information about vertical injection molding machine, try to visit the website of Multiplas Enginery Co., Ltd... Multiplas is a leading industrial solutions provider that offers versatile moulding solutions, innovative design and manufactures for the production systems, and provides comprehensive technical support services to the customers committed in 3C electronics, electrical, automotive, medical / optical, and other technical moulding sectors. If you have any interest, please feel free to send inquiry or contact them directly.

Article Source: http://info.crescentind.com/blog/bid/40004/Over-molding-and-the-utilization-of-vertical-vertical-injection-molding-machines