A tool logbook on paper is often not to hand just when you need it most. Or it is incomplete, since it is time consuming to keep the information up to date. A cloud-independent, electronic tool log, which is directly integrated into the tool could make all the relevant data available directly.

The installed ImPro module in use on a demonstrator tool under production conditions 

The Electronic Tool Logbook as a Combination of Operating Manual and Check List

Werkzeuginnendrucksensoren

Messtechnik

Sensoren / Messwertaufnehmer

Messdatenerfassung und -verarbeitung

Software

Papierlose QM-Dokumentation

Qualitätsmanagement

Dokumentationsmanagement

Werkzeugkonstruktion

Dienstleistungen

Werkzeug-, Formen- und Modellbau

Werkzeugüberwachung

Toolmanagement

Mobile Datenerfassung

Logistik

Lagertechnik

Digitale Transformation

Wirtschaft

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Werkzeug- und Formenbau

Fernwartung / Ferndiagnose

Instandhaltung

Dokumentenmanagement, CAQ

Qualitätssicherung

Data Management at the Tool

In plastics processing, efficient production methods are required, especially for articles with high volumes and exacting quality requirements, and these must be constantly optimized. The container specialist Walther Faltsysteme has been successfully working together with the Austrian moldmaker Haidlmair for many years.

Left: products which are manufactured using the technologies of the Haidlmair Group companies. Right: an application example with folding boxes

Walther Faltsysteme Combines Three Mold Technologies from the Haidlmair Group

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0

Condition Monitoring / Prozessüberwachung

Paletten und Behälter

Verpackungstechnik

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Heißkanalsysteme

Komponenten für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

With Broad Sword and Data Collector

Electrical components are made from conductive and nonconductive materials. Pressure of competition makes it necessary to reduce the number of components and work steps and to streamline assembly. The moldmaker Mühlbeyer uses a hybrid technology for manufacturing stators and rotors, in which the contact material and plastic are permanently bonded in one production step.

Various plastic-coated stators. During overmolding of the sheet components, not only insulation but also technical functions can be incorporated

Overmolding as a Prerequisite for Cost-Efficient, High-Quality Electric Motors

Elektromotoren

Antriebe

Hybrid-Spritzgießen (Metall / Kunststoff)

Injection Molds for Insulating  Stators and Rotors

Marbling is often a real eye-catcher in plastic components. However, the effect is difficult to create and there are some pitfalls when it comes to reproducibility. Novel nozzles for injection molding machines in combination with a special dosing technology allow marbled molded parts to be produced far more easily in a much more robust process.

Marbling leads to attractively designed molded plastic parts, but is not so easy to implement in production

A 3D-Printed Nozzle and Modified Dosing Method Deliver Reproducible Marbling  in a Robust Process

Kunststoffe

Photonik

Optik

Additive Fertigung

Farben, flüssig

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Additive

Exciting Design instead of  Exciting Manufacturing

Susanne Schröder will become editor-in-chief of the magazines Kunststoffe and Kunststoffe international on December 1, 2020. The current editor-in-chief Dr. Karlhorst Klotz will leave the company by mutual agreement.

Susanne Schröder will become editor-in-chief of the magazines Kunststoffe and Kunststoffe international on December 1, 2020. Until now she has been editor-in-chief of the trade journal FORM+Werkzeug

16:9

Werkzeuge für Leichtbauwerkstoffe

Präzisionswerkzeuge

Tiefziehwerkzeug

Werkzeugwechselsysteme, Spritzgieß

Modulare Werkzeugsysteme

Absaugungen für Werkzeugmaschinen

Betriebsausrüstung / Betriebsmittel

Absaugvorrichtungen

Fluorkunststoffe

Thermoplaste

Werkzeugverwaltungssoftware

Prüfen von Kunststoffen

Biokunststoffe

Presswerkzeuge, Kunststoff

Werkzeugreinigung, Kunststoffe

Standardkunststoffe

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Lohnfertigung

Technische Kunststoffe

Füllstoffe für Kunststoffe

Kunststoff

Bauwesen

Baustoffe

Kunststoffhandel

Handel

Betriebstechnik für Kunststoffverarbeitung (Peripherie)

Kunststofffasern

Verstärkungsstoffe

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Hochleistungskunststoffe

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Change in the Chief Editorial Office of Kunststoffe

The toolmaker Siebenwurst uses injection molding simulation to optimize part design and production processes in its routine workflows. Among other things, Simcon’s software ensures the quality and dimensional accuracy of the plastic frame for the first series-produced injection molded e-bike.

The frames give the e-bikes an extraordinary design, with robustness comparable to steel or aluminum

Controlling Complex Development and Manufacturing Processes, Using Simulation

Composite-Halbzeuge

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

Spritzgießsimulation

Simulation

A Bike Frame from an Injection  Molding Machine

At the 2019 K fair, Arburg and Simcon showcased a filling process proceeding in real-time, as a 3D animation, on the display of a machine control panel, for an example of sunglasses, made of PA12. All that was needed to prepare this, was to load the simulation model, as well as the geometry of the part, directly onto the machine controls. This sounds almost too easy to be true. Right?

The Interviewees Dr. Paul Filz (left) an Dr. Eberhard Duffner

Interview with Eberhard Duffner and Paul F. Filz by the Magazine Kunststoffe

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Interview

The consumables required for In-vitro diagnostics are manufactured in a production process that is subject to high requirements in terms of precision and quality, but also the complex cleanroom manufacturing environment. This has implications for the entire plant technology – especially toolmaking.

64-cavity tool for pipette tips. The hot runner system is balanced across all cavities

Strategic Approach through Classification according to Product Groups

Medizinprodukte

Medizintechnik

Mold Platforms for IVD Consumables

The toolmaking industry of the future is facing significant changes in its range of services and its value creation processes. It is difficult to predict exactly how the collaboration of German tool manufacturers with series production will be structured in the future. However, it can be assumed that digital networking and sustainability will play a key role.

What the Two Trend Topics Mean for Collaboration between Toolmaking and Series Production

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Energieeffizienz

Vorbeugende Instandhaltung für die Qualitätssicherung

Datenanalyse

Ressourcenmanagement

Produktion

Toolmaking of the Future –  Digitalized and Sustainable

HeiQ – Heitkamp Kunststofftechnik took over sales responsibility for injection molds from Rouxel Mold in Germany, Denmark and The Netherlands.

The French manufacturer of injection molds wants to expand into international markets thanks to HeiQ.

French Rouxel Mold Expands Market

Pipette tips feature a challenging wall thickness/length ratio, an inner geometry that is key for analysis results, and a tip opening just a few tenths of a millimeter wide. They have been in extremely high demand during the coronavirus pandemic, which is why the mold construction and hot runner specialist Männer has developed a mold with an innovative cluster concept.

At the Männer test center in Bahlingen, Germany: an injection mold for manufacturing pipette tips, shown here in operation. Automation of the system is currently being set up

Pipette Tips: Männer Presents a Mold with Replaceable Clusters

Maintenance During (Nearly)  Uninterrupted Production

In the injection molding of engineering plastics, mold temperature control consumes more than one third of the total energy input. A novel technology offers the opportunity to reduce this continuous major cost factor – and eliminate hotspots.

Fig. 1. The temperature control units have the highest energy share in the injection molding process

Source: M. Schläger et al [2]; graphic: © Hanser

Reduced Energy Consumption and Shorter Cycle Times due to Structurally Integrated  Heat Pipe Mold Cores

Temperiertechnik

Cooling with Heat Pipes

The spring clamping cylinder ESZS for a nominal clamping force range from 16k N to 350 kN enables hydromechanical clamping.

The ESZS spring clamping cylinder can be used wherever shiftable or movable machine parts have to be fixed or clamped

Werkzeugspanntechnik

Spanntechnik

Robust and Reliable Clamping

Aside from offering high mechanical strength, versatility and durability, polymer materials are ideal for applications in the electrical industry because of their ability to isolate electrical current.

For the conduction cooled MicroTCA systems, Harting processes LCP, a material that is flame-resistant, dimensionally stable at high temperatures, chemically resistant, and has only a low thermal expansion

Connectors for Industrial Lifelines: High-Tech Injection Molding at Harting

Hybridtechnik

Polymere, flüssigkristalline

Stanzen

Verfahren für die spanlose Fertigung

Schneiden

Steckverbinder

Elektromechanik

Well-Balanced Hot Runner Technology for LCP Processing

The Reversecube two-part cube mold is used to produce 60 million multicomponent parts per year on one production line and in the same process. The cycle times must be kept very short while at the same time maintaining stable processes and a high part quality. Sensor-based monitoring and automatic process control is therefore deployed in the form of Fillcontrol from Priamus. It consists of hot-runner balancing, viscosity and compression control as well as automatic holding pressure changeover.

The two halves of the Reversecube cube mold, in stacked arrangement, rotate in 90° steps. Bottom: injection and cooling component 1, analogous to the component 2 above, which is offset by 180°

Automating Injection Molding with Process Control – with the Example of a Cube Mold

Steuern, Regeln

Mehrkomponenten-Spritzgießen

Werkzeugtemperatursensoren

Quality Assurance for Multiple Cavities

The Potential of Redesign and  Part Consolidation

Additive Manufacturing and Hybrid Molds in Combination with Conventional Machining

Hybrid production chains have been increasingly in the spotlight in recent years. This also applies to the combination of conventional manufacturing and additive processes in tool construction. With the example of an injection molding tool, it is shown how mold inserts produced by additive manufacturing can greatly shorten cycle times, and thereby significantly reduce unit costs. The important thing is to find a suitable combination of processes from the variety available.

Over recent years, additive manufacturing processes have greatly improved in terms of their performance, reliability and the range of materials available. There are many industrial applications now available and new ones are emerging all the time – as is shown by the examples during the Corona crisis.

However, it is also becoming clear that approval or certification is a stumbling block for rapid implementation in industrial series production. Especially where series production is concerned, not all processes are completely certified, or not all materials are available. This is because of the principle of layer build-up.

If 3D printing and conventional machining processes are combined with tool and mold making – the prerequisite is always adequate equipment and the corresponding expertise – then the disadvantages of part production in a hybrid production chain can be transformed into advantages by means of tool making.

Tools for injection molding elastomers, thermoplastics and thermosets have always been manufactured by the familiar material removal processes, such as lathe turning, milling and electrical discharge machining. Molds and mold inserts – which are for the most part subsequently hardened – have high surface quality, hardness and fatigue limit. The success here depends on many years of experience in the use of the tools. For example, with a long tool life, parts and components can be produced in uniformly high quality.

The Process Chain is Becoming  More Challenging

For many years, a switch toward smaller batch sizes and shorter availabilities has been apparent – with a uniformly high quality always being required. This results in a dilemma for mold makers, since tools manufactured faster (e. g. from materials that are easier to machine) offer a shorter lifetime. To compensate for this, new solutions, often more technically complex, are required. It is also necessary to call on new processes to find solutions that meet these challenging conditions.

Additive manufacturing (AM) – in particular metal layering processes – if correctly applied, offer many advantages for manufacturing tools, and allow unique features and functions to be realized, which were not conceivable until now (using conventional methods). However, these processes also have disadvantages in surface quality and in speed of manufacturing. Additive manufacturing proves to be a promising addition to conventional methods, particularly if it is combined with conventional methods such as HSC (high speed cutting), which, as is known, is suitable for rapid machining of surfaces. With this procedure, it is important to realize that, due to the combination of processes, the process chain is extended with an additional factor, but also becomes more challenging.

It is already becoming clear that there is no moldmaking process for rapid manufacturing of injection molds that could really satisfy all the demands. The conditions applying to machining only allow high-speed operation to a limited extent. 3D printing, by contrast, offers advantages that can be exploited if the correct process parameters and chains are chosen and can significantly improve the efficiency, despite process-dependent disadvantages in the surface structure and fatigue limit.

Given the aforementioned problems, Eisenhuth GmbH & Co. KG, Osterode, Germany, as part of the “KitkAdd” project, publicly sponsored by the BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research), after a great deal of creativity and empirical work, succeeded in developing the combination of mechanical tool manufacture and metal 3D printing into so-called “hybrid molding.” This approach essentially makes use of additively manufactured mold inserts, steel inserts manufactured by HSC, milled graphite electrodes and moldmaking standards, such as master molds, guide pillars and bushes (Fig. 1).

Each of these elements has positive material and manufacturing properties as a result of the process, which not only determine the injection mold but also its design [1] and construction. It is thus essential to combine the corresponding properties of the individual components and processes with one another. Combining the advantages of all manufacturing processes results in very efficient tools with their own unique features [2].

First the particular application must be described accurately. Based on their advantages and disadvantages, a strategy for utilizing the processes is created well before the design work is performed. The designer decides which parts are manufactured using which process, and which processes can be used. After the single part design has been completed, ready for manufacturing, the individual manufacturing steps are started simultaneously, even combining the individual manufacturing and secondary finishing processes. It is necessary to exercise especial care when planning and implementing this process. At the end, the parts are combined with one another and are available for production in a mold insert [3].

For all manufacturing technologies, the production parameters must be observed. For example, with HSC, the absolute material removal rates are relatively low, but very high strength materials can be machined. 3D printing offers advantages for complex structures and great geometrical freedom and flexibility, though, here too, the pitfalls lie in the details. Low build-up rates, and therefore a high price per built-up volume require the design to be adapted to AM in the early stages for the least possible material consumption.

Not all structures can be manufactured additively, so that, for example, small bridges, deep grooves or delicate structures can present difficulties. Since this is still dependent on the orientation of the part in the build chamber of the AM machine, the designer faces a particular challenge to produce designs suitable for manufacturing.

The advantage of the generative build-up of the metal tool components, namely the possibility of manufacturing extremely complex shapes, can also be utilized for combined application in electrical discharge machining. Thus, additively manufactured copper electrodes open up new machining possibilities here, and can supplement the graphite electrodes manufactured by HSC in the case of particularly difficult geometries.

In previous years, Eisenhuth gained a lot of experience in various industries with customer parts. The example of an injection mold for a simple part (Title figure) is used here to illustrate a suitable combination of processes from conventional and additive manufacturing. The part that is manufactured here is a spacer (Fig. 2) of a high temperature resistant, glass fiber-reinforced “triple-six polyamide” (PA6T/66, type: Grivory HT2V-3H, manufacturer: Ems-Chemie AG, Domat/Ems, Switzerland).

The aim of the project performed with this material is to examine what advantages can be achieved with AM parts, and how much influence additive manufacturing has on the cycle time, and therefore on the costs of the injection-molded part. And also to show that hybrid manufacturing is suitable and provides added value, even with comparatively simple parts [4].

The original approach was only to optimize the costs for the final serial part. However, since the spacer had already been optimized for series production (i. e. finalized) and could not be manufactured from the specified series material with the required strength, the workaround was chosen to optimize the tool in favor of shorter injection molding cycles. This was achieved using a temperature-control system with conformal cooling. It was also possible to reduce material consumption and therefore the costs for tool manufacture by means of a so-called “bionic design” [5].

The design of the mold insert is initially based on the target geometry, i. e. the original data set [5]. Implementation in 3D printing required one thing in particular: observation of the AM-specific design rules [1]. The ultimate design satisfied the loading, manufacturing and secondary finishing requirements for a mold insert that was produced by selective laser melting.

Due to the layer-by-layer manufacturing process, the design could be optimized during CAD, such that the mold inserts could be produced with approximately 35  % lower material consumption. As a result, the process time in the AM machine – generally the cost driver [6] – was also reduced, so that the manufacturing of the inserts was accomplished in less than two thirds of the time [5]. In addition, the hybrid-molding design was chose so as to keep the effort for secondary finishing as low as possible.

All these measures – especially the conformal cooling – increase the part complexity significantly. This highlights the big advantage of additive methods since, unlike conventional machining, the complexity here has only a very small influence on the costs (“complexity for free”) [4].

Comparison of Process Chains: Complexity Has no Extra Costs

Within the publicly sponsored “KitkAdd” project [7], Eisenhuth, together with one of the project partners, the Institute of Production Technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), developed a calculation tool for determining the manufacturing costs and times in production. The starting data can now be changed at any time, and since it can be almost precisely predicted how the changes each influence the result, the effectiveness of a measure can be derived.

The calculation tool is based on a detailed analysis of the different process chains (Fig. 3). This can be used to determine all the data and parameters that influence the mold and injection molded part costs, as well as the production times. From the result, the three possible variants – conventional, hybrid and additive process chains – can now be compared.

In this context, hybrid means a combination of a conventional tool with additively manufactured mold inserts. In the scope of the project tool, the project partner KIT also determined what costs are generated by a purely additive tool. Here it was found that there is no break-even, i. e. the 100  % additively manufactured tool is more economical than a conventional tool.

In a detailed analysis of the process chains, the tool costs for the two variants, the one- and two-cavity tool, are considered and this information is also incorporated into the calculation tool. As a result, it is found that the hybrid tools are about 35 % more expensive than the tools manufactured conventionally. This is primarily because of the increased manufacturing and secondary finishing costs of the additively manufactured inserts.

However the crucial factor is that the pure consideration of tool costs only covers part of the process chain, since with the use of hybrid tools, the production costs of the final parts are reduced. Consequently, after the tool costs, it is also necessary to determine the part costs for the two tool variants. The developed cost model not only supplies the pure costs for the basic tool and mold inserts, all the cost factors, such as the cycle time, are also considered.

This is also found in practice: In the case of additively manufactured mold inserts, the cycle time is shortened significantly (25 s instead of 38 s) due to the conformal cooling in contrast to mold inserts manufactured conventionally. This leads to a significantly higher utilization of the machines and increases the capacities: thus, e. g., for 100,000 parts, the break-even is reached even earlier (Fig. 4). Consequently, the part costs of the hybrid AM production chain for this two-cavity tool are reduced by about 2.5  % compared to a tool manufactured conventionally.