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Q. What is blowmolding?
A. Simply put; it's the process
by which plastic is "blown" into a mold cavity. Think of it
like closing a mold on a hot balloon, then blowing the balloon
up inside of the mold cavity. Once the hot balloon comes in
contact with the cool surface of the cavity, it takes shape
and solidifies.
Q. I thought blow molding was only used
to manufacture bottles. Can other shapes be molded besides
bottles?
A. Absolutely. Our own imaginations are usually
the greatest limiting factors. Many industrial shapes are
readily blow molded. Garden supplies, toys, electronic
enclosures, automotive gas tanks, industrial containers, and
speciality packaging, just to name a few.
Q. Is the
tooling expensive?
A. Sometimes, yes. However, they are
generally much less expensive than an injection mold of
equivalent size.
Q. What are the molds made out
of?
A. Molds can be made out of a number of good materials.
Most blow molds are manufactured from aluminum. Some
requirements will call for hardened alloy steels or berrillium
copper.
Q. What is the life expectancy of an aluminum
mold?
A. Millions of parts can be run on an aluminum mold.
Maintenance is generally easy as well.
Q. I thought
blow molding was a slow process. How many parts can you run in
a day?
A. Multiple cavities, correct machine selection, and
good tool designs are the key ingredients to high volume
production. Of course, every part is unique, but you can
expect to run thousands of parts per day on most small
configurations.
Q. Where do I begin?
A. J. Mark
Huckabee & Associates! EMail us at: http://www.jmarkhuckabee.com/page801684.htm
Click Glossary of
Terms to learn more about blow molding.
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