How To Choose The Right Material For Plastic Injection Mold Tools
When considering plastic injection molding for a project, product designers and engineers should consider not only what thermoforming or thermoplastic resin to use but also the choice of metal for the injection mold tool. The choice of tooling raw material influences production lead times, cycle times, finished part quality and cost, among other things. To […]
The Micrometer, Its Parts, and Why It’s Essential for Making Quality Parts
What is a micrometer? A micrometer is a sensitive tool for making accurate measurements of linear dimensions. It’s one of the most important measuring instruments ever made. It has a rigid C-shaped frame. One side has an anvil that is fixed, and on the other side is a moveable spindle. The feature to be measured […]
From Prototypes to Product Launch: Questions to Consider
Prototypes are ideal for testing an idea, improving on the look and feel of a design and for getting a sense of how the market is going to respond. After all, most successful crowdfunding campaigns have started off with prototypes that brought an enthusiastic response which helped fund more development work. But it’s at this […]
Streamline Your Product Quotations with These 7 Tips
When you’re developing a product, you will want to get your manufactured parts completed as fast as possible so you can get the product to market in a short timeframe. To get your project off to a great start, there are some things you can do when requesting a quote from your manufacturing partner that […]
How Pressure Affects Your Plastic Injection Molded Parts
There are many forms of pressure involved in making a plastic injection molded part. We’ve explained the importance of clamping pressure before, so now let’s look at three others: injection, holding, and back pressure. Why is this important to you? Because balancing these forces correctly is one of the keys to making consistently good parts. […]
Six Questions to Ask When Looking for a Lean Manufacturer
Lean manufacturing helps identify and eliminate the seven types of waste typically found in manufacturing environments: transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing and defects. To combat this, manufacturers are increasingly adopting lean systems to become more efficient, more reliable and to provide higher quality. How to identify if your manufacturing partner is lean? Look for these […]
The Plastic Forming & Manufacturing Process: Top 7 Techniques
But although they’re found everywhere, not everyone knows just how they came to be. In fact, in the world of manufacturing there are eight different plastic forming methods. Each is used for a special reason, although they can sometimes be used in combination to make more complex finished parts. Today, we will take a closer […]
Top 7 Methods For Making 3D Rapid Prototypes
While 3D printing technology has been around since the 1980s, it is constantly evolving, with new processes being introduced all the time. Some are best suited for consumer applications, while others for industrial environments. However, not all types are suited for rapid prototyping, a technique used to create prototypes quickly and test out a wide […]
Plastic 3D Printing vs. Metal 3D Printing: CAD Design Differences
A common misconception about 3D printing is that you can use the same CAD design for either plastic or metal. In reality, the processes are very different so design changes will be required. The type of modifications needed will depend on the type of metal 3D printing process being used. We will focus on powder bed […]
Plastic Injection Molding Surface Finish: Making and Measuring Textures For Injection Molding
All plastic injection molded parts have a surface texture created by the tools that made them. To get the surface finish and texture that you want from injection molding, it’s important for you to learn how we make and measure such finishes in our inspection department. At Star Rapid, we follow the finishing standards of […]
