Injection molder used together with Tormach

[cordvision]

Hello Everybody
I'm posting here because I think this is a product that might be of interest to quite a few Tormach owners. We actually specifically bought a Tormach to make injection molds with this molder that we are now selling (moved up to an more industrial size machine (Boy 50). Injection molding is a great method to produce plastic parts in "large" quantities. We milled several aluminum molds on the Tormach 1100 and molded probably well over 2000 parts. Some parts were fairly complicated and needed molds consisting of many parts.

I would say we really pushed the limit of what you can do yourself with such a machine in the garage. It wasn't easy by any means, but in the attached picture you can see what is possible (Gimbal on the left was injection molded with the Medium Machinery molder we are currently selling).


If you are interested in the Molder, check this link: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/plasti...ml#post1790568

If you have any questions about the molder or making molds for it on the Tormach, I'm happy to answer them.

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[cordvision]

Hi - What are your thoughts on the Tormach Injection molder?

Tormach Injection Molder

I assume not that good? ...Are there any owners out there, or has it not taken off?

Keen

I think it really depends what you want to use it for. There's just several aspects of it that I don't like. Here's a few: Clamping your mold shut is crucial, a vice is just not a good tool for it. The clamping surfaces are pretty small so it will be difficult to clamp a larger mold and the max clamping force is quite limited. Unless you are using a very good flowing plastic (like HDPE) it might become difficult to fill a larger mold.
Also, the Z axis isn't that strong, so you don't have that much injection pressure. Aside from that, I wouldn't feel comfortable to put my Z-Axis stepper motor repeatedly under maximum load. Also, your can't use your mill while molding. If you need to make some adjustments to a mold, you have to remove the injection molder first.

All in all, I see the Tormach injection molder more as an educational tool.

[shred]

I used my Tormach 1100 to make a small sample 2-part mold for a hand-squeezer molder, then once the cavity was proven out, make a 10-cavity mold to fit a real machine. Worked out ok, although the limited spindle speed of the 1100 becomes an issue for some of the milling and finishing.

The Tormach molder could be used in place of the benchtop hand-squeezer I used for small cavity testing but I don't see it much beyond that either.

[tmarks11]

If you are interested in the Molder, check this link: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/plasti...ml#post1790568.

I think the thread you linked to has been deleted; you probably need to post this in the classified section, and then link to there.

Nice to see small businesses succeed and expand!

[cordvision]

I think the thread you linked to has been deleted; you probably need to post this in the classified section, and then link to there.

Nice to see small businesses succeed and expand!

Sorry, I was out of town so didn't get to update the link. Here it is: For Sale For Sale: Injection Molder | Panjo


PM me if interested.

[C*H*U*D]

So is this just for the machine that you made and used yourself, or are you going into production with these? I'm very interested in this but unfortunately not at that price.

[CadRhino]

That doesn't look like a Boy 50 molder. Is this one you made before you bought the boy?
Are you still keeping and using an injection molder?
Would love to see a tutorial on how to make smooth injection molds on a tormach some day.

Sorry, I was out of town so didn't get to update the link. Here it is: For Sale For Sale: Injection Molder | Panjo


PM me if interested.

[cordvision]

That doesn't look like a Boy 50 molder. Is this one you made before you bought the boy?
Are you still keeping and using an injection molder?
Would love to see a tutorial on how to make smooth injection molds on a tormach some day.

No, this is of course not a Boy 50 molder. This is the injection molder we started with before we moved up to a Boy 50 (not planing to sell my Boy injection molder anytime soon). We actually used this little Medium Machinery Injection Molder to make all the kickstarter gimbals.
About getting smooth surfaces: Apart from all the usual stuff you do to improve surface finish when milling, it just takes a lot of hand sanding and polishing. Even large companies that build molds for a living are doing a lot of hand finishing on their molds. There's just no way around it.

[cordvision]

So is this just for the machine that you made and used yourself, or are you going into production with these? I'm very interested in this but unfortunately not at that price.

Not sure if you are talking about the gimbal or the injection molder. We bought the injection molder from ( Medium Machinery LLC Small Manual Benchtop Plastic Injection Molding Machine ). I have nothing to do with this company other than that I bought their molder for a Kickstarter project.

Molder for Sale here --> For Sale For Sale: Injection Molder | Panjo

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Would love to see a tutorial on how to make smooth injection molds on a tormach some day.

No magic to that, just a lot of elbow-grease. Use a very sharp tool, and a very small step-over on the finishing passes, then LOTS of time sanding and polishing the tooling marks off the important surfaces using everything from sandpaper to a die grinder with felt wheels and polishing compound if you want a mirror finish.

Regards,
Ray L.

[CadRhino]

Thanks Ray

No magic to that, just a lot of elbow-grease. Use a very sharp tool, and a very small step-over on the finishing passes, then LOTS of time sanding and polishing the tooling marks off the important surfaces using everything from sandpaper to a die grinder with felt wheels and polishing compound if you want a mirror finish.

Regards,
Ray L.

[wbyu2006]

I'm looking into buying a Medium Machinery injection molder to essentially do as you've done and produce in-house parts for a mini-class (4" by 4") sumo robot Having used one of these machines to make parts for your kickstarter, do you feel like this is a reasonable path to take. We'll need to make two different parts on it, our wheels, and our rubber tracks, and have been wondering how long it takes to cycle. Is two minutes reasonable? I've seen that Morgan-Press and LNS Tech report being able to do 3 cycles per minute. I plan on using ABS for wheels (so we can mix in 3D printing scrap material and recycle it into molded parts) and Santoprene for rubber tracks.

Regarding making molds for the Medium Machinery injection molder, was there anything you had to do to get good molds that was particularly different from what is normally recommended for mold design. I'm wondering if I need to plan on larger than normal air vents or filling parts from their center. In the case of my rubber tracks this would require multiple runners going out from the center to the actual part like spokes on a wheel. I'm hoping to be able to do two rubber tracks and three wheels at a time. Wheels are about 1" diameter. Rubber tracks are almost 3" diameter.



Thanks for any advice you have to offer.

[cordvision]

Ours is still for sale There's not an easy answer to most of your questions. I'm also not sure if the Medium Machinery molder would be the right machine for you. If you want, I would be happy to talk to you about it on the phone, there is just so much to say about it and I don't feel like typing it all out. Injection molding is fairly complex, and we learned a lot of lessons the hard way...

[wbyu2006]

I understand about not wanting to type it all out. I private messaged you with contact info.

[wbyu2006]

Ours is still for sale There's not an easy answer to most of your questions. I'm also not sure if the Medium Machinery molder would be the right machine for you. If you want, I would be happy to talk to you about it on the phone, there is just so much to say about it and I don't feel like typing it all out. Injection molding is fairly complex, and we learned a lot of lessons the hard way...

Thanks for making time to explain things you've learned over the phone. I and my collaborators have talked it over and feel that your used machine would fit our needs since we still aren't to the tipping point where hiring injection molding makes sense. I'll try to call you tomorrow about it.

[cordvision]

Just bumping up this thread. The molder is still for sale... If anybody is interested, please PM me.