Mold Life

[Sunny]

Can anyone please suggest me how I can calculate mold life of my molds. I have been facing so many issues as breakdown regarding mold maintenance. I want to work on mold life so I can develop new molds and approve it from my management. Please suggest some good homework

[Suhas]

It all depends upon the material used for the construction of the molds. If you have a Class 101 mold, it should last for a million cycles but a prototype tool may last you only 500 shots. (Of course management wants to pay for a prototype mold and then expect it to run like a Class 101 tool :) )
Suhas

[Sunny]

Can you provide me some references for this or any excel sheet as a format to get it understand thoroughly?

[moldingppm]

The best way I've found to keep molds in good health is spot checking, preventative maintenance, and a proper cleaning. This includes spot checking parts while they're running (if you don't check them already), saving a last shot sample, pulling the mold apart after the run and giving it a full cleaning/rust proofing and good checkup. I've ran some molds that had wear plates in them that needed reworked after 5k shots. This is something you're going to have to keep record of. The best way to do that is keep a log of all the mold cycles, and cleanings. Even a cycle counter on the mold would be a good investment for something like this.

The best way to understand the life of the mold as in cycle life is below;

Class 101 Mold
Cycles: One Million or More
Description: Built for extremely high production.
Cost: Highest
Materials: Base hardness to be 28 Rockwell minimum. Molding surfaces to be 48 Rockwell minimum. All other components should be made from hardened tool steel.

Class 102 Mold
Cycles: Up to One Million
Description: Medium to high production mold, good for abrasive materials and/or parts requiring close tolerances.
Cost: Second Highest
Materials: Base hardness to be 28 Rockwell minimum. Molding surfaces to be 48 Rockwell minimum.

Class 103 Mold
Cycles: Up to 500,000
Description: This is a good choice for low to medium production needs.
Cost: Most common price range.
Materials: Mold base must be minimum hardness of 28 Rockwell. Cavity and cores must be 28 Rockwell or higher.
 
Class 104 Mold
Cycles: Under 100,000
Description: This is a good choice for small production runs. This is not recommended for abrasive materials.
Materials: Mold can be built of mild steel or aluminum. Cavities can be of aluminum, mild steel or any other agreed upon metal.

Class 105 Mold
Cycles: No more than 500
Description: This is mold is for prototyping parts only.
Materials: Mild steel or Aluminum

Let us know if you have any other questions. I'm actually starting to put together mold history spreadsheets soon, I'll post it up if I ever get it done.

[Sunny]

This is very useful data. I have studied it very carefully. I am waiting for spreadsheets from your side.
Can I get your What's App contact number please?

[moldingppm]

This is very useful data. I have studied it very carefully. I am waiting for spreadsheets from your side.
Can I get your What's App contact number please?

I do not have a What's App. I have attached a spreadsheet that I put together real quick. This is a simple checklist/log for keeping up with mold maintenance and cleanings.



If anyone has anything they think I should add to this, feel free to let me know.

[Josue]

Hi:
what about Molds based with H13 material, ? whats the classification for this kind of molds ?


I also have a lot of issues with Mold construction, currently we use PP+GF10-25% and this is killing me, the molds was made based on aN2 heat treatment, now I push to change the material to H13,,

Do you have some suggestion of steel for this kind of abrasive resin PP+GF10-15% GF? IM right to choose H13?

Best regards

[hobda1ad]

In my short experience Mold life and repeat ability is all based on too construction, material and maintenance. We have an 8 cavity tool that runs 33% GF Nylon day in and day out with about 30 Million documented shots. We do our best to spot check parts and religiously keep 1st, 2nd and 3rd shift retains. We try to pull the tool at least once a month to pull it a part, grease the pins, check the cores and cavities etc.