Discussion For Moldable Part Design

MOLDABLE
PART
DESIGN
GUIDE
Prepared by Plastic Mold
TOPICS
 Part wall thickness

 Rib design
 Boss design
 Draft
 Undercuts
 Fillets
 Weld line
 Warpage/Deflection
 Special requirement
 Case Study

PART WALL THICKNESS
 Excessively thin walls may
develop
• high molding stresses,
• cosmetic problems and
• filling problems. Incorrect
 Conversely, overly thick walls

can extend cycle times and
create packing problems. correct
 Avoid designs with thin areas

surrounded by thick perimeter
sections as they are prone to gas
entrapment problems.
PART WALL THICKNESS
Incorrect correct
Redesign thick areas

to create
UNIFORM WALL
THICKNESS.

PART WALL THICKNESS
Maintain uniform nominal wall thickness;

Avoid wall thickness variations that result in filling from thin to thick sections.
Worst: thin to thick Very bad: thick to thin bad: thick to thin
Standard: Uniform thickness Best: thin with ribs

PART WALL THICKNESS
 Make the outside
radius larger than Corner Design Thickness transition
the inside radius to
maintain constant wall Too thin Incorrect
thickness.
 Round or taper correct

Too
thickness thick
transitions to
minimize read- correct
through and
possible blush or
gloss differences. correct

PART WALL THICKNESS
 Flow leaders help mold

filling or packing in areas far
from the gate. For best results,
the flow-leader thickness
should extend from the gate
without restrictions.
 To avoid possible warpage
and shrinkage problems, limit
the added thickness to no
more than 25% of the
nominal wall for low-
shrinkage, amorphous or
filled materials and to 15%
for unfilled crystalline resins.

PART WALL THICKNESS
It is always best to design a plastic part as THIN as possible, but as THICK as

necessary.
Be optimistic about thickness to reduce cost.
Resin Base thickness range (mm)

ABS 1.8 ~ 2.5
HIPS 1.8 ~ 2.5
PP 1.5 ~ 2.1
GPPS 3 ~ 4.5
PC 1.5 ~ 3
Others Maintain sample thickness and
previous in-house product

CASE STUDY (Door handle)
Short shot:
A
3.4 mm
A
2.2 mm 2.2 mm 1 mm
Section A-A

CASE STUDY (Door handle)
Short shot:

CASE STUDY (Wet jar lid)
Thickness variation
1.55mm
A
1.35mm
1.7mm
A Section A-A

 Injection pressure requires 153.6 Mpa (non-uniform wall
thickness).

 Injection pressure reduces to 139.7 Mpa after making wall
thickness uniform.

CASE STUDY (Bottle pocket)
Thickness variation
5.5mm
A
3mm
3.6mm
Section A-A

CASE STUDY (Bottle pocket)
Flow simulation

CASE STUDY (Lower back)
Thickness variation Mess thickness
Opposite side
of that area

CASE STUDY (Lower back)
Sink mark

CASE STUDY (2.2L Digital control
panel)
Sink mark
Non uniform thickness uniform thickness

Sink mark occurs No sink mark occurs

CASE STUDY (2.2L Digital control panel)
Sink mark
A A
Simple change has been made to make this A wall uniform and sink mark
issue solved.

RIB DESIGN
Rib Thickness as a
Percentage of Wall
Thickness (T) Slight
Resin Minimal sink
Sink
PC 50% (40% if high gloss) 66%
Radius=0.125T
ABS 40% 60%
T HIPS 40% 60%
PP 40% 50%
*Minimum Draft angle
GPPS 50% 60%
0.5° Per Side
Others 50% 60%

RIB DESIGN
 Replace very high rib with MULTIPLE SHORTER

RIBS.

BOSS DESIGN
 A RECESS around the base of a  Typical boss design

thick boss reduces the sink.
BOSS DESIGN
 Try to maintain these two dimensions within these FOUR
types. So that we can use STANDARD molding equipment.

BOSS DESIGN
 Squared gussets can trap air in the corners. Try to avoid
the sharp corner.
INCORRECT CORRECT
CORRECT
AIR TRAP

DRAFT
INCORRECT CORRECT
 Draft all surfaces

parallel to the direction
of steel part separation.

DRAFT
 Less draft increases the chance of damaging the part during
ejection.
Molded product
being ejected
Mold Mol
parting d
line core
plate
A Vacuum Is
Created In This Area

DRAFT
 If there is cutting like this on
parting line, then use at 2 degree
draft on the side walls (i.e. A
walls).

CASE STUDY (BLDC ceiling fan insulation plastic)
 Cavity stuck problem solved after increasing draft from 0.5° to
3° on A walls.

CASE STUDY (Exhuast fan front net)
 Cavity stuck problem solved after increasing draft from 1° to 3°
on A walls.

CASE STUDY (Vegetable box cover)
 Crack issue solved on this GPPS part after increasing the

draft to 15 degree on A walls.
A

UNDERCUTS
 Clever part design or minor design concessions often can

eliminate complex mechanisms for undercuts.
 Simple wire guides can be

molded with bypass steel in the
mold.
 Extending vent slots over the corner

edge eliminates the need for a side
action in the mold.
UNDERCUTS
 Snap-fit hook molded through hole

to form undercut.
A
B
 Use at least 2 degree draft
on A walls.
 Keep the width of the cut at
least 5mm. Prepared by Plastic Mold

FILLETS
 Avoid radius on parting needlessly which increases mold
manufacturing time and cost.
Eas Difficult
y
Eas Difficult
y

FILLETS
 Example: This “A” radius
increases machining time
and cost.

WELD LINE
Cavity
Knit line
 Knit lines or weld Core forms
pin here
Flow
lines are the result of a front
flow front of molten
plastic coming in
contact.
 Design features like

holes and cuts may Flow
front
cause visible weld line.

WARPAGE
 Plastic part will warp. How much we can control is the key
which should start from product design-tool design-
production.
Cause Of Product Warpage: a
 Variation in shrinkage from region

to region (Differential shrinkage).
a> b
b
High
 Temperature differences from one temp
side of mold to the other (Differential
cooling). Low temp

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
MOLDABLE DESIGN
 Stress-strain analysis: Use optimum amount of ribs

and gussets, cause more ribs increases machining
time.
 Preliminary Moldflow analysis: Product designer

can observe sink mark, weld line, short shot and
other issues by preliminary analysis.

PHOTOETCHING
 We have different type of etching patterns. You can follow our
etching book to choose your desired ones.

THANK
YOU

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MOLDABLE

 Part wall thickness

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Conversely, overly thick walls

 Avoid designs with thin areas

Redesign thick areas

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Maintain uniform nominal wall thickness;

Standard: Uniform thickness Best: thin with ribs

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Round or taper correct

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Flow leaders help mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

It is always best to design a plastic part as THIN as possible, but as THICK as

Be optimistic about thickness to reduce cost.

Resin Base thickness range (mm)

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Thickness variation Mess thickness

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Non uniform thickness uniform thickness

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

T HIPS 40% 60%

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Replace very high rib with MULTIPLE SHORTER

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 A RECESS around the base of a  Typical boss design

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Draft all surfaces

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Crack issue solved on this GPPS part after increasing the

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Clever part design or minor design concessions often can

 Simple wire guides can be

 Extending vent slots over the corner

 Snap-fit hook molded through hole

least 5mm. Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Design features like

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Variation in shrinkage from region

Prepared by Plastic Mold

 Stress-strain analysis: Use optimum amount of ribs

 Preliminary Moldflow analysis: Product designer