Dip Molding - Back to Basics

In the dip molding process, the molds are dipped into a polymer in order to mold a part. As a result, you can make grips, caps, drink coolers and a variety of other stuff. The process starts with steel or aluminum molds. The rack is dipped in a solution of mold release to strip a finished part. In the next phase, the part is preheated. Let's know more.

Materials used in the process
Usually, plastisol is used for dip molding. However, other materials, such as neoprene, latex and urethane are also very popular.

Set-up time
A few years back, level sensing was not used for vinyl displacement. So, many test frames were performed to get the correct part length. Nowadays, the technological advancements have made it possible to dip the right length with ease.

Heat forms for the molding process
Based on the part configuration, the preheat is formed through the high speed convection air. In other words, the infrared is combined with convection air for using the quick heat of the infrared for the process.

Wall thickness
Uniformly preheated parts make sure that you get consistent wall gauge. In order to ensure consistency, temperature level is maintained for each cycle. Since they use high quality ovens, part quality or system performance doesn't get affected even if the over doors are open.

Dip tanks and cooling
As a general rule, you don't need to cool the tanks. Old system had poorly insulated ovens that leaked heat. Therefore, the tanks needed to be cooled down. As a matter of fact, tank cooling is not needed for the majority of MCT machines.

Exhaust smoke
Since the process doesn't produce any smoke or fumes, you don't need a dip station exhaust. The reason is that the process doesn't involve high pre-heat temperatures. However, when the mold gets into the plastisol, you can see a tiny waft of smoke.

Additional filters
Mostly, you don't need additional filters. Since the process involves high speed convection, no smoke is produced. Therefore, you don't need any filters to deal with the exhaust.

Quench water
You don't need to treat the quench water as a recirculation system is more than enough. Moreover, cold water can boost cooling by maintaining the temperature of the quench water.

Scrap Amount
You won't expect any scrap. The rejection rate is below 3%, which can give you a pretty good idea of how efficient the whole system is.

Safety features
In an MCT system, you have a lot of safety features, such as emergency stop buttons, pause/resume buttons, safety fencing and other standards.

Raw material costs
The material costs can be cut down through ordering, formulation and efficiency. In order to reduce the cost via formulation, you can use extenders or fillers, which will extend your raw material. Aside from this, may other methods are using for reducing the raw material costs significantly.

So, this was a brief article describing the basics of the dip molding process. Hopefully, you will find this guide helpful.

Are you in search of a good provider of PVC dipping plastic products? If so, we suggest that you check out CNRHI. They also deal in quality plastic end caps.



 By Satvik Mittal


Article Source: Dip Molding - Back to Basics