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41. Quick Change Mold Units for Injection Molding

One of the ways which companies have been able to reduce lead times for new injection custom molds is using a quick change mold system. This typically means that there is a common mold frame which is stationary in the injection molding machine and the only part being constructed is the core and cavity inserts.

This system creates several advantages for creating new injection molds.
1. Faster Delivery - The only part being constructed is the core and cavity inserts and not a complete mold base. This allows for less machining and the material to build the core and cavity inserts is typically kept on hand. This saves days in waiting for mold material to arrive.

2. Lower Tooling Costs - Since the only features being constructed are the core and cavity inserts, there is less machining costs and material costs. DME states that the cost savings can be as much as 66%. I don't think it is quite that much but it can be significant.

3. Easier Engineering Changes - Many times, quick change molds are created for a single cavity. Also, they do not have an elaborate mold base structure and this allows for less complicated engineering changes. Especially if the parts are straight pull.

Now there are definitely some drawbacks to quick change mold unit systems. High cavitation molds won't really work and if the part requires a hot manifold system to allow for injection of plastic, the unit die will not work. These are just a few drawbacks but overall, for low volume injection molding, quick change units meet the requirements.