We mentioned above that the two main components to molding a good part are the tooling and the process.  When your tool gets shipped to your RIM molder, it is up to them to have the right manufacturing process in place to ship a quality part.

Plastictooling

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And while the process is important, tooling will hit you in the pocketbook right from the start.  In fact, in some cases, the cost of tooling is a factor in choosing a molding process.  Therefore, it will be important to know everything that goes into creating a tool so that you can better understand where your money is going.

Steel Tooling is the most expensive but also the strongest.  Steel tooling is used any of the following instances: when high temp and pressure is required (SMC), when producing very large volumes (50,000+) or when a Class A high gloss surface finish is needed.

Mould toolingmachine

With over 35 years of experience manufacturing reaction injection molded parts, we are EXPERTS in understanding how our material will react within the mold so that you get a good, quality part every time.

Injection moulding process step by step

Unfortunately, the reaction injection molding process does not have any such predictive tools.  And because of that, it will be very important to choose a RIM Manufacture with good standards and procedures to get the best parts possible.

Typically, tools used for reaction injection molding are much the same as those used in injection molding and are made from (in order of cost) Steel, Nickel Shell, Aluminum, Epoxy, or in some cases, Silicone.  The decision to choose any one of these over another will depend on a number of factors including the temperature and pressure requirements of the process, the surface finish of the part and the number of parts needed.

At Romeo RIM, we rarely use steel tooling as large RIM parts tend to be ordered in lower volumes.  And since reaction injection molding works at much lower temperatures and pressures, the cost of steel doesn’t justify its use.

Injection moldingtoolingcost

The lead times for all tool materials will vary.  Heavier, denser steel is much more difficult to machine than, say, aluminum which, of course, effects the lead time.  Below is a list of tooling types with an approximated lead time.

At Romeo RIM, we utilize Aluminum tooling almost exclusively.  This is because Reaction Injection Molding (RIM) doesn’t require high temperature and pressure.  Our engineers learn to understand your project and can match you with the right grade aluminum to help maximize your ROI.

If you are familiar with injection molding, you may have heard about a mold flow analysis.  This is a computer model that simulates the flow of the material into the mold.  With this type of analysis, you can accurately predict the flow to achieve a quality part within the first few shots, if not the first.

Mould toolingcost

Our manufacturing philosophy starts with Lean practices which helps to eliminate waste, either from wasted movements or actual material waste.

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Injection tool name

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Composite or epoxy tools are limited to short, prototype runs only as these tools generally don’t last much longer than 100 shots.  The options for a desired surface finish is also very limited.

Because Nickel Shell tooling is even lighter than Aluminum, we at Romeo RIM utilize nickel shell tools when the size of the parts begin to push the upper limits of our size capacity.  We also use them to achieve a very high gloss surface finish (70-80 on a 60 degree scale).

Aluminum tooling is a popular option because it still performs relatively well at higher temperatures and pressures.  And with the advancement in aluminum technologies over the years, there is a decreasing need to use steel tooling in even higher volumes.

To give you some more insight into what goes in to making a tool, here are the lead times broken down by each step of the mold making process.

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Injectionmould tooling

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Nickel Shell tooling is also very expensive, but much lighter than steel making it easier to work with, machine and ship.  This type of tooling can also achieve an extremely high gloss finish.