{"id":1434,"date":"2007-11-16T15:45:51","date_gmt":"2007-11-16T20:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2018-02-09T14:06:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T20:06:07","slug":"pe-plastics-gating-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1434\/pe-plastics-gating-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Tip Solves Plastics Gating Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Protomold<\/a> – Nobody’s Faster In The Short Run.\u00ae<\/p>\n

Consider how much simpler life would be if we could simply teleport liquid resin into a mold. Of course, that wouldn’t be injection molding. And since we presume that the developers of practical teleportation will come to us for their plastic prototypes (and they haven’t), we’re prepared to state categorically that teleportation molding is still some time off.<\/p>\n

That leaves us with gates as a means of getting liquid resin from the barrel and screw of the molding press into the mold. Unfortunately, gates interrupt the mold’s surface, and that interruption, unavoidably, produces a cosmetic defect on the surface of the part. Depending on the function of the part and the location of the gate, this may or may not be a problem. For example, if the part or surface will be hidden from view, any vestiges left by the gate probably won’t be a problem. But if the gate is located on a visible surface, you’ll want to consider its cosmetic impact in designing the part.<\/p>\n

\"Fig.
Fig. 1: Tab Gate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tab gates<\/a>\u00a0are effective and most common, but not necessarily pretty. (See Figure 1.)<\/p>\n

While they are a simple way of getting resin into the\u00a0mold cavity<\/a>, tab gates have several drawbacks.<\/p>\n

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