Family Tooling and Multi-Cavity Moulds

For many of us, the easiest place to find liquid silicone rubber (LSR) is at the auto store. It comes in a tube and can be used to create flexible, formed-in-place gaskets that cure with the heat of an operating engine. In its extreme form, LSR can withstand constant temperatures of up to (316°C) and intermittent temperatures of (371°C).

Our comprehensive Designing for Mouldability white paper is a quick reference guide to wall thicknesses, surface finishes, tolerances, materials, and other thermoplastic moulding insights.

A Sideways Look at Rapid Injection Moulding Houses in Monopoly land have no doors or windows. Maybe the tiny people who live there spend a lot of time indoors, or perhaps they’ve perfected teleportation. More likely, it’s because doorless windowless plastic houses are easy to make in simple two-part moulds.

Multi-cavity tooling is not as simple as copying the CAD for a single cavity mould over and over. There are thermal variations, which can lead to issues such as sink and deformation. This video gives some tips on how to avoid this.