Plastic Overmolding
Plastic overmolding is one of the injection
molding process. This process is a one material being molded onto another
material through heat and pressure. By using overmolding, substrate parts
production is a standard injection molding process which involves an aluminum
mold without heating or cooling lines running. When all substrate parts are
molded, overmold tooling is assembled to the press. Manufacturers hand place
the substrate parts into mold where every part is overmolded with thermoplastic
or liquid silicone rubber material.
Plastic overmolding can help to save the
assembly time, for example, manufacturers can overmold the metal tool with a
plastic hand grip instead of joining them together manually or with automation.
Overmolding design not only improve the overall aesthetic design and
functionality of a product, but also allow many color options. Overmolding also
provides a soft grip surface around a part of the separate material and break
up color options. It helps to add flexible area to the rigid parts.
There are two Plastic Overmolding process
type: insert molding and Multiple Material Plastic Overmolding. Insert plastic
overmolding is the most widely used. Compared to multi-shot processing , insert
molding tooling cost is lower. Multiple material plastic overmolding needs a
unique injection molding machine. This machine allow more than one materials shot
into the same mold because of the tow or more barrels. By using multiple
material plastic overmolding, manufacturers can save time and labor cost and
get high quality parts.
Overmolding offer many advantages. It can
ensure plastic part alignment is correct, avoid loosening. Vibration and shock
resistance ability is improved by the plastic resin. As overmolding is a
process to mold two materials as one assembly, it reduces the secondary
operation and assembly. It also eliminates bonding step in the manufacturing
process which significantly save time and cost. TEAM Rapid, has over 10 years
custom overmolding experiences. We are able to reduce the labor and assembly
costs to add quality to the finished parts. Our plastic overmolding is widely
used in a wide range of applications which include automotive, appliance,
controls, medical devices, electronic device etc.
Contact us at [email protected] for more information regarding your plastic overmolding projects, or request a quote today.