Custom Designed and Manufactured Tooling at PDC.
PDC’s commitment to delivering a superior experience starts with strong technical collaboration while reviewing your micro-molded product specifications. With decades of experience in part and tool design, our engineering and manufacturing teams work closely with you from initial concept to high-volume production.
By focusing on design-for-manufacturing principles and selecting the proper tooling materials, we ensure the successful production of your precision molded components. Our technical team understands that designing micro injection molding tools requires balancing complexity, precision, and manufacturability.
Simplifying tool geometries and minimizing unnecessary features can streamline the process and reduce costs, while precision molding demands meticulous attention to detail in design, material selection, and process parameters to achieve the desired accuracy and quality.
Key Design Principles for Micro Tools:
- Tool Size and Complexity: One of the primary design considerations for micro injection molding tools is size and complexity. Micro tools are characterized by their miniature dimensions and intricate geometries, which pose unique challenges in terms of tool fabrication, cooling, and ejection. Designing tools with simplified and optimized geometry helps minimize production costs and cycle times while ensuring consistent part quality.
- Material Selection: Selecting the correct material for tools is crucial in micro injection molding. Factors influencing tooling material selection include:
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- Mechanical Properties
- Thermal Stability
- Surface Finish
- Chemical Compatibility
- Cost and Lead Time
- The material must be able to withstand high pressures and temperatures. This is important for ensuring the quality and durability of the final product. Common materials include:
- Low Alloy Steel 4140:
- Rapid machining
- Affordable
- Widely available
- Aluminum 7050, 7075:
- Rapid machining
- Corrosion Resistant
- Superior heat dissipation
- Tool Steels P20, H13:
- Thermal Conductivity
- Wear Resistance
- Durability
- Hardened 420 Stainless Steel:
- Corrosion Resistance
- Abrasive Materials
- High-Temperature Materials
- Low Alloy Steel 4140:
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- Precision and Tolerance Control: Designing tools with precise cavity and core features is important for maintaining consistent quality. PDC performs tool validations that confirm high CpK process capabilities for all critical specifications.
- Mold Flow Simulation: Our approach to Moldflow optimization for micro components involves advanced techniques to address the unique challenges of micro molding. We utilize high-density meshes and 3D meshing to accurately capture the thin wall characteristics essential for precision.
Additionally, we employ wall slip simulation and leverage custom material database files based on small cross-section rheology to ensure optimal fill characteristics under the high speed and pressure conditions required. This comprehensive approach ensures that every micro component meets the highest standards of accuracy and performance.
- Gate and Runner Design: The design of gates and runners in micro injection molding tools directly affects flow dynamics, fill patterns, and part quality. Optimal gate and runner configurations help reduce cycle times and enhance part quality, while more advanced runners and gates like sub-gates and hot runner/gate systems can further optimize speed and waste.
Additionally, gate and runner sizing should be carefully calibrated to prevent premature freezing and ensure uniform material distribution within the cavities.
- Cooling System: Efficient cooling is essential for maintaining uniform temperature distribution throughout the tooling, which is critical for minimizing warpage, sink marks, and cycle time variability. Incorporating conformal cooling channels, designed to follow the contours of the part geometry, maximizes heat transfer rates and improves overall process stability and productivity.
Partnering from development through high volume production
Precision Mold Design and Micro Injection Molding Manufacturing
Additionally, PDC’s manufacturability considerations, such as tool accessibility, ease of maintenance, and scalability, are crucial for ensuring the long-term viability and sustainability of micro injection molding operations. PDC's experienced tooling and mold design teams use in-house advanced technology to create precision molds for specific part needs. During mold construction, our tooling team is engaged with our automation engineers for part handling and design of end-of-arm tooling to handle micro components and how they may be presented to in-process equipment such as fixtures or inspection cameras.
Get in Touch
PDC is a market leader in precision injection molding and value-added assembly, partnering with OEMs and Contract Manufacturers worldwide to deliver innovative micro-molded solutions to various medical device, diagnostics, and biotechnology markets. Share your specifications using the form below, and our team will be in touch to discuss your project.
Micro Molding Solutions For Your Industry
Within the medical sector, micro molding has applications across both the medical device and life sciences markets. Learn more about the industries PDC proudly serves.
Leveraging deep expertise in COP/COC thermoplastics and advanced micro molding, PDC's core insert molding capabilities enable the reliable production of next-generation NGS flowcells. This plastic solution offers a high-precision alternative to traditional glass lithography, opening new avenues for volume and cost efficiency in genomic sequencing.
In drug delivery, precision is paramount to ensuring patients receive the proper medication in the correct dosage at the right time. Micro injection molded components have emerged as essential tools in achieving this level of accuracy and control. Explore various applications in drug delivery where these tiny yet powerful components are making a substantial impact.
We’re committed to leveraging our expertise in precision injection molding and PEEK material to drive innovation in orthopedic sports medicine. By partnering with leading medical device companies and orthopedic surgeons, we strive to deliver advanced solutions that improve patient outcomes and quality of life.
As a leader in precision injection molding for proteomics and genomics, PDC is committed to advancing Digital PCR () and Droplet Digital PCR (). We understand that scientific discovery hinges on engineering precision. Our focus is delivering the high-tolerance components required to push the performance boundaries of technology.
As robotic assisted surgery (RAS) systems evolve to deliver enhanced precision, dexterity, and control, the demand for miniaturized, high-performance polymer components continues to grow. PDC is a trusted manufacturing partner specializing in precision micro injection molding, insert molding, and over-molding for the next generation of robotic surgical platforms.
PDC delivers next-generation vascular surgery devices through expert precision molding. By mastering the integration of radiopaque polymers and inserts, we equip medical professionals with cutting-edge tools. Our commitment to stringent quality standards directly translates to improved procedural visibility, better patient outcomes, and higher device reliability.
PDC's experience with COP/COC thermoplastics while micro molding, combined with core insert molding competency, supports flowcell technology used in next-generation sequencing, which was previously only served by glass lithography.
In drug delivery, precision is paramount to ensuring patients receive the proper medication in the correct dosage at the right time. Micro injection molded components have emerged as essential tools in achieving this level of accuracy and control. In this post, we’ll explore various applications in drug delivery where these tiny yet powerful components are making a substantial impact.
We’re committed to leveraging our expertise in precision injection molding and PEEK material to drive innovation in orthopedic sports medicine. By partnering with leading medical device companies and orthopedic surgeons, we strive to deliver advanced solutions that improve patient outcomes and quality of life.
As a leading precision injection molding company dedicated to driving innovation in the proteomics and genomics sector, we are pleased to share our expertise and commitment to supporting advancements in Digital PCR (dPCR) and Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR). At PDC, we recognize the critical role that precision engineering plays in pushing the boundaries of scientific discovery, and we are excited to be at the forefront of this transformative journey.
As robotic assisted surgery (RAS) systems evolve to deliver enhanced precision, dexterity, and control, the demand for miniaturized, high-performance polymer components continues to grow. PDC is a trusted manufacturing partner specializing in precision micro injection molding, insert molding, and over-molding for the next generation of robotic surgical platforms.
At PDC, we’re committed to driving advancements in precision injection molding to meet the evolving needs of the vascular surgery market. We're empowering medical professionals with cutting-edge devices that improve patient care and outcomes by harnessing the power of radiopaque inserts and polymers and adhering to stringent quality standards.
With our expansive manufacturing experience across various materials, we can identify the molding material based on your application to increase confidence that the material selected will meet your expectations in a production environment.