Using ProMax-One Mold Estimator™
Step 2. Define Mould Configuration: Number of Cavities, Number of Tools, Cycle time,
and work load
Open ProMax-One Mold Estimator™. Select the Mold Estimator option
from the main menu at www.injecneering.com
and run the program. This application helps to define best tool configuration to produce the projected volumes and to estimate the cycle time of the mould.
Retrieve the Mold Record.The mold was created
in the previous step using the Mold Database program. To retrieve the tool (it may
already be in your screen), click on the arrow button in the right side of the description
box. A list of tools will be displayed. You can either find the description of the
mold to be retrieved or start typing the name to filter down the list. For this
case study, we can type "*disk" and only the records containing the word "disk"
will be shown in the list.
Click on the mould to be analyzed
Create a new tool configuration analysis.
• Click on the New Analysis button. Notice that some values will be automatically assigned. These values can be configured for your convenience by selecting the "Configuration"
tab
• Type-in a description for the current analysis.
Calculate the Cycle time. (If
unknown)
First, select the material generic and trade names: click on the arrow button in front of the trade name text box and select the desired material from the list as shown in the picture below.
Repeat the procedure to select the trade name.
Select the radio button of the Cooling Factor values to be used in the calculation Cooling time = Cool Factor • Wall thickness² (Ct = Cf • t²). Enter the maximum wall thickness among all the parts in the tool.
Enter maximum and minimum values for injection time and clamp open time (use your own criteria)
Check the results. Using the right side buttons, the maximum, minimum or average value can be assigned as the cycle time to use in the calculations. For this example, the value for the cycle time (50 sec) was manually entered which is close to the max cycle time calculated.
Run several scenarios.
Type-in the values in the text boxes. Only one box can be left empty. Several iterations will be analyzed to determine the number of cavities required to produce the projected volumes.
Once the variables are entered, position the sliding button in front of the value to be calculated.
Try different scenarios and adjust the values until the results are satisfactory. The results window shows two values, the non-rounded and a properly
rounded value. Since some values need to be of type integer, the application rounds
the calculated value. If, for instance, the non-rounded value for the number of cavities
is closer to the lower integer, consider changing other variables to determine if the lower integer can be used instead of the suggested upper number.
Three scenarios will be run for the case in study
Scenario 1: If building 1+1 Cavity tools, how many tools are required? (Notice that the values entered are 1 for the number of cavities and 1.2 mills for yearly production. 2 cav. and 2.4 mills could also have been used)
Results: 4 (3.48) tools are required. Since the non-rounded value is 3.48, some iterations modifying the working hours and other variables should be ran to determine whether three tools can produce the intended quantities.
Scenario 2: If building 2+2 Cavity tools, how many tools are required?
Results: 2 (1.73) Tools are required
Scenario 3: Can we produce the projected volumes building three 1+1 cavity tools (instead of the calculated 4) by increasing the working hours? Calculate and try different values until the results are satisfactory.
Results: By increasing the number of hours per day to 22 and the number of weeks per year to 50, 1,211,760 parts per year can be produced.
Conclusions.
Three 1+1 cavity tools will be constructed. The tools will be ran 22 hours x 6 days x 50 weeks.
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