Sprue bush cooling design and construction

some times sprue bush need cooling to cut the cycle time of injection process, when diameter of sprue is large cooling in sprue bush is important. some fabrication of mold part have their own sprue bush that containing cooling pipe. like picture below


from those picture some standard part mold company have their own methods to make inner cooling at the sprue bush, we can by cutting in some part that weld together again, or by other method.

the other way to make cooling in sprue is like picture below


by those type of sprue we change the entrance and exit flow by using stopper buffle, for example like picture below


or you can make the flow straight, the other cooling method in sprue is like picture below, by using this type is easy to attach the O ring, becouse in and out flow from below side that contact with moldbase. becouse when assembling of ring to moldbase is more easy by attach the O ring in Moldbase then put the sprue bush than attach the O ring in sprue bush and assembling it together in moldbase.

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Locating Ring Design and Construction in Injection Mold

Locating ring is simple part but, very important when mold base attach to injection machine, ok here the construction of locating ring after assembled in mold base.



















then after attach in injection mold, the position of locating ring is like below


Basic Rule Design
1. when design locating ring, first rule is look at your injection machine catalog or hand book, and find the dimension of locating ring. like picture below

from picture above we know that locating ring diameter is 200 mm and diameter of nozzle is 52 mm, so your locating ring outer diameter must same with those injection machine locating ring hole.

2. don't worry about the tolerance, at the injection machine tolerance always about minus 0.01-0.1 mm, then the locating ring tolerance if we buy in standard mold part company is about minus 0.01-0.05.

3D Modeling various Locating Ring
below is some picture of locating ring that was i sketch using Google sketchUp, now i provide two type of locating ring. to choose right locating ring in mould is depend on injection machine nozzle, locating hole diameter, nozzle length in other factor.


Second type





















Third type
this type have large chamfer from top to bottom in inner hole, those chamfer provide shape so nozzle can touch the sprue more precise and easier.


and below is sample picture of locating ring base on Mold Part Industries

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Sprue Bush Design in Injection Mold

The molten plastic injected from the injector nozzle will go through a sprue (sprue bush), a runner, and a gate and fill up in the cavity.
As the temperature of molten plastic is lowered while going through the sprue and runner, the viscosity will rise; therefore, the viscosity is lowered by shear heat generated when going through the gate to fill the cavity.
so learn Sprue bush design is important, becouse sprue bush is part that contact first time with melted plastic, bad design of sprue bush can make plastic product broken, especially sprue broken and runner broken.
picture below shown mold basic construction with sprue.



























below is 3D model of sprue bush with 2 bolts
































this type is commonly use in small mold size, until 350 ton injection machine is still used.

the other construction is 4 bolts, this sprue bush type commonly use in large mold type and mass production, more than 200 ton






























and below is sprue bush with ring attachment, this type use when top plate thickness is width, but some designer prefer use large chamfer in top plate so with first model sprue bush is still can be attach


































Sprue Bush Design Rule
1. Ball radius of sprue must larger than ball radius nozzle, so don't forget to check diameter of nozzle of injection machine, or you can look at injection machine catalog. for example when ball radius of nozzle of injection machine is 10 mm use ball radius sprue bush 11 until 13 mm.
2. Hole diameter inner must be larger than hole diameter nozzle, diameter nozzle is variating base on machine injection type and manufacture, is about 2 mm until 5 mm. use 0.5 mm more larger than hole diameter of nozzle.
3. check your plate thickness, make sure that length of sprue bush fit with the plate thickness.

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Other Joint Construction Betwen Cooling in cavity and Mold base with O Ring

What is O ring
o-ring is a loop of elastomer with a round (o-shaped) cross-section used as a mechanical seal or gasket. They are designed to be seated in a groove and compressed during assembly between two or more parts, creating a seal at the interface. (wikipedia.com)
O-Rings are torus-shaped (i.e. doughnut-shaped) objects made from elastomeric compounds such as natural or synthetic rubber, and are used to seal mechanical parts against fluid movement (air or liquid). O-Rings perform their sealing action by deforming to take the shape of their cavity, after being oversized to guarantee an predetermined interference fit.( efunda.com)


O ring typically used in one of two seal designs, axial or radial, in mold design to attaching cavity to mold base axial, face type are commonly used then radial type, because axial type is more easy to assembly in mold than radial type.
2D O ring drawing like picture below


Static seals exist where there is no relative motion between the mating surfaces being sealed.





at previous post about basic construction for joining cooling system in cavity and mold base , we can learn how to joint pipe from mold base of mold to cavity site.

various construction can be develop from basic construction, previous post basic construction is fast and cheap construction model, but it isn't good when you in large mold and mass production mold, why? becouse production mold must have endurance until 1000 000 shot.

Picture below shown develop construction of joining cooling pipe








blue color indicate mold base side and yellow color indicate cavity side.
basic rule from those picture are :
1. T is height of O ring
2. part of O ring that will receive pressure form cavity plate. 15-30% from it's height is best. this little pressure give to prevent leak when water flow in cooling system.
3. t2 value is same with t, but t2 is horizontal, becouse O ring always made from elastomer plastic, by little pressure we can add O ring to O ring hole.
4. L is Gap between cooling channel and O ring hole.

O-Ring Design Considerations
1. Proper Squeeze
•Compression expressed as a percentage of the free-state cross-sectional thickness:








•Face Seal: 20-30%
•Static Male/Female: 18-25%
•Reciprocating: 10-20%
•Rotary: 0-10%
2. In static seals, where the O-Ring is not in axial motion in the bore, the recommended maximum compression is approximately 40%.
3. The O-Ring must be compressed by a predetermined amount, and this compression determines the O-Ring cross-section diameter.
4. The O-Ring inner diameter is typically chosen to be close to the groove's inner diameter; by selecting it to be slightly less than the groove's inner diameter, the O-Ring will stretch and hug the groove.
5. The Groove Width must be larger than the O-Ring cross-section diameter, to accommodate the radial expansion of the O-Ring when it's axially compressed in the gland.
6. stretch,
- Excessive stretch can overstress material, thin cross section, and reduces % squeeze
- % cross section reduction due to stretch about half of the % ID stretch
7. Sharp Corners, make R in cornet to prevent damage during seal installation.
8. Pressure and Clearance Gap.
Most elastomeric seals are designed to operate within ambient pressure to about 1,500 psi. At very high pressures, the seal must have sufficient strength to resist extrusion into the clearance gap. The chart at right illustrates the recommended limits of the combination of clearance gap (diametral), seal hardness, and pressure differential. picture below shown graph between clearance gap and pressure



















9. When it is said that an elastomer is good for an application it is meant that some compounds which include that material are acceptable. Not All. For instance, some compounds of EP are good for brake fluid applications, but most are not acceptable.
10. DO NOT use a lubricant composed of the same material as the O-ring. For example, a silicone lubricant should NOT be used with a silicone O-ring.
11. Avoid using graphite-loaded compounds with stainless steel, as they tend to pit the stainless steel surface over time.

useful reference
http://www.rlhudson.com/O-Ring%20Book/designing-static.html
http://www.pspglobal.com/application-limits/04-watery-substances.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-ring
http://www.efunda.com/DesignStandards/oring/design_guidelines.cfm#axial
http://www.marcorubber.com
http://www.allorings.com/gland_static_axial.htm

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Construction of Cavity Cooling and Mold Base Cooling, O ring

here the basic construction of joining cavity cooling and mold base cooling, we can use from simple construction to joint cavity and mold base cooling with one O ring, or we can use more complex construction like using special plate, and various O ring seal type. here is basic construction to joint the cavity cooling and mold base cooling.


both circular type and straight type cooling can be joint use those construction,
those construction use in half circular type of cooling system like picture below


click the image to see more large

simple joint just need one O ring or rubber seal, O ring pocket is preferred make in horizontal face from assembly, becouse it's make assembly and machining process mold more easily,
basic rule and tolerance to prevent leak in O ring are like picture below













at the cross section of cavity and mold base cooling construction, blue color indicate mold base part, and light yellow indicate cavity block, green is indicate hole or pipe of cooling. light black is O ring before penetrate with cavity block.
however is the simplest construction to join cooling cavity and mold base.

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Straight Type Cooling for Cavity

Basically cavity system cooling can divide into two type
1. straight type
2. Circular type

straight type system, usually have in and out of water pipe in not same side of mold or cavity. look at picture below

although the pipe that cool of insert part doesn't straight, but if inlet and outlet cooling fluid is not in same side we can consider that those type of cooling is straight. red color pipe indicate inlet and blue color pipe indicate outlet.

second picture below is still same with previous but this picture include the cavity block



yellow part at each side is plug to prevent unwanted flow of cooling, pink block at the center is core insert part. with attach to core block using bolt. Block with blue color is core block before inserted to mold base.

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