Dip molding
The Dip Molding process involves dipping a preheated mandrel into plastisol, followed by a high temperature cure. The cured plastisol is then removed from the mandrel resulting in a finished part. This part can be further enhanced by a variety of secondary operations including printing, hole punching, trimming and assembly. Parts that are too large for dip coating, too costly to ship, or that require a removable protective covering, are excellent candidates for dip molding. Also, parts whose volume does not justify the tooling costs associated with injection molding are ideal for dip molding. Materials Tooling Dip molded tooling typically consists of numerous metal molds that are affixed to channels or plates. Typically, the more molds one can dip at a time, the lower the per piece cost will be. This, however, is limited to the size of the machine on which the parts will be run and machine sizes vary greatly in the industry. As a general rule, dip molded tooling is less expensive and faster to make than injection molding tooling and this is one advantage that the industry likes to exploit. This is especially true in the case of prototypes where single molds can be used to make actual products in days. Advantages
Disadvantages
Examples |
Molding
Blow Molding BL
IBM SBM EBM
Injection Molding IM
RIM LIM RTM VARTM
Rotational Molding
Compression Molding
Insert Molding
Dip molding
Transfer Molding
Thermoforming
Vacuum Forming
Pressure Forming
Drape Forming
Stretch Forming
Inline thermoforming
Twin sheet forming
Extrusion
Co-extrusion
Profile Extrusion
Blown Film Extrusion
Foam Extrusion
Sheet Extrusion
Pultrusion
Calendering
Coating
Fluidised Bed
Electrostatic spraying
Flame Spraying
Laminating
Recycling
Granulation
Blending
Compounding
Other processes