What makes up a mold?
Molds (commonly referred to as tooling) are made up of two halves, an “A” half and “B” half. Tooling is usually constructed out of steel, but can also be made out of aluminum for shorter run applications. When each half is clamped together, it forms a cavity making up the form of the part. Each half of the mold is placed inside the injection molding machine. When the machine clamps the two halves together, the plastic is injected into the mold. The mold will generally have “runners” which are little more than “plastic highways” used to move the plastic out to all sections of the mold. Some molds require water passages or “plumbing” which is used to cool the plastic parts more quickly. The more quickly the parts cool, the faster the machine can run. Faster molds equals cheaper parts. Finally, most molds have what are called “knock-out pins” or “ejector pins.” As the name implies, these pins kick the part out of the mold to speed up production and assist the operator in removing the part
