MoldMaking Technology's March Digital Edition Ready to Share

This month’s cover from Schmolz+Bickenbach shows a mold made from Corroplast FM, a pre-hardened free machining stainless steel mold base material, ideal to resist corrosion associated with high humidity environments and when corrosive resins are used in production. This material is also an optimal mold base material for medical and food packaging applications. Corroplast FM exhibits homogenous microstructure for improved machinability, re-sulphurized chemistry for optimal machinability, minimal levels of course carbides to improve cutter life and reduced carbon and higher chrome content for improved corrosion resistance.

Here are five great tips from this issue:

1 Intense Prices. Electrodes are causing mold material price increases because they are in short supply. Graphite electrodes are the main heating element used to produce the intense heat necessary to run an electric arc furnace in a steel factory. 

2 Customers First Understanding the customer’s business and providing mold designs that give them a strategic advantage is key to remaining competitive.                                  

3 Automation ROI  Summit Tooling realized a full return on its investment of its initial automated manufacturing cell in about six months after the installation. Sales doubled while Summit continued running one shift and maintained the same number of mold shop employees. 

4 Tax Tips Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, if a mold shop is leasing a piece of equipment and then purchases the equipment, it will not qualify for bonus depreciation since the equipment is not new to the mold shop. 

5 Powerful Duo  CAD for CAM tools enable quick, temporary model changes that do not impact the final part design, but can streamline toolpath generation and promote better part finishes. 

Here is your digital edition.