Plastics have been an integrated part of our lives. Their wide-spread usage and wide array of benefits make it’s a popular choice. Converting the metal parts to plastic components can help them save a lot of money and also gives the manufacturer the freedom to experiment with the designing of the product. These multifaceted use plastics and its application have made it gain widespread popularity.
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| Plastic Machining |
High-grade plastics that can tolerate heat, having higher tensile strength, chemical resistance, etc. are manufactured. These high-precision machined plastic is advanced and finds wider application.
We need to consider many factors while deciding whether or not to use machining. But one thing is for sure that plastic machining may eliminate the tooling cost and therefore it makes more sense.
Some more benefits of machining are mentioned below:
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Machining process can help reduce weight and improve the efficiency and efficacy of your product.
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Machining is an ideal alternative if you require plastic components that moulding cannot provide, because of many reasons like close tolerances, low quantities, or nonstandard shapes. Because plan machining can negate tooling costs and the need for moulds.
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It allows for better designing at a low cost.
- It provides faster turn-around times, allowing products to get to the market that much sooner than the moulding process. Therefore, it is best for time-saving.
- It is best suited when you need to churn out massive quantities of devices, like cell phones or toys. Moreover, it provides superior results and performance. This is the reason why machining is so often the first choice in the medical, aerospace, nuclear, and fluid handling industries.
- It can produce more parts per hour; therefore, it is also cost-effective than others.
- You don’t need a lot of time in finishing plastic parts as plastics can be dyed before they’re added to the mould, eliminating an entire step in the production process which again makes it faster and more economical.
- Products made from plastic machining are durable, strong, light and easy to use.
- Machining eliminates the need for welding.
- These products have a longer life and are much more chemical resistance than metals. They also don’t suffer rusting or oxidizing.
- Cost-effective production makes the machined parts cheaper.
- With plastic machining, you have increased control over our quality and production. There is no need to subcontract in machining as everything takes place in-house. This also means less handling and paperwork. It also ensures the GM Nameplate quality and level of detail ing in parts.
- If your parts require a smooth finish plastic machining can be used to remove the gate from an injection moulded part, and this makes the surface smooth and gate free.
- Plastic machining also allows the ability for holes to be taped instead of using an unscrewing too this results in huge cost savings, depending on quantity. It also allows better control of threads and holes.
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| Plastic Machining |
How to select plastic for plastic machining?
- You should choose clear plastics such as Acrylic (clearest), Polycarbonate, Clear PVC, Polysulfone, Ultem.
- Loading strength, tensile strength, and compression strength are important values for structural applications. Ultem, Peek, PPS, Nylon, Delrin are known to have good strength.
- It should be temperature resistance. PTFE, PEEK, Ultem, Torlon, PPS are good choices in this case.
- It should have enough thermal and structural ability. Peek, Nylatron, Delrin AF, Torlon 4301are good to go for the same.
- Plastic should absorb less water, and good choices are Ultem, Peek, PPS, PET
- It should be biocompatible and eco-friendly. Polycarbonate, Peek, UHMW, Rade are biocompatible materials.
- Plastic should be chemical resistance. You can buy Teflon, UHMW, CTFE, PEEK
- It should be toughness and Impact resistance, Nylon, Polycarbonate, UHMW, Peek are good to go for the same.
- Plastic should be affordable and inexpensive. Some cheap options are Delrin, UHMW, Polypropylene, HDPE
- Plastic should be UV Resistance if it is to be used in outdoors especially. This will increase its life and quality both. Ultem, Polycarbonate (UV stabilized grade only, non-FDA), PBT are plastic resistant choices.
Closing Thought: It is a good choice for manufacturing plastics of industrial grade, not only it gives the benefit of customizing the design but at the same time, it also ensures faster production to meet the demands of the market.