Plastics9 min read
Insert moulding: metal inserts in plastic housings
How to design a moulded-in insert so it holds torque, survives thermal cycling and does not crack the boss around it.
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Sourcing notes for custom parts
Drawings, tooling, quality and landed cost, from the team that runs the programmes.
All guides, page 15
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Plastics9 min read
Ribs, bosses and gussets: design rules for moulded parts
How to add stiffness and screw fixings to a moulded part without sink marks, short shots or a boss that cracks on the assembly line.
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Plastics9 min read
Sub-assembly vs full assembly sourcing: control, cost and logistics
Where to draw the boundary between what you build and what a supplier builds, and how that line changes cost, risk and the speed at which you can change the product.
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Plastics8 min read
Two-shot moulding: when it pays
Moulding a hard substrate and a soft grip in one cycle removes an assembly step, but it adds a tool, a material pair and a bond to prove. Here is where the numbers work.
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Plastics9 min read
Assembly fixtures and poka-yoke: error-proofing at the station
How to design a station so the wrong part, the wrong orientation and the missed step cannot pass, and how to prove the device still works after a year of shifts.
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Plastics9 min read
Draft angle and shut-off surfaces
How much draft a moulded part needs, how texture changes the answer, and how to design shut-offs that close cleanly, vent and survive a million cycles.
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Plastics8 min read
Glass-filled materials: warpage and anisotropy
Short glass fibres make a moulding stiffer and stronger, then move the shrinkage in two directions. Here is how orientation decides flatness and what to change on the drawing.
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Plastics9 min read
PA66 vs PBT for electrical housings: moisture, strength and electrical behaviour
The two workhorse thermoplastics for electrical parts behave differently once moisture, heat and thin walls enter the specification. Here is how to choose on the requirement that matters.
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Plastics10 min read
Sourcing plastic mouldings from India: tooling, material and export
How the Indian moulding base is organised, what to check in a toolroom, and the material and packing decisions that decide landed cost.
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Plastics10 min read
Overmoulded assemblies: sealing, bonding and testing
How a moulded skin turns separate parts into one sealed assembly, the interfaces that decide whether it holds, and the tests that prove it before volume.
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Plastics8 min read
PC vs ABS for enclosures: impact, UV and cost
Polycarbonate and ABS both suit electrical housings, but they fail in different ways. The choice turns on impact, sunlight and the cost of the wall you need.
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Plastics9 min read
Plastic moulding RFQ checklist: what to send and why
The part data, material calls, tool decisions and volume figures that turn a vague moulding enquiry into a quote you can compare.
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Go from reading to checking
The guides are built around the same questions as the free tools. Size a busbar, check an ISO 2768 callout, build a first article report or compare landed cost.
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