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The objective of this project was to fully design and construct a low cost, small-scale plastic injection molding machine. The design process took on three stages: a preliminary design review, initial design review, and finally a critical design review before prototype build could take place. Communication and team structure was key, as the group of 16 students worked to design and build the machine in under 8 weeks. We broke our team down into four groups: Injection, Locking, Frame, and Electronics. I myself played the role of team lead and gave recommendations on design and manufacturability. Being that most of my group had little to no manufacturing experience, when it came time to build our prototype, I taught my teammates how to fabricate the different components through welding, machining, and other means so that we could build a functioning prototype in a timely manner.
Pictured above: The final overall design of our plastic injection molding machine.
Pictured left: The GANTT chart for the manufacture of our project prototype.
One of the original machine designs our team came up with.
The frame of our machine, constructed entirely out of 1" - 11 gauge square tubing.
The injection mechanism of our machine. Injection took place by taking plastic pellets down from a hopper and into the injection tube. Band heaters then melt the pellets as they are plunged into the mold by a linear actuator. We chose this design over the typical variably pitched screw in order to reduce cost of manufacture.
The locking mechanism of the machine. This mechanism is actuated by a vertically mounted linear actuator which moves a linkage thus moving the mold. This design was chosen so that force from the injection process would be transmitted through the linkage and to the frame. Mobile and stationary platens allow for the ejector pin to eject the part from the mold as it is opened.
Some of the drawings made for part manufacture.
The final product of our work. Our prototype ran and was able to create parts from a mold automatically.
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