Injection Molding
Thermoplastic
Cold Runner Molds from Aline Components Thermoplastic Injection Molding Services
Pennsylvania’s leading plastic injection molding manufacturer, Aline Components, Inc. is skilled in creating cold runner molds to deliver molten thermoplastic material to the mold cavities for custom plastic part or component replication. The design of cold runner systems is an area that requires some review to ensure the highest level of accuracy and efficiency that those in the industry have come to expect. However, at Aline we have many years of experience in cold runner technology and have established techniques that help us produce reliable product quality while minimizing runner scrap.
Contrary to hot runner molds, cold runner molds produce both a part and a runner for every cycle. With heightened interest in maintaining our natural resources there has been some concern as to whether cold runner systems are environmental-friendly. In a cold runner mold, the runner consists of excess plastic material retained in feed channels that is cooled and ejected with every part. After production, runners are either disposed of or reground and reprocessed with the original material. This not only increases steps in the manufacturing process, but also decreases the plastic’s mechanical properties. Despite these concerns, there are many significant advantages to using a cold runner mold.
- Less expensive than hot runner molds
- Less mold maintenance
- Less skill necessary for setup and operation Easy color changes
Two primary types of cold runner molds are two-plate and three-plate molds. Easiest and least expensive, two-plate cold runner molds are equipped with a single parting plane in which the mold splits and forms two halves. Since the runner system is located on the parting plane, plastic parts or components can only be gated on their perimeter.
Three-plate cold runner molds have two plates with two parting planes in which the mold splits into three sections each time the part is ejected. Since the runner system can be located on one of the two parting planes, plastic parts or components can be gated in the most efficient locations for greater flexibility and easier separation.
For simple and economical mold designs, rely on cold runner molds from Aline Components.
