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20 MoldMaking Technology November 2015 Pellet 2 Part (P2P) 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 Image courtesy of Krauss Maffei. H 2 O Preparing for Takeover Tooling With the right preparation, moldmakers can insulate themselves from takeover tooling crises and add greater value to the molder. By Rich Oles and Don Vander Jagt When taking over a tooling project, allow sufficient time to accurately evaluate the mold and properly handle any issues you may encounter. The following steps can help ease the process. Part examination. Request a full set of raw parts from each cavity, any reworked parts and/or parts the cus- tomer is accepting. This will provide a realistic view of the part quality the exist- ing tool can produce and the issues that need to be addressed—all without opening the mold. Mold identification. Determine if the mold is the primary or capacity tool, its revision level, piece part name, and part number. Open up the mold and examine any engraving to confirm the date wheel and/or grid. Photo documentation. Take photos before starting any repairs or cleaning to document the mold's condition as it was received. Also take pictures of assest tags, and mold indentifica- tion and manifold system tags. Pictures ease defect detection. Evaluation of mold interaction and mechanical actions. Conduct a visual inspection of leader pins, bushings, return pins and parting line locks to determine the mold's condi- tion. If the mold has slides and lifters, place it on a bench and move the plate work. This, combined with what you learned by opening the mold previously, should indicate how well the mold will interface from half to half. Examine ejector pins to make sure they are not bell-mouthing the hole. A spotting press is a good tool for cycling the actions and taking a hit to determine how the mold is spotting off and in what locations. If a spotting press is not available, place the tool in an injection molding machine. Be careful not to intro- duce plastic until you are certain that the mold will hold the cavity and remain leak free. Vent verification. Vents can't work if the parting line is crushed and vents are blocked, so maintaining inserts is essen- tial. Otherwise, you can severely limit your processing window. Evaluate the water system and determine if there is an existing water diagram in plaque or print format. If the answer is no, then start tracing water lines and documenting the hookups. Inspect for leakage, kinks, cuts and restrictions caused by a To remove a heat sink caused by unplanned steel-to-steel contact or an over-molded hot runner manifold system, as seen here, clean the overmolding or clear the steel. 6 This article reviews proper preparation procedures and considerations when working with takeover tooling. Images courtesy of ROI.