The Blog

Torsten’s Training Tips: Warpage Due to Fiber Orientation

Fiber orientation plays a significant role in the shrinkage and warpage of a molded part. Let’s look at why. Fiber -filled composite plastic materials will induce anisotropic mechanical properties. Fiber reinforced parts have directional mechanical properties that are stronger in the direction (or parallel) to the flow and weaker transverse (or perpendicular) to the flow. […]

Industry 4.0 Meets Learning 4.0

We don’t want to just revolutionize the training industry; we want “evolutionize” your way of learning. Everyone has heard the maxim “time is money” and nowhere is that truer than with training. Consider the time your employees are attending off-site or on-site training, away from their desks or the molding floor, and not productive in […]

Torsten’s Training Tips: Understanding Shrinkage and Warpage Behaviors

Minimizing volumetric shrinkages and reducing part warpage are important considerations when designing injection molded parts. By understanding the interaction of part and mold designs, polymer material, and the molding process, preventative measures can be designed into the molding system to minimize shrinkage and warpage. Polymer materials naturally expand when they are heated and shrink as […]

Torsten’s Training Tips: PVT

The Pressure-Volume-Temperature (or PVT) relationship of different materials is a calculation of the compressibility of material during the packing and cooling phase. Since this affects a parts’ shrinkage and warpage after ejection, having a clear understanding of PVT is essential for success. Polymer material shrinkage inside a mold must be compensated for with packing and […]

Torsten’s Training Tips: Mold Design — Pin-Point Gates

Gate placement is an important aspect of mold design to achieve optimal part quality. Let’s look at some advantages and disadvantages to using pin-point (pinpoint) gates in mold design. Because gate placement options are often limited by design restrictions and other part-related constraints, understanding and utilizing industry best-practices can be helpful in achieving the desired […]

Torsten’s Training Tips: Nozzle Tip Designs

Molding high quality parts is dependent on many factors, including skillful part and mold design, an understanding of polymer material behavior, and an optimized process. The three common nozzle tip designs found in the injection molding industry are general purpose, reverse taper, and free flow. Nozzle tip design and size will impact mold filling, process […]

New Processing Lessons: Cooling and Packing

We are excited to announce our latest lessons in the Processing category. There are six brand new lessons focused on the Cooling and Packing phase. These lessons continue to build on our foundational level of injection molding training. Filling Phase Lessons Include: Lesson 1 – Packing Pressure Profiles: Amorphous Materials This lesson reviews the internal […]

Moldex3D and Kruse Training Collaboration

This week Moldex3D announced their collaboration with Kruse Analysis on the Kruse Training program. Kruse Training lessons contain actual molding simulations that reinforce each lesson’s topic. The visually engaging animations are  created using Moldex3D simulation software and provide trainees an opportunity to easily learn and understand basic-to-advanced plastics engineering knowledge and techniques. The goal of […]

NPE 2018 Recap and Other News

Almost a month has passed since NPE 2018 ended and aside from catching up on “regular” work (which luckily never ends!), we’ve also been spending time connecting with people we met at the show and integrating all of the great feedback we received into our programs. Watch our recap video to see what we were […]

Kruse Training – Focused Learning

We are less than than three weeks from NPE 2018 — and we can’t wait to share Kruse Training with the injection molding industry. There are currently 42 focused learning lessons available, with many more in the works. We will continue to add lessons, ranging in topics from Art-to-Part to Special Processes, and at varying degrees […]