Moldmaker
A moldmaker (mouldmaker in English-speaking countries other than the US) or molder (moulder) is a skilled tradesperson who fabricates molds (or moulds) for use in casting metal products.[1]
Moldmakers are generally employed in foundries, where molds are used to cast products from metals such as aluminium and cast iron.
Injection molding
[edit]The term moldmaker may also be used to describe workers employed in fabricating dies and metal moulds for use in injection molding and die-casting, such as in the plastics, rubber or ceramics industries, in which case it is sometimes regarded as a branch of the trade of toolmaker.[2] The process of manufacturing molds is often highly automated.
Although many of the machining processes involved in mold making use computer-controlled equipment for the manufacturing of molds (particularly plastic and rubber injection and transfer), moldmaking remains a highly skilled trade, requiring expertise in manual machining, CNC machining, CNC wire EDM, CNC Ram EDM, surface grinding, hand polishing and more. Because of the skill and intense labor involved, a lot of mold making in the US has been outsourced to low-wage countries.[citation needed] The majority of plastic and rubber parts are made using injection or transfer molds, requiring a mold to be manufactured by a moldmaker.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Moulder/Coremaker". Make It!. Manufacturing Skills Australia. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-04. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
- ^ Bryce, Douglas M. (1997), Plastic injection molding: material selection and product design fundamentals, vol. 2, SME, p. 145, ISBN 978-0-87263-488-6.
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