Reduction of Plastic Injection Tool Tuning Iterations Using Scanning Technology

Abstract

Mann+Hummel builds the plastic parts under a car's hood – washer bottles, coolant reservoirs, intake manifolds, air filter boxes – and every injection tool has to be tuned by iteration before it produces good ones. Jeremy Comment describes implementing scanning and freeform surface analysis to cut the number of those iterations, reducing tool tuning time and cost while improving the resulting parts, to the point where scanning became the primary inspection source. The paper draws out what the same approach would mean for sheet metal stamping and metal casting.