cheap mold bases

I am working alone in a little shop with three of my young homeschooled kids to teach them and bought a simple benchtop injection molder and have made my first couple of molds for really simple parts (they are look like rubber gaskets) and am hooked. These are just simple low-production aluminum molds with two halves and dowel pin locators that you pry apart and they don't have anything complex like springs, ejectors, etc.

Can anyone share where to get really cheap mold bases (even overseas) that I can use so that I don't have to make my own each time? By the time I buy the large pieces of aluminum and paying a big price it really adds up. I figure I can probably get a whole base ready to machine for the price I pay for the aluminum since I don't get the volume discount of a place that makes mold bases.

How about sources for cheap mold components like pin locators and bushings? And sources for lower volume plastic pellets? Seems like all the plastic material places only want to sell you a huge amount (forgot the name they call it but it's huge).

Thanks for your tips and for helping out the small guy

Hi signatero:
I can buy cheapo import mold bases from DME and others, but I've never been satisfied with them and always end up making my own from rough plates.
That way I get EXACTLY what I want and I don't have to compromise to accommodate what I can buy.

For your situation, I would look into the Master Unit Die (MUD for short) system offered by DME.
There are others out there too that work the same way.
These are super popular with molders; the MUD frame stays in the press (sometimes for decades) and removable inserts are used and swapped out to make different parts.
They have severe limitations, but for simple core-cavity and cavity-cavity molds they are the cat's ass.

Many many molders are way too cheap to actually buy these from DME, so there must be thousands of home-made variants out there...it's a no brainer to come up with a simple design and all it takes is a few lumps of steel and some quality milling machine time to get you in business.

Do a Google search for MUD molds and you'll find plenty of ideas.

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

I'm curious, what do these mold bases look like? What are the dimensions? What grade of AL is used? Do you have a link to any current vendor's offerings?

Edit to add: OK, I googled MUD bases, I have an idea of what they are.

You can also use a mold base for multiple molds if you are Clever in your design. Simply swap aluminum inserts out.

Right now I have a simple and relatively crude Medium Machinery press. It injects from the top. Crude but works fine. If I do more parts I would like to get a Morgan press. Both are vertical machines. I don't think a MUD base will work with a vertical machine, right? Also, the mold has to be able to be taken in and out of the machine by hand so shouldn't be super heavy (steel) I would imagine.

I don't know much about mold bases, but if they are straightforward Al parts, I'm sure I can make you a few from plate or bar. Idaho panhandle is 1-day FedEx ground, Idaho main 2-days. Or what the heck, I'm getting so bored out here, I'll drive them over .

Regards.

Mike

just make or buy one base and swap inserts like Steve wrote about, its super easy in that a lot of my parts are flat on one side so I just need to make one side and a new injector plate per mold ,,,

I have found it works good to make a proto parts on the 3D printer and after I get what I want then change it over to molding them . I mostly do plastic parts for fun and a lot of the time just keep 3D printing them ,,

you might look at a 3d printer to make the molds,,, I have not tried it but I have seen it done and it seems to work good for short run parts.. I have been playing with a Ender 3 pro and for a cheap under $300 printer it works GREAT..