Mould Making

Moulds: the basis of injection moulding

The production of high-quality injection-moulded products begins with the development of an injection mould. This involves a combination of many technical innovations, which together ensure that a product can be created.

How can you develop ingenious demoulding methods? What is the best way to inject-mould the product? How do you ensure optimal cooling of the mould? How do you ensure that all dimensions remain within the specified tolerances? These are all areas where the designers and engineers at De Beer Plastics draw on their many years of experience to achieve a perfect result.

Made by De Beer

Manufacturing moulds in high-wage countries such as the Netherlands and Germany presents a challenging business case. And purchasing moulds is often a perfectly good solution. Nevertheless, De Beer Plastics remains committed to its strategic capability of in-house mould manufacturing.

We believe that without this in-depth and ongoing expertise in mould-making, no company is capable of developing products that are truly innovative. We devise, we experiment, and through trial and error we create moulds that continually push the boundaries of what we can achieve. And you simply can’t do that if you have everything manufactured on the other side of the world.

Combination moulds

Making smart use of scarce resources to ensure projects are cost-effective. That is the main reason for combining multiple products in a single mould. Expensive components such as a hot runner system and the mould base can be reused in a combination mould.

De Beer Plastics has already built dozens of multi-cavity moulds, some containing as many as 30 different product variants. It can sometimes be quite challenging to coordinate the injection and ejection systems for all these different products, but ingenious solutions can yield significant benefits.

2K moulds

Just as two-component injection moulding is a more advanced form of injection moulding, the same applies to the design and construction of 2K moulds. The complexity involved in combining two materials within a single mould is exceptionally high, making it a true area of expertise.

For over 20 years, De Beer Plastics has been manufacturing all its 2K moulds in-house. With both expertise and responsibility under one roof, you are assured of a reliable mould and an optimised production process.

3D-printed moulds

3D printing offers great design freedom and straightforward manufacturing processes. That is why De Beer Plastics uses 3D techniques in mould making: on the one hand, for printing inserts from a stable plastic, enabling us to injection mould small batches of products ranging from a few dozen to sometimes hundreds of units. This allows you to produce real products quickly and cost-effectively from materials selected for mass production.

On the other hand, De Beer Plastics uses 3D printing to build complex cores from metal. This technique has two major advantages: in 3D, you can create cooling channels that are not possible with conventional drilling. And 3D-printed cores are stronger than machined cores, because 3D-printed parts are effectively made up of an infinite number of tiny weld seams. And weld seams are, by nature, stronger than steel.

Special surfaces

Voor zicht- en designdelen is de oppervlaktestructuur van een matrijs allesbepalend voor het resultaat. En een perfecte oppervlakte te creëren vergt vakmanschap en/of geavanceerde technologie. De Beer Plastics maakt veel matrijzen voor optieken, waarbij de lenzen stuk voor stuk met de hand gepolijst worden. Uiterste precisie, door vakmensen met jarenlange ervaring.

Another type of specialised surface finish involves applying textures to components such as interior parts in the automotive industry. Whether it’s a leather-effect finish, geometric patterns or a very fine matt texture, the challenge lies in achieving consistency – even, or perhaps especially, when repairing or modifying moulds.