For high volume molders, the decision to use a hot runner is an obvious one. The fact is with the high cost of plastic, energy and manpower, hot runners make sense even when small volumes of molded parts are required. Cold runners run slower cycles, consume more energy, use more resin, and use extra manpower for runner handling, grinding and gate trimming.
Mold-Masters, a global leader in hot runner technology, has developed an easy-to-use Hot Runner Justification Tool which is available on the Mold-Masters website. The tool is aimed to help OEMs, molders and mold-makers to determine when it makes sense to use a hot runner.
With just three basic inputs, the tool will yield a cost comparison trade-off for both hot runners and cold runners for a range of mold cavitations. Using the output graphs will give user a quick economic decision as to what makes the most sense for the application. For those wanting a more customized calculation, there is also an advanced option with multiple inputs.
Source: plastics.2456.com
