Education
Did COVID change engineer communications?
The world’s best engineers rely on fast, consistent, accurate communication. But what happens when a global pandemic forces everyone to work from home? How do engineers, used to hands-on collaboration adapt? Is asynchronous communication superior, or real-time interaction over the phone? Does age and experience matter? Here are two different takes from our sales engineers,…
What is innovation? No, seriously…
Engineers in the medical space are solving complex problems and a company calling itself “innovative” doesn’t matter to them in the slightest. While working on a new project FA last week, the OEM team wanted to test challenging resins for a mold we knew likely wouldn’t work. We surprised them, and even ourselves. The new…
Molding glass optical components into larger structures at high temperature
After a webinar, I was asked by an engineer if a micro molder is able to mold, or overmold, glass optical components into a larger structure, simultaneously, withstanding wide temperature ranges. The temperature range this engineer specified ranged from -40° to 105° Celsius. In the wide majority of cases, this answer is a crystal clear…
Managing flash in micro molding
Flashing, or flash is an excess plastic or resin on a molded plastic part. For larger injection molded parts, it’s simply removed. Managing flash in micro molding however is an art and a science. In the movie, Elf starring Will Ferell, we know elves are ideal for this task because of their “nimble fingers, natural…
How fast can micro mold parts be created?
What can you accomplish in two weeks? Send and return your dry cleaning? Get that report done for your boss? With a new customer, we built a tool and ran parts to spec, even a few of our own engineers thought might be impossible. To accomplish this turnaround on micro molding, our customer’s decisions and…
How to measure micro molded parts. A detailed look.
Creating tight tolerance micro molded components is a feat, but accurate measurement of those components is a feat in itself. Understanding how to measure micro molded parts is just as critical as making the parts. The difficulty of measurement in micro molding. Obviously, if micro molded parts are measured inaccurately, the results when sent to…
Injection-molded micro lenses: explained
Today’s devices are reducing in size, and becoming more complex at the same time. For this reason, designers are rethinking older designs, removing the traditional copper wire for glass or plastic fiber. Micro lenses, lenslets, and lens arrays are making these new designs possible. Glass and plastic, or resin fiber is smaller, and at the…
Understanding micro molded part inspection.
Creating a precision microscopic component is an achievement, but measuring to ensure its accuracy is an achievement in itself. This is why so many engineers want to know the process behind micro mold part inspection. How are micro mold parts inspected? Micro mold parts are inspected automatically or by hand. There are three main categories of inspection in the…
The teams involved in micro mold production
Micro molding a component involves not just one team but six or more. Due to the complex nature of micro molding and the critical nature of our customer’s technology, we must be thorough and ensure perfection for our customers. Here’s a brief look at the six sets of eyes, the teams they work with, and…
Micro Mold Optics Basics (Webinar Transcript)
The following is a transcript from micro mold optics engineer Rick Brown of Accumold, during a webinar presentation for Photonics.com. My name is Rick Brown. I am the senior sales engineer for optical molding at Accumold. My background is in injection molding. I’ve been in the business for 47 years. I’ve been actively involved in…