Do you need to deliver the highest quality products to your customers at the lowest possible cost? PTP Manufacturing is here to help you reach that goal with the intelligent application of plastics machining. Machining your part from raw stock, or adding machining processes to a molded part may well be the key to meeting your quality and cost goals.
These pictures show an example of how one of our customers has saved mold costs and delivered the precision needed in an NSF valve assembly. The part is produced in relatively small quantity, in the low thousands per year. The material chosen for the part is glass filled Noryl, a material similar to glass filled nylon, but with some additional beneficial qualities.
Note that there are 4 valve body sizes. Since the project quote incorporated both fixture design and part machining we designed a single flecable fixture that works with all of the required part sizes. This reduced the project cost, while maintaining the quality we and our customer demands.
There are two areas in the part that required high precision. One is an internal groove for an O-ring, and in addition there are several female NTP pipe treads for external connections. While it is sometimes possible to create a mold that can maintain the precision needed, the cost can be extremely high.
At the same time, while the customer recognized the benefits of adding a machining process to their molded plastic part, they were sensitive to the end cost. We were able to address the need for economy and precision when machining their plastic part by applying our experience and skill to the problem.
The machining fixture has a changeable plate. This allows a single fixture to accommodate all four valve body sizes. Since one size is machined at a time there is little time cost to change the alignment plate, but there is a meaningful cost savings in the fixture production.
To cut down on the machining cycle time and maintain the quality and precision the machined part needed, we designed fixtures to hold the raw parts. This assured that they were accurately, and repeatably held in the correct position for machining. In addition, the use of multiple fixtures allows our staff to stage raw parts and remove finished parts from the CNC machining centers while machining continues. This of course speeds up the machining process and reduces cost.
When quoting a project for a customer or prospect we always consider the project as a whole and develop the most streamlined process to ensure our high standard of precision and accuracy. In this instance, this project could not have happened without secondary custom machining.
Valve body plastic molded part shown in machining fixture.
If you have a product that is facing similar needs regarding cost and precision PTP Manufacturing would like the opportunity to provide a quote on producing your plastic part.
Our expert staff will take into consideration the volume of pieces run per year and the cost of the mold for added features such as threads or grooves. Some other considerations would be whether there may be adjustments made to the custom parts and what level of precision is needed for the product. Based on this information, our engineers will decide on the most efficient and economical option.
Whatever your plastic machining needs, PTP Manufacturing has you covered.
