A Brief History of the Plastic Bag
Few things are as ubiquitous as the plastic bag. Full of utility, a plastic bag is not only an efficient way of carrying things around, but it also serves as an efficient and reusable storage device. However, few people really know the history of the plastic bag, even though it is so prevalent in our day to day lives, second in importance only to plastic injection moulding .
People generally take it for granted that the plastic bag has always been around. Understanding where a product comes from can help shed light on its future. So here is the history of the plastic bag summed up in some important dates.
1957 - The plastic bag makes its first appearance as a sandwich bag. Originally packaged on rolls, these plastic bags were are far cry from the lockable containers many people use today and were similar to produce bags. These forerunners still proved to be a practical means of protecting and transporting food.
Six Frequently Asked Questions about Laser Machining
For a lot of companies, products are their main source of revenue. Therefore, it makes sense that the process behind their product design should be done with great effectiveness and efficiency. Before hitting the shelves, a product must go through various types of process and one of them is plastic injection moulding.
From big jars to small baby pacifiers, the injection moulding process is an indispensable part of product production. Without it, our products will not get the desired shape we see in the finished product.
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Five Ways Injection Moulding Influences Our Everyday Lives
Most plastic products are created using a common manufacturing technique called ‘plastic injection moulding‘. During this process the raw material, some form of plastic, is completely melted and then inserted into a special mould. Then the material is cooled and expelled immediately.
Most of the plastic items and products we use in our everyday lives are made of using plastic injection moulding. Here are five real-life examples:
- Your Home
- Food Industry
- Travel
- Sports
- Technology
Technology is also heavily reliant on plastic injection moulding. Let’s imagine for a moment what you would have to give up if we stopped using plastic injection moulding:
- Your computer relies on plastic parts that are created from plastic injection moulding.
- Your printer also relies on crucial plastic components
- It is inconceivable to have a digital camera without some form of plastic injection moulding.
- All digital music players – like your iPod – have parts that can only be created by plastic injection moulding.
Most of the plastic items used in and around the home are crafted using the injection moulding technique. You may not be aware but the dust bin you use, the sink cover; bottles, toys, artificial flowers, decorative items, soap cases, containers, laundry baskets and a lot more are made using this process. Furthermore, the whole concept of product design relies heavily on the ability to create realised prototypes with plastic injection moulding.
Many items – such as disposable razors and the plastic plug in your sink – would not be produced at all were it not for plastic injection moulding.
The food industry as we know it would struggle to operate without this process of plastic injection moulding. Can you imagine a supermarket or a restaurant making do without plastic containers, disposable cutlery and related items? Certainly not!
The food storage containers by which the food is delivered to supermarkets, and in many cases, to your doorstep, ice cream containers and many more products rely on the plastic injection moulding process. Without this process, it’s hard to imagine how the modern food industry would cope!
Odds are that when you catch a train or sit down in your airline seat, the absolute last thing on your mind is plastic injection moulding. But believe it or not, without plastic injection moulding, our very transport system would grind to a halt! Trains have plastic interiors. The same is true for cars and planes, most of the crucial interior parts are made with plastic.
Most sports related items are engineered to precision using plastic injection moulding. The hulls of water sport vehicles like boats and jet skis are made from plastic. Soccer shoes, mouth guards, skateboard wheels – all of these items are manufactured by plastic injection moulding.
These four examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Nearly every product with a plastic component would not function without the use of plastic injection moulding.
As you can see, plastic injection moulding plays a very important part in our everyday lives. Hopefully this article has shed some light on this underreported process.
How to Build a Model Airplane in Twelve Steps
Airplanes have been capturing people’s imagination for many years now. This is why building plastic model airplanes is a favourite hobby amongst aviation lovers all across the world. The great thing about model airplanes is that their product design is such that they can be easily built.
Just follow these twelve simple steps:
Step 1: Clean the Parts
Airplane model parts are created with plastic injection moulding . They are usually coated with a release agent to keep them from being attached to the mould. It also keeps the paint from sticking to the airplane model.
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Four Steps to Success in Rapid Injection Moulding Design
The basic concept behind rapid injection moulding has remained unchanged for the past 20 years. However, it is important to understand this basic concept in order to ensure 100% success with rapid injection moulding. This article will outline the four steps to success in rapid injection moulding product design.
These four steps are:
- Uniform Wall Thickness
- Know About The Resins You Plan To Use
- Have an Appropriate Draft
- Understand the Protomould Manufacturing Process
Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Plastic Injection Machines
Most people are not aware of what plastic injection machinery is. In terms of product design, all of us are surrounded by plastic objects made with plastic injection machines – such as water bottles, telephone handsets, CD covers, dust bins, electric outlets and a lot more. Did you ever realize that these commonly used items are made out of a plastic injection machine?
So if you have ever been interested about plastic injection machines, here are ten things about these machines that might surprise you:
Fact 1: The market is loaded with plastic injection moulding devices, the size of which may range from a plastic box lid to something as large as your garage!
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Plastic Injection Moulding: How Does it Work?
A lot of people go through life with no real interest in the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff. They don’t want to know where their dinner came from, they just want to know it’s in front of them. They have a similar opinion on everything from how their car works to the physics that drive our reality. There is nothing wrong with this kind of person, it takes all kinds to make up the world. There is another type of person, however, and this type of person likes to know the back story of everything. This type of curious individual loves watching documentaries about how things are built, behind-the-scenes features on how certain films are shot, and is usually the type of person who takes things apart to find out on their own what makes it tick. It if for these inquisitive creatures that we’ve created this article, a brief look at the way in which plastic injection moulding works. While most of our homes are filled with items that came into existence through plastic injection moulding, many of us have no idea how it works. Allow us to explain…
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How Tools Are Made
As you look around your garage, you probably see an assortment of tools and materials that could all be used in some way to make something, whether it’s a basic table for the backyard or something far more complex. Tools are the backbone of modern industry and trade, and while they are essential in almost any construction project, we don’t often stop to think about the process of making the tools themselves. What makes the makers? How has the product design process evolved over the centuries? Here, we take a brief look into the history of hand tools and how they are made today.
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The History of Plastic Injection Moulding
Today, plastic injection moulding is responsible for the creation of products as varied as buttons and toys to state of the art computer touch screens and parts for aerospace products. A versatile and incredibly useful process, plastic injection moulding has paved the way for modern invention and design, and is something the world today could not function without. But where did it come from? Who invented it? Where did it originate? How did it catch on? You’re in luck, because all of those burning questions are about to be answered as we delve into its interesting history…
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How to Make Your Invention A Reality
Though we may not realise it, many of us are capable of inventing something truly life changing. At some point or another, most of us have come up with an idea for how something could work better, or more efficiently, and a few of us have come up with a completely novel idea. The difference between most people and the few who turn their inventions into reality is that true inventors have the conviction to follow their ideas through, and the business sense to know when they’re onto a winner. Here, we detail some of the processes involved from inception (that’s your job) to product design to finished product.
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