Plastic Tooling: Parts and Fasteners

 

Plastic has been a growing phenomenon ever since its invention. The amazing thing is its versatility. Plastic has been developed into a strong and durable material. Plastic tooling machines make the plastic parts and plastic fasteners that can now be used in business and at home.

Many objects that help consumers in their daily lives are plastic parts. Keyboards on computers, sink and bathtub faucets, food containers, car parts, life saving medical equipment and even zippers on clothes have plastic parts. The list is virtually endless. Parts that once had rusted metals on them now are clean thanks to the use of plastic.  

Plastic fasteners have also made life easier and simpler. Just think about how many times that rusted screw would not unscrew, no matter how hard you tried. Now, caps, bushings, plugs, clips and rivets that are among the few listed, make it easier to use and not deteriorate because of them being made from plastic.   

A really big success in plastic is in plastic tooling machinery. There are different types of plastic tooling machines. Some of them are injection molding machines, blow molding machines and structural foam machines. They each have specific ways of tooling plastics.

These tooling machines make, among other things,  plastic parts and fasteners. Custom orders are carefully measured through a series of computer designed capabilities that were developed by engineers. They can take a metal part and make a mold that is exactly the same size as the metal part. These plastic tooling machines have the capabilities of defining and calibrating different sizes, shapes and depths from the metal. The plastic, in injection molding machines, can then be injected into the mold and an identical part or fastener is originated. After the approval is made for duplication, many of the same parts and the fasteners can then be made. 

Even when looking at one of these little plastic parts or fasteners, it is amazing to think about all the detail and work that went into making an exact copy from metal.