Plastic Injection Moulding Specialists. Est 1948.

CAD Tool Design

The Weston Boxes ‘Peel Off Box’ mould tool  – Precision Plastic Injection Mould Tool Design and Manufacture.

S.B.Weston Ltd can design and manufacture plastic injection mould tools in house.

Whether it is a low cost, low run prototype mould or a high volume mould tool requiring robotic handling, S.B.Weston have the design

and build experience required.

Our toolroom has full CAD/CAM tooling facilities and a specialist CNC trained in house designer / machine programmer who will take the finalised component and model a fully functioning plastic injection mould around it.

Detail of the LSC/Brian May Stereoscopic Viewer tool inserts

CAM Tool Manufacture

We have access to diagnostic software which allows us to simulate the flow of plastic into the mould cavity. The software will detect flow restrictions, areas prone to weld lines, voids and sinks, shorting or flashing.

Maintenance and repair on in house tools can be done quickly and efficiently minimising the delay caused to the production process.

We store all our tools on site and can mould additional runs of your product in ten working days or less, thanks to our wide range of machines

the running, and inevitable tweaking for production when it arrives at S.B.Weston’s plant in West London.

The savings involved with Chinese tools are clearly appealing, however we always try to support UK industry and manufacturing and so prefer to tool up in house if it is feasable.

When we manufacture your tool in house you will be invited to view the progress. The standard of our toolmaking and the quality of the HASCO produced component parts we use such as their Hot Runner Systems is unrivaled. There is no overseas shipping involved and the tool upon completion is ready for testing and production. UK manufacturing of plastic injection moulds is more costly as a result of the price of raw materials and labour, however, lead times are greatly reduced due to the lack of transit .

Tags: Injection Moulding Technology, Mould Tools, Production, Tools

Let us visualise your idea!

S.B.Weston’s design team can provide you with a technical drawing service using the latest CAD software.

Our designers will work with you to evolve and improve your product idea aesthetically and functionally creating 3D models and detailed drawings to visualise your idea on screen.

To ensure your product can be successfully transferred to a mould tool which moulds, ejects and generally performs correctly and consistently at the manufacturing stage, the following design considerations will be applied:

• consistent wall thicknesses throughout the design.
• thin walls to allow consistent cooling and reduce uneven material
• shrinkage.structures such as ribs utilised to strengthen walls.
• ribs – half the wall thickness to avoid sinking.
• corner and edge radii.
• draft angles added to sides (typically up to 2 deg) – especially textured /spark eroded walls and walls higher than 1.5cm.
• no undercuts that are impossible to remove from the mould unless absolutely necessary – undercut features nescessitate side core actions which significantly increase the complexity and cost of the mould.
• light colours and spark eroded finishes to hide flow patterns.
• keeping holes at least .0.75cm from edges.

Once these criteria are met we will look for a design approval from you, at which point the CAD files will be supplied to our toolmaking staff for prototyping or CAD/CAM tooling purposes.

Remember… Design will make or break a product… come to the professionals!

Tags: cad cam tooling, CAD Component Design, Drawing, Injection Moulding Technology, Prototyping, Technology

S.B.Weston Ltd. Plastic Injection Moulding Specialists. Est 1948.

1940’s

The plastics industry expanded rapidly after World War II which created a huge demand for inexpensive, mass-produced products. Selwyn Weston, founder of S.B.Weston Ltd. seized upon this new market opportunity in 1948, establishing the company’s first mould shop in Teddington, West London.

1950’s

S.B.Weston Ltd. found its niche manufacturing for pharmaceutical clients – in particular ICI, manufacturing agricultural dispensing pumps of Selwyn’s design.

As the plastics industry and its technologies evolved, so S.B.Weston Ltd’s collective experience grew. The company went from solely producing dispensing pumps on to combs, badges and, over the decades, a vast array of products for industries including the medical, consumer products, toys, plumbing, packaging, and construction.

1960/70/80’s

Selwyn’s son Tony Weston joined the company in 1962 as did David Dodman, and upon Selwyn’s death in 1967 they took over the business and maintained its steady success over the next 30 years.

1990’s

The company changed premises settling on Platts Eyot, an island on the Thames, where they survived the recession of the early 90’s and emerged with Reid Weston, Selwyn’s grandson as the managing director.

One of Reid’s first moves was the implementation of the first of our box tools – the Business Card Box. This product has since become the company’s key trade item and the starting block for our current range of boxes, now available in our shop.

2000’s

As well as the Weston Boxes range  and many other trade moulding contracts, S.B.Weston also became involved in producing vacuum formed interior modification parts for luxury cars. The parts, designed by Tony Weston, required expert design, prototyping and execution to integrate with the luxury interiors of the vehicles and due to the unit requirement often being low, vacuum forming was often used as a cheaper alternative to injection moulding.

In 2009 S.B.Weston Ltd. is outgrowing its premises in Sunbury-on-Thames, running 12 NC controlled Demag machines with robotic automation implemented on many production lines.

We now manufacture our Weston Boxes through 24 hour shifts from Monday to Friday to meet demand and despite the recession have a busy design / tool building department with new clients and projects emerging frequently.

Essentially the principal of what S.B.Weston Ltd does is still the same today as it was for Selwyn Weston back in 1948. It is simply the technology we now use to design, manufacture, monitor, maintain and streamline the injection mouding process that has evolved.

You can also read about the history of the injection moulding process.

Tags: Injection Moulding, Injection Moulding Technology, Plastic Injection Moulding Machines, Weston Boxes

Process
The basic principal of injection moulding is to fill a metal mould or ‘tool’ with molten plastic. The molten plastic, when injected into the mould tool under pressure, will take the shape of the mould cavity. The plastic cools, becomes solid and remains in the shape of the mould cavity. It is then ejected from the mould ready for packaging.

Tags: Injection Moulding, Injection Moulding Technology, Plastic Injection Moulding, Plastic Injection Moulding Machines, Technology