Cory Schmidtz melts and molds plastic for casting electrical components. The 38-year-old plastic injection molding technician makes casings for thermometers, dashboards and computers using a 440-ton press that shoots hot plastic and water into custom-designed cavities: Cory Schmitz, 38, a plastic injection molding technician, pours plastic pellets into the hopper on a plastic injection molding machine Wednesday. (Photo by Melissa Carlo/Winona Daily News) I am a
plastic injection molding technician that basically sets up molds and gets them ready for production runs and measures a part to the satisfaction of the customer’s design. We do electrical components and electrical cases like computer monitors. The biggest mold we’ve made is for (airplane) gauges on a dashboard. We do a lot for the (agriculture) industry like tractor parts and field work
machinery for spreading. The molds cost a lot of money, like $5,000 to $15,000 for a basic mold. They can be made of aluminum or steel. ? The aluminum ones wear easier and can do about 50,000 to 75,000 pieces (per mold). Steel lasts longer and you can do 200,000 to 500,000 pieces, but everything depends on the (plastic) material used.
Pay attention to each mold because each one’s different and each set-up is different so you need to know how many clamps go on mold, what are the water levels and the temperature. For set up, you need to have strong hands because there’s a lot of torquing of the bolts and tightening. For one, you need to have patience to set the
machine up and know what you’re doing, but you need to be quick enough to switch things around.
