Mold halves used in Landing Products injection molding machines are manufactured using computer controlled vertical milling machines which have automatic tool calibration and tool change features. Each mold half is cut with a series of cutting tools using progressively smaller tool radii and finer mesh spacing. Once started, the operations required to cut a mold half are completely automatic. A minor amount of hand polishing of the mold cavity is performed after the milling operations are complete.
During an injection molding production run, fine adjustments may be made, if required, to mold position within the molding machine to control propeller balance. Molding machine parameters, once set, are stored electronically for subsequent use to assure consistency between batches.
Larger propellers are retrieved from the injection molder with a robotics machine. The only postoperative manufacturing requirement is drilling of the prop shaft hole which uses a guide hole provided by a pin resident within the mold. |
