Maya Ellison
Plastic is a versatile material for toys, as it is lightweight, colourful, strong, and mouldable. Injection moulding is the most common technique for making plastic toys, where molten plastic is injected into a mould to achieve a desired shape. This process is cost-effective, quick, and allows for complex designs. To make your own plastic toy mould, you can use silicone or metal. First, create a wax model of your toy, then fill a metal box with silicone and let it cure for about 12 hours. Alternatively, you can use a metal mould, which involves filling a metal box with plaster, letting it cure, and then filling the cavity with molten zinc, copper, aluminium, and magnesium, which will solidify to create your mould.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Most common type of plastic toy mold | Injection mold |
| Injection mold features | Excellent product quality, consistent size, nice finish, high production efficiency |
| Use case | Used for toys with high-quality standards, a large number of assembly pieces, thick walls, and large batch size |
| Second most common type of plastic toy mold | Hollow mold |
| Hollow mold use case | Used to produce hollow toy goods with complicated forms, thick walls, large sizes, and low dimensional precision |
| Common toy plastics | Thermoplastics |
| Common polymers found in toys | Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polystyrene, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) |
| Strong, rigid, and lightweight material | Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) |
| Common mold materials | Silicone, Metal |
| Molding technique | Injection molding |
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What You'll Learn
Choose the right plastic
When choosing the right plastic for your DIY plastic toy mold, there are several factors to consider, such as the desired qualities of the final product, the molding method, and safety considerations. Here are some guidelines to help you select the most suitable plastic for your project:
Thermoplastics:
Thermoplastics are the most common type of plastic used in toy manufacturing. They are easy to work with because they can be heated, softened, and formed using pressure in a mold. Here are some specific types of thermoplastics and their characteristics:
- Polyethylene (PE): PE is an ethylene-based polymer known for its durability and good all-around plastic qualities. It is often used in outdoor toys and equipment due to its weatherproof and nonslip properties.
- Polypropylene (PP): PP is a propylene-based polymer that offers a wider range of hardness and stiffness compared to PE. It can be tinted more effectively, is less expensive, but may not last as long.
- Polystyrene (PS): PS is a styrene-based polymer that provides high surface quality and can be made translucent. However, PS products tend to be more brittle than PE or PP.
- Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): PVC offers the greatest range of attributes, including softness, firmness, thickness, or frothiness. It is versatile and can be used in various applications, but its usage is declining due to potential health concerns.
Injection Molding Resins:
If you plan to use the injection molding technique, you'll need to choose a suitable resin. Injection molding resins typically come in two parts, labeled as Part A and Part B. These parts must be mixed in equal proportions to create the final product. Consult with your resin supplier to determine the exact shrinkage rate of the resin as it hardens, as this will impact the scaling of your toy.
Biodegradable Options:
If sustainability is important to you, consider using biodegradable plastics, such as the pellets offered by Polly Plastics. These pellets can be heated and molded into any shape, and they result in strong and permanent creations. You can also remold them by reheating, making them ideal for those who want to experiment and make adjustments.
Safety Considerations:
When choosing a plastic for your toy mold, always prioritize safety, especially if the toy is intended for young children. Avoid plastics with potential health risks, such as PVC, which is being phased out by some manufacturers due to health concerns. Opt for materials that are non-toxic and free from harmful chemicals. Additionally, ensure that the plastic you choose is durable and does not have small parts that could pose a choking hazard.
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Select a mould material
When selecting a mould material, it is important to consider the desired characteristics of the final toy product, such as durability, stiffness, surface quality and colour.
The most common type of plastic toy mould is the injection mould, which is made from metal and can produce a large number of parts over its service life. Metal injection moulds are long-lasting and can withstand thousands of production runs. They offer excellent product quality, consistent size, a nice finish, and high production efficiency. However, creating a metal mould requires specialised equipment and technical knowledge.
For smaller-scale projects or short production runs, silicone is a good alternative mould material. Silicone moulds are commonly used to cast resin or pewter and can produce a small batch of toys with intricate details. Silicone has the advantage of being flexible, allowing for easy demoulding, and it can withstand higher temperatures than other rubbers. However, silicone moulds may not be suitable for mass production as they cannot endure extended use for thousands of toys.
Other mould materials to consider include vulcanized rubber, which is designed for very low-temperature vulcanization, and thermoplastics, which are commonly used in injection moulding. Thermoplastics are heated and softened before being formed under pressure in a mould or die, and they cool and harden quickly.
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Make a prototype
To make a prototype of a plastic toy, you will first need to decide on the design of the toy. You can then create a model of the toy using a 3D printer, or by sculpting a wax model by hand. Once you have your model, you can create a prototype mould.
There are several types of moulds that can be used, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Injection moulds, for example, are the most common type of toy mould and offer excellent product quality, consistent size, a nice finish, and high production efficiency. Hollow moulds, on the other hand, are used to produce hollow toys with complex forms, thick walls, large sizes, and low dimensional precision.
If you want to create a simple mould for a small number of casts, you can use silicone. Silicone moulds are created by filling a metal box with silicone, which takes around 12 hours to cure. These moulds can then be used to create hard plastic copies of your toy. However, silicone moulds cannot endure a large production run.
For a longer-lasting mould, you can use metal. To do this, fill a metal form with plaster and place your hard plastic prototype in the centre. Once the plaster has cured, remove the prototype, leaving a cavity. Fill this cavity with a mix of molten zinc, copper, aluminium, and magnesium. When this mix cools and solidifies, you will have a metal production mould. Repeat this process to make the other half of the toy piece.
Another option for creating a mould is to use a DIY plastic injection machine. This method involves using plastic pellets or polymers, which are melted and mixed with dye to form a thick paste that can be injected into the mould.
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Create the mould
To create a mould for a plastic toy, you will first need to decide on the design of your toy. Once you have a clear idea of what you want to create, you can begin the process of designing and modelling your toy.
One way to create a mould is to first make a wax model of your toy. You can do this by sculpting wax by hand, following a 3D depiction of your toy. Alternatively, you can use a 3D printer to create a model. Once you have your wax model, you need to decide whether your toy will be manufactured in one piece or several.
For each part of your toy, you will need to create a silicone mould. To do this, fill a metal box with silicone and let it cure for around 12 hours. You can then use this mould to make hard plastic copies of your toy. These copies are prototypes, and they can be used to make a production mould.
To make a production mould, take a hard plastic copy of your toy and place it in a metal form. Fill the form with plaster and let it cure. Once the plaster has cured, you can remove the prototype, leaving a cavity in the plaster. Fill this cavity with a mix of molten zinc, copper, aluminium, and magnesium. When the metal mixture cools and solidifies, break the plaster mould to reveal your metal production mould. Repeat this process to make the other half of your toy.
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Injection moulding
Creating a mould requires extensive design and prototyping. Product design teams will often use 3D printing to prototype a part and then create a mould that can reliably make that part. This process requires extensive testing and optimising. Once the mould is complete, it can be used to create thousands of identical parts.
The injection moulding process itself consists of six steps:
- Clamping: The two halves of the mould are closed by a clamping unit and held tightly together. This ensures that the molten plastic is injected into a secure, closed environment, preventing leaks or defects.
- Injection: The plastic, typically in the form of granules or pellets, is melted down into a liquid and injected into the mould at high pressure.
- Dwelling: The melted plastic fills the entirety of the mould. Pressure is applied directly to ensure the liquid fills every cavity, creating an identical product.
- Cooling: The plastic is allowed to cool and solidify, taking on its final shape. The cooling time can vary depending on factors such as the type of plastic used and the thickness of the moulded part.
- Ejection: Once the plastic has cooled, the newly moulded part is removed from the mould. This can be done through several methods, including pins, blades, bars, sleeves, or lifters.
- Inspection: The moulded part undergoes a quality control check to ensure it meets the required specifications and standards. Common defects to look out for include warping, weld lines, sink marks, or flashing.
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Frequently asked questions
Injection molding is the most common way to make plastic toys. This involves filling hot and moldable plastic into specific molds to get a toy part in a desired shape and structure.
You will need a 3D printer or a wax modeler to create the toy model. Then, to make the mold, you will need a metal box, silicone, plaster, and a mix of metals, including molten zinc, copper, aluminum, and magnesium.
Thermoplastics are the most common toy plastics. Polyethylene (PE) is durable, polypropylene (PP) offers a greater range of hardness and stiffness and can be tinted more effectively, polystyrene (PS) has a high surface quality and can be made translucent, and PVC offers the greatest range of attributes and costs.
