The Making of TheCrafsMan's Pocketnaut Mold Part 1/2 

Thank you for putting me in the same category as him!

Thanks.

YES!💜👏👏👏👍👍👍

Thank you so much!

Thank you. I have used inserts before, but I think this is the first time I used a press-fit that required this level of precision. It was very satisfying and gives me the confidence to do this more often.

Thanks for the sub!

It was definitely very satisfying because I didn't know how it was going to turn out. The theory told me it should work well, but you never know, right?

Thank you. I sometimes think back to those times and am amazed at what I did with how little I knew then.

That's a good point. It probably would have been a good idea to drill a hole through to the back. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks. That would be fun!

My pleasure!

Thank you!

In his video he said he made 500 and his on-line shop says out of stock--more coming soon. So sounds like it's doing well.

I haven't used the Morgan recently. I have a project on the backlog that requires it, but I'm trying to work through my backlog before I start on any more projects.

There isn't much to it. For pressure, if you have too much, you'll get flash or a blow out. If you don't have enough, it will be a short shot. As to holding time, It's usually not that long as the gate will often freeze after a few seconds. But clamping time might need to be longer to let the part cool enough. In other words, trial and error... As to the compressor, I'm using a 5 gallon, 225 psi Dewalt compressor. Works great for these small machines, and allows me to go up to 140psi to the ram. Most compressors kick in to refill the tank at pressures below 140psi. I rarely go that high, but some molds with thin parts require that.

@@JohnSL thank you. I will try some different things.. to see where each parameter lands.. i guess experience. 😀.

I go back and forth on adding vents. In this case, both the TPE and PP flow easily, so vents are not critical. For ABS, it would probably be much more important.

Thanks. Email correspondence only. He was really great to work with, though. He definitely knows what he's doing.

Yea, especially the super-long reach 1/32" end mill. It's about 1/2" long, which means over 16X. The trick is that I use G-Wizard to calculate feeds and speeds, and it has a deflection calculator I use to ensure deflection isn't an issue.

@@JohnSL thanks for sharing

I did a full video on my machine: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y9nnBf-tvJY.html

While it's called a coolant, it's primary purpose is to act as a lubricant. Aluminum is a "sticky" material and tends to lead to chip welding. In other words, the chips tend to stick to the end mill. The coolant both washes the chips away and reduces this tendency. It's actually a lot more important for aluminum than steel for that reason.

Also what is the expected shrink rate?

Woops.