3D
printing
journey
Joe Bowes with one of the company’s Stratasys
(www.is.gd/elobap) 3D-printers. Small they
may be, but they have had a big impact,
making short-run injection moulding viable, as
with these parts (inset)
All photos: Andrew Allcock
Banbury-based Plastic Parts Direct is a company of 17 years standing, although its personnel boast some
35 years’ experience in the injection moulding business. Earlier this year, this small company announced
it had entered the world of 3D-printed mould tools. Andrew Allcock called by, pre-pandemic, to learn more
Having worked for a moulding operation
that was acquired by a progression of
different owners, with other
companies also brought into the mix, Joe
Bowes, managing director of Plastic Parts
Direct, nally landed up at one in Banbury
that grew during the ‘90s from nothing to 60
injection moulding machines in just 10
years, all based on the use of aluminium
mould tools.
With that business sold and merged,
Bowes and a partner set out to build their
own business. The early 2000s were, of
course, just the time when China was
ramping up in the mould tool and moulding
area. The new company was caught by that
and saw, for example, a third or more of
business in giftware disappear, which
prompted a move further into contract
moulding. “However, we asked ourselves,
‘what is our safety net?’ Well, we didn’t have
one, so we needed our own product,” the
co-founder explains.
This saw the company go headlong into
the glazing, or fenestration, industry, starting
in 2006, producing items that are used by
those making and installing double glazing
frames. Today, that business accounts for
70% of the company’s £1.5m sales, backed
by stock on the shelf and next-day delivery.
Overall, the 14-employee company produces
some four million mouldings/month, all in
thermoplastics, with, again, 70% going to
the glazing industry.
This traditional business has, however,
been supported since around 2012 by 3D
printing. Explains Bowes: “When 3D-printing
came along, we took a look at what that
could offer. The general process for
designing and making an injection moulding
tool is that you get the part drawing and you
get your 3D and you check it as best you
can. You hope everyone’s got their sums in
order, make the tool, get it onto the
moulding machine, sample it and then you
nd that it doesn’t clip together, or
something. So, the tool is taken off the
machine, it is stripped down and modi ed.
A long process. So, we put out a couple of
trial parts to 3D-printers, using the parts to
check the design to see if it ts and works.
18 July/August 2020 | www.machinery.co.uk | MachineryMagazine | @MachineryTweets
/elobap)
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