The global rate of rotational molded toys that are being purchased has been sky-rocketing up every day. During the holiday season, toys are bought worldwide by every parent who has small children to big children. It’s estimated that a total of about $100 billion worth of toys will be produced by the year 2015.
One of the unknown manufacturing methods that is used in the making of toys is rotational molding. Rotomolded toys are manufactured through a technology which uses custom plastic molding through hollow molds. It has been a major breakthrough in the toy world. This process has made it possible for the production of a variety of toys and has made many retailer’s life easier in the different options that it offers. Thanks to the technology, any size of toy can be easily molded from just a small size to a big size in real time.
Custom Plastic Mold Design
The molding of toys using rotational molding is a sophisticated process. Qualified chemical engineers design the plastic molds according to individual company needs. The design can take any shape and size depending on what is required. The CAD technology is a combination of computer aided design and a chemical engineering process where the molds are designed amd produced.
The rotational moulding design team at R & R Technologies LLC uses computer programs for the designing and calculations needed to come up with the actual size. Once a satisfactory shape and design has been made, the prototype is created to produce the shape in real time.
The Rotational Molding Process
The process is ideal for mass production because of the cost savings you get when a large quantity of items are manufactured at the same time. It starts when the molds are packed inside with powdered-plastics and then placed in spokes which are pipe-like. The spokes protrudes from centrally placed hubs and the molds are made to rotate uniformly in several moving axes. The molds are swung in a central furnace, the powder melts and then sticks to the mold where eventually it goes to the cooling place.
Cooling Room
Once the process is about to complete, the plastic inside the mold, is finishing taking its shape from the design of the mold.It’s then moved to a cooler room where various methods are used to cool the molded plastic. The molded plastic at this level is just hollow taking the shape of the mold, but still hot. The room has a water sprayer which sprays the mold causing the plastic to hardened into shape. The entire process takes between 40 to 45 minutes of time, depending on the size of the mold and plastic resin used.
Versatile Designs
The molding process is ideal for a variety of designs, which is an important factor since the emergence of new technologies in today’s world is always changing. Different type of toys and play equipment can be easily now manufactured in mass quantities. It allows for creation of many unique colors and bright children’s toys. The flexibility involved in rotational molding is a great asset to the toy industry.
The Fundamentals of Plastic Materials
The term “plastics” consists of products made up of different components such as carbon, hydrogen, air, nitrogen, chlorine, as well as sulfur. Plastics commonly have high molecular weight, indicating each particle could have countless atoms connected with each other. Normal place products, such as timber, horn as well as rosin, are additionally comprised of particles of high molecular weight. The produced or artificial plastics are commonly made to resemble the materials of all-natural products. Plastics, additionally called polymers, are created by the conversion of all-natural items or by the synthesis from key chemicals usually originating from oil, gas, or charcoal.
Examples of Rotomolded Plastic Toys
Rotational moulded toys are very diversified with many of them used in play type equipment. Here are some examples of such products achieved by the rotational process; kiddies cars, pr-school toys, slides and climbers, children’s vehicles, wagons and scooters, hollow balls, footballs and bats, helmets, sporting equipment, climbing equipment, playground equipment, doll houses and dolls, tricycles and bicycle parts, action figures and more. Here is some more examples of what we are talking about http://www.globalsources.com/manufacturers/Plastic-Toy.html
Safety Precaution
All suppliers of products in this niche are required to take safety precautions. The properly manufactured toys are actually subjected to many safety tests. Since these process uses plastic molds, based on a hollow design, precautionary tests are done to ensure that every product is safe for children’s use. Quality assurance and safety tests make sure that the toys are strong and durable for a long time. We currently run these type of tests for the Michigan service area which has strong standards.
Rotomolded Toys are Growing in Popularity Worldwide
Rotational molded toys are very common these days, the technology has made it possible for parents to access affordable toys. The different designs and low cost of the technology offers great entertainment for children worldwide! For more information on custom plastic molding manufacturing click here.
R&R Technologies LLC 