AboutShiniGami Expertise I can answer any question about Action Figure and Toy Design, Prototyping, Manufacturing and Production Management. Over 20 years in the Toy business with clients including Bandai US/Japan/Europe, Hasbro, Kenner, Mattel, McFarlane Toys, Playmates, etc., and also specialty companies including Toy Tokyo, The Showroom NYC, Kid Robot, Wheaty Wheat and many others.
NOTE: I travel A LOT, so during overseas travel (Japan, Hong Kong, China), I do not check for questions. Thanks.
Experience
Past/Present Clients: Designers including : Gary Baseman, Ron English, Frank Kozik, Pete Fowler, Futura, Stash, David Horvath. Companies including : Bandai Japan, Bandai US, Dark Horse, Hasbro, Kenner, Lucas Films, Maharishi, Marvel, Mattel, McFarlane Toys, MTV, NIKE, Playmates, Reebok, Sony, etc.
Expert: ShiniGami Date: 1/9/2008 Subject: metal mold process
Question are the metal molds used in mass producing toys, made from waxes or resin casts? it seems to me that a wax master would need to be the foundation for the metal mold making process...would you be willing to elaborate of the process from going to sculpt to the the metal negative for an injection molded action figure? thanks for your time
Answer Waxes, Polyurethanes (Resins), Sculpey, Brass and Plastic Extrusions or about anything else.
No 2 items are usually the same. Some have to be re-cast, some reduced or enlarged in size, engineering added, plastic flow, design of gates and vents, pulls, undercuts, hardening times, injection pressures up to many tons, Vinyl, PVC, ABS, hybrids, specialty plastics, durometers, shear strengths, mold life, mold cavities, mold release, mold cycle times, air cooled or water cooled, etc etc. Also depends on item design, budget (Virgin plastic or recycled), articulation, quantity to be run requiring multiple final tool sets, etc.
My job is many times to give input or suggestions on any or all of the above. It's alot of hands on, doing different steps on different projects until you can basic do all of the above. Then comes down to safety and drop tests, correcting any tooling problems or issues, re-testing, determining cycle times for different parts in same tooling sets, etc.
Took me about 10 years to go from doing small parts of projects, to larger , more involved items, to detailed products in ABS with high tolerances and precision detail. Then maybe 5 or more years to do die cast and metal components, Battery Ops, etc.
I bought alot of equipment myself to learn faster. Spincasters, Vulcanisers, pressure and vacuum chambers, rotomolding, RTVs, etc. I think between my first set-up of chambers, casters and molding equipment, I spent about $40,000US, and then about half that much on materials. I bought Urethanes and RTVs in 55 gallon drums, and just spent years getting it down. It's also why there's very few overall project managers/designers with hands on experience.
