Page 58 - Plastics News November 2025
P. 58
PRODUCT NEWS
Machined vs. Cast Semi-Finished Plastics:
What’s Right for Your Product?
cal Control (CNC machined plastics) to do to
achieve high precision and repeatability. The key
steps involve:
♦ Material Selection: Selection of the correct
plastic material depending on the needs of
the application.
♦ Design and Programming: The CNC machine
must be programmed, and elaborate de-
signs put together to perform the machining
operations.
♦ Machining Operations: It entails cutting, drill-
ing, milling, or turning the plastic material
with a number of tools to produce the end
product.
he machined and the cast plastics are the ♦ Finishing: Coating or finishing the compo-
most important questions in the plastic nent using polishing or coating to make the
Tmanufacturing world. Both approaches component look and work better.
have unique pros and cons, and the decision is Cast Plastic Manufacturing
critical with regard to the performance of the
product, its cost, and scalability. This article will ♦ Cast plastic manufacturing, on the other
discuss the subtleties of machined plastic parts hand, requires that liquid plastic is poured
and cast semi-finished plastics, their processes, into a mold and allowed to harden. This is
material choices, and uses to help you find the usually applied to the making of complicated
most suitable for your product. shapes and bigger components. The steps
include:
Understanding the Processes
♦ Mold Design: The final product is required
Plastic Machining Process to be of a desired shape, hence it requires
designing a mold that resembles the desired
Plastic machining is a subtractive process of
manufacturing whereby one cuts away a solid shape.
plastic block to get the required shape. The ♦ Material Preparation: A plastic resin must be
process involves the use of Computer Numeri-
58 PLASTICS NEWS November 2025
