Metal Parts Product Manufacturing Professional Terminology
Metal Parts Product Manufacturing Professional Terminology
• Family Mold
A multi-cavity mold that creates two or more dissimilar parts for a single assembly.
• Fixture
A clamp, vise or other device to hold a workpiece securely while it is being machined.
• Forced Ejection
Ejecting a finished part from a stamping mold tool using undercuts instead of ejector pins.
• G-Code
Digital instructions, usually derived from a 3D CAD parts file, which control the precise tool path, speed and other customized parameters of CNC equipment.
• GD&T
Metal parts Geometric Dimension and Tolerance. This is the industry-standard symbolic language for annotating physical features and allowable variations on engineering drawings.
• Handload
A manually placed and removed component to allow the molding of undercuts in a stamping parts mold tool.
• Heel Block
An angled face that engages Metal parts with a matching angle on the back of a sliding core to hold it in place.
• Height Gauge
Metal parts measuring device used to determine the height of a feature relative to a flat, horizontal surface plate.
• Hot Sprue
A heated, tapered hole in a powder metallurgy mold tool that allows material to flow directly from the machine nozzle into the mold cavity.
• Hydraulic Cores
Sliding cores in powder metallurgy mold tools that are actuated with hydraulic power. Compare to manual sliders.
• IGES
Acronym for Initial Graphics Exchange Specification. This is a CAD file format for 3D data.
• In Mold Labeling
Date stamps, material codes or other information applied to a part during the molding process via customized molding inserts.
• Infill
During additive manufacturing, infill is additional material added between layers to fill any gaps or voids left by the printing process.
• Insert Molding
Powder metallurgy molding around the circumference of a metal insert.
• ISO
International Standards Organization.
• Jetting
An powder metallurgy defect that causes snake-like lines on the surface of a molding. Often caused when material leaves a smaller gate at high velocity directly into a thick section of the part or cavity.
• Lathe
Machine tool for creating round profiles and cavities with concentric or rotational features.
• Line of Draw
Main direction of motion for opening/closing the halves of a casting or stamping mold tool.
• Live Tooling
Rotating cutting tools mounted in a lathe or turn mill tool turret for CNC machining.
• Living Hinge
A plastic hinge formed by exploiting the ability of some plastics to bend repeatedly without breaking.
• M-Code
Machine language for programming auxiliary functions in CNC machine tools. See also G-Code.
• Master Batch
Heavily pigmented plastic resin used to add color for metal parts.
• Melt Temperature
Temperature at which Powder metallurgy achieves a liquid or molten state and can therefore be molded.
• Metal Safe
Deliberately making some high-precision metal parts in mold tools oversized, so they can later be machined down to final dimensions.
• Micrometer
Precise measuring tool providing graduated measurements calibrated in microns.
• Mill Turn
A lathe that is fitted with live tooling enabling milling operations to be carried out on turned components.
• Mold Base
Custom core/cavity mold tools are made to fit inside of a mold base, which in turn is placed inside a stamping parts molding machine.
• Mold Locks
Precision machined tapered features on mold tools with male and female halves.
• Mold Temperature
Optimum temperature of a powder metallurgy die tool based on the resin compound being molded.
• Molding Cycle
A molding cycle is composed of the following steps: Close, Inject, Pack, Cool, Open, Eject and Close.
• Multi Cavity
A pressure die casting or stamping die tool with multiple cavities, for creating more than one part in a given cycle.
• Nominal
Of or pertaining to the precise numerical value of a dimension. Usually taken as the Metal parts reference dimension from which allowable deviation must be made in most processes.
• Family Mold
A multi-cavity mold that creates two or more dissimilar parts for a single assembly.
• Fixture
A clamp, vise or other device to hold a workpiece securely while it is being machined.
• Forced Ejection
Ejecting a finished part from a stamping mold tool using undercuts instead of ejector pins.
• G-Code
Digital instructions, usually derived from a 3D CAD parts file, which control the precise tool path, speed and other customized parameters of CNC equipment.
• GD&T
Metal parts Geometric Dimension and Tolerance. This is the industry-standard symbolic language for annotating physical features and allowable variations on engineering drawings.
• Handload
A manually placed and removed component to allow the molding of undercuts in a stamping parts mold tool.
• Heel Block
An angled face that engages Metal parts with a matching angle on the back of a sliding core to hold it in place.
• Height Gauge
Metal parts measuring device used to determine the height of a feature relative to a flat, horizontal surface plate.
• Hot Sprue
A heated, tapered hole in a powder metallurgy mold tool that allows material to flow directly from the machine nozzle into the mold cavity.
• Hydraulic Cores
Sliding cores in powder metallurgy mold tools that are actuated with hydraulic power. Compare to manual sliders.
• IGES
Acronym for Initial Graphics Exchange Specification. This is a CAD file format for 3D data.
• In Mold Labeling
Date stamps, material codes or other information applied to a part during the molding process via customized molding inserts.
• Infill
During additive manufacturing, infill is additional material added between layers to fill any gaps or voids left by the printing process.
• Insert Molding
Powder metallurgy molding around the circumference of a metal insert.
• ISO
International Standards Organization.
• Jetting
An powder metallurgy defect that causes snake-like lines on the surface of a molding. Often caused when material leaves a smaller gate at high velocity directly into a thick section of the part or cavity.
• Lathe
Machine tool for creating round profiles and cavities with concentric or rotational features.
• Line of Draw
Main direction of motion for opening/closing the halves of a casting or stamping mold tool.
• Live Tooling
Rotating cutting tools mounted in a lathe or turn mill tool turret for CNC machining.
• Living Hinge
A plastic hinge formed by exploiting the ability of some plastics to bend repeatedly without breaking.
• M-Code
Machine language for programming auxiliary functions in CNC machine tools. See also G-Code.
• Master Batch
Heavily pigmented plastic resin used to add color for metal parts.
• Melt Temperature
Temperature at which Powder metallurgy achieves a liquid or molten state and can therefore be molded.
• Metal Safe
Deliberately making some high-precision metal parts in mold tools oversized, so they can later be machined down to final dimensions.
• Micrometer
Precise measuring tool providing graduated measurements calibrated in microns.
• Mill Turn
A lathe that is fitted with live tooling enabling milling operations to be carried out on turned components.
• Mold Base
Custom core/cavity mold tools are made to fit inside of a mold base, which in turn is placed inside a stamping parts molding machine.
• Mold Locks
Precision machined tapered features on mold tools with male and female halves.
• Mold Temperature
Optimum temperature of a powder metallurgy die tool based on the resin compound being molded.
• Molding Cycle
A molding cycle is composed of the following steps: Close, Inject, Pack, Cool, Open, Eject and Close.
• Multi Cavity
A pressure die casting or stamping die tool with multiple cavities, for creating more than one part in a given cycle.
• Nominal
Of or pertaining to the precise numerical value of a dimension. Usually taken as the Metal parts reference dimension from which allowable deviation must be made in most processes.
