Matrix Tool Wins Inaugural Hot Shots Competition

Posted on September 28, 2021 at 12:00 am

The team at Matrix Tool saw most of their competition in the first-ever Hot Shots injection molded parts competition when they arrived at Molding 2021 (Sept. 21-23; Donald E. Stephens Convention Center; Rosemont, Ill.) and set out their parts along side the other entered components. Impressed—and a little intimidated—by the opposition, Matrix’s Dave Moyak, who along with Sodick Plustech’s Len Hampton, accepted the awards in a ceremony on Sept. 22, admitted to being pleasantly surprised by his company’s sweep.

Matrix Tool’s entrant—a LCP showcase component with microfeatures—was voted by Molding and Amerimold attendees as the honoree in both Hot Shots categories: Technical Sophistication and Achievement in Molding Efficiency and/or Economics. The part, which was actually being molded at the show from a Sodick press at the Sodick Plustech booth at Amerimold, beat out nine other entrants in the competition.

The Technical Sophistication prize was judged on the basis of use of new technology in molding, molding materials, or tooling; and overcoming challenges in molding—e.g, owing to the material, complexity of part or tool design, and/or very tight tolerances. Criteria for Achievement in Molding Efficiency and/or Economics included innovations around part consolidation, thin walling, weight reduction, machine/tool savings, improved quality, increased productivity and application of recycled materials.

In the first category, advanced toolmaking technologies and skills at Matrix made the LCP parts intricate details possible, while the Sodick machine’s two-stage Hi-Response injection press filled the part, which has a wall thickness of just .0048 inch, in just 0.16 second. In terms of molding economics, Matrix noted that its advanced tool paired with the Sodick machine can out produce larger presses running higher cavitation tools.

Congrats to the Matrix team on the win and thanks to all our entrants. Watch a future issue of Plastics Technology to see a complete writeup of the winning part, as well as a roundup of the competition it beat out.