What happened to HPs tooling molds

[emefff]

Hello,

just my thoughts having worked in the die-casting industry for years:
-) using old injection mold tools on today's machines would not give an advantage because today's machine are not the same in terms of: tonnage, sprue design, clamps etc. Any old old tool has to be adapted since 50 year old machines are not around anymore and are not feasible in operation (or even not safe to operate!). Repairs on old machines are not feasible anyway, they belong in museums.
-) plastics have improved
-) tool materials have improved, today we can use materials that have super long lifetimes (ESR steels if needed, I am not sure the injection mold people use them, kinda pricey but sometimes worth it)
-) every tool is CFD simulated today thus a modern tool is cheaper AND more efficient at the same time.
-) modern tool design has less secondary material today (the stuff that is thrown away intentionally, runners and overflows)
-) modern designs lead to less scrap (complete shots thrown away unintentionally, due to defects in the parts)
-) any old part can be 3D scanned within minutes/hours depending on size
-) model cleaning takes hours
-) runner and overflow design takes a few days or 1 week (a few iterations needed in CFD simulation included)
-) tool design with sliders takes a week or two weeks
-) tool manufacturing takes weeks or a month.

So essentially, what I am trying to say is that old tools are more less not worth the hassle. Also, there is great chance they are unusable anyway depending on how they were stored. They could be corroded, have extensive wear, or gunk in cooling lines etc. or could be 'unadaptable' to a modern injection molding machine due to design differences or other 'mishaps' in their past usage. Also, they could have been successful due to tricks applied by the operators back then, that cannot be done on a modern machine for safety reasons or efficiency. Another thing is, it is likely there are no existing CAD models of the old parts that are needed anyway today for quality control etc., so a redesign is needed for that reason alone!

emefff

EDIT: Sorry, I use die-casting terms. I know the plastic people have different names for some of the terms I used here :-)