A mold clamping device of an injection molding machine includes a mold clamping shaft fixed to a movable platen, a mold clamping ram to press the mold clamping shaft against a fixed platen, a ram position detecting member that detects a position of the mold clamping ram, an encoder detecting a position of the movable platen, a ram position control member that hydraulically controls a position of the mold clamping ram, a storage unit storing a difference value of mold closing positions of the movable platen before and after mold replacement, and a control unit. The control unit calculates the difference value when mold thickness adjustment is performed, calculates a movement position of the mold clamping ram based on a current position of the mold clamping ram and the difference value, moves the mold clamping ram to the movement position, and stops the mold clamping ram to perform mold clamping.

A specific mold status Ac is caused in advance in which the interval of an inner portion Xi in the parting plane direction of a parting gap C between a fixed mold 2c and a movable mold 2m during the injection filling is larger than the interval of an outer edge portion Xo and the interval of the outer edge portion Xo is equal to or lower than a predetermined size Ls including 0. A molding injection pressure Pi is set as an injection pressure at which a non-defective product can be molded and a molding mold clamping force Pc is set as a mold clamping force by which a non-defective product can be molded. During the production, a mold 2 is clamped by a molding mold clamping force Pc and the clamped mold 2 is filled with the injected resin R by a molding injection pressure Pi. After a predetermined cooling time Tc has passed, a molded piece G is removed.

An injection molding tool for producing a molded part and a corresponding method are disclosed. The injection mold tool comprises a first tool mold half and a second tool mold half, which together with a first slider and at least one second slider define a free space for the molded part to be produced. A lever which is pretensioned with an elastic element is assigned to an end switch such that a movable and free end of the lever cooperates with the end switch due to a movement of the first slider.

A specific mold status Ac is caused in advance in which the interval of an inner portion Xi in the parting plane direction of a parting gap C between a fixed mold 2c and a movable mold 2m during the injection filling is larger than the interval of an outer edge portion Xo and the interval of the outer edge portion Xo is equal to or lower than a predetermined size Ls including 0. A molding injection pressure Pi is set as an injection pressure at which a non-defective product can be molded and a molding mold clamping force Pc is set as a mold clamping force by which a non-defective product can be molded. During the production, a mold 2 is clamped by a molding mold clamping force Pc and the clamped mold .sub.2 is filled with the injected resin R by a molding injection pressure Pi. After a predetermined cooling time Tc has passed, a molded piece G is removed.

A pressure controller for an injection molding machine capable of reducing variations of pressure in a mold in molding cycles and providing molded articles of stable quality is provided. The pressure controller includes an in-mold pressure estimation unit for estimating a pressure in the mold based on an injection pressure detected with an injection pressure detection unit, and an amount of movement of a screw detected with a screw movement amount detection unit, and an in-mold pressure control unit for controlling such that the estimated in-mold pressure becomes a set in-mold pressure after the pressure control is performed in a dwell step with an injection pressure control unit.

A molding injection pressure and a molding clamping force are determined in advance to obtain a parting opening amount, which is a predetermined gap, between a movable mold and a fixed mold of a mold during injection filling. The molding injection pressure and the molding clamping force are determined to obtain a molding injection pressure capable of molding a good product and a mold clamping force capable of molding a good product, respectively, thereby setting a specific molding condition, setting a fast injection speed from the start of injection, which is higher than the injection speed set by the specific molding condition, and setting a fast injection section for continuing the fast injection speed as a fast injection condition, mold-clamping the mold by the molding clamping force during molding, and setting the molding injection pressure to a limit pressure, injecting and filling resin into a mold by the fast injection condition from the start of injection, and injecting and filling resin by the specific molding condition when the fast injection section ends.

An injection molding machine according to the present invention includes a base mounted on a mounting surface with a support interposed therebetween with a distance D1 and a distance D2 to the mounting surface, a plurality of measurement units attached to the base so as to measure distances respectively to the mounting surface, and a horizontal degree calculation unit for calculating a horizontal degree of the base on a basis of the distances measured by the plurality of measurement units.

A monitoring apparatus for molds includes a control unit connectable to a first and second sensor associable with the mold and configured for emitting respective signals representative of a deformation parameter and temperature parameter of the mold. The control unit, in order to define an alert condition, is configured for: defining a value of a threshold parameter as a function of the temperature of the mold and comparing such value of the deformation parameter with a value of a threshold parameter defined as a function of the temperature of the mold; or normalizing, at a reference temperature, the value of the deformation parameter determined at the temperature of the mold and comparing a value of a threshold parameter, defined at the reference temperature, with the value of the normalized deformation parameter at the same reference temperature. Also forming the object of the present invention is a monitoring method and a data medium.

A shrinkage detection device for a polymer injection molding apparatus detects a shrinkage experienced by an injection molded element for assessing a quality of the molded element. Shrinkage, along with temperature and pressure of the melt within the mold during cooling, indicates a sufficiency of the resulting molded element for intended purposes. Sufficiency includes parameters such as flexibility, shear strength and longevity, and is accurately performed can replace conventional sample testing of molded articles that are expensive and time consuming.

An injection molding machine including a mold clamping device for clamping a mold comprising a fixed mold and a movable mold by a predetermined mold clamping force; an injection device for injecting and filling a resin into the mold by a predetermined injection pressure, wherein the mold clamping device enables natural compression of the resin at least as the resin inside the mold solidifies; and a molding machine controller at least including a specific molding condition setting function for setting a specific molding condition by obtaining a parting opening amount which becomes a predetermined gap between the movable mold and the fixed mold during injection filling, a molding injection pressure which becomes an injection pressure capable of molding a good product and a molding clamping force which becomes a mold clamping force capable of molding a good product; a fast injection condition setting function for setting, as a fast injection condition, a fast injection speed from the start of injection, the fast injection speed being higher than the injection speed set by the specific molding condition, and a fast injection section for continuing the fast injection speed; and a molding control function for mold-clamping the mold clamping device by the molding clamping force, setting the molding injection pressure to a limit pressure, injecting and filling the mold by the fast injection condition from the start of injection, and filling the mold by the specific molding condition by the end of the fast injection section.