Injection molded articles and methods of making injection molded articles. The methods include the use of a first plasticizing unit and a second plasticizing unit on a common frame feeding a first mold and a second mold on the common frame. Separating the production of each part of a two-part article into separate plasticizers and molds allows for the tuning of production parameters on a per-part basis, improving part flatness and part-to-part weight variance.

An injection molding apparatus may include a first mold plate and a second mold plate. The second mold plate may be movable outside an injection molding station defined by these mold plates. The second mold plate may carry parts of type A and parts of type B molded at the same time within the injection molding station. A transferring mechanism may carry the second mold plate to removing and assembling stations where molded parts A are first removed from the second mold plate and next parts A are positioned relative molded parts B, where the molded parts B and A are finally assembled. Simultaneously other parts A and B may be molded at the injection molding station using an additional and identical second mold plate. Depending on the application, molded parts A and B may be made of the same or different materials.

An injection molding method of a part for vehicle interiors includes arranging a mold having a first injection chamber defining in negative a base of the part. Thermoplastic material is injected into the first chamber and the base is extracted from the first chamber and placed in a second injection chamber. A lining film is inserted in the second chamber and deforming it to arrange the film on an outer surface thereof, adhering to an esthetic wall of the second chamber opposite a functional wall. An intermediate plastic layer is injected in a gap between an inner wall of the base facing the lining film, and an inner surface of the lining film opposite the outer surface to create a single sandwich structure. The intermediate layer is between the lining film and the base, has lower hardness than the base and forms a yielding padding for the lining film.

Injection molded articles and methods of making injection molded articles. The methods include the use of a first plasticizing unit and a second plasticizing unit on a common frame feeding a first mold and a second mold on the common frame. Separating the production of each part of a two-part article into separate plasticizers and molds allows for the tuning of production parameters on a per-part basis, improving part flatness and part-to-part weight variance.