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Elements and Performance Criteria
Required Skills
Evidence Required
Range Statement
The Range Statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Add any essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts.Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, the latest version must be used.ContextThis competency unit includes the setting and removal of simple dies. It does not include advanced and complex dies This competency applies to all work environments and sectors within the plastics, rubber and cablemaking industry which use moulding dies. It includes the operation of all relevant ancillary equipment.DieA former used to give the required shape to the product and used under pressure. Dies are typically used in the extrusion, injection, blow moulding and general rubber sectors. Dies used which are not subject to pressure are referred to as 'moulds' in this Training Package.Simple dieA two plate die including any ejection system operating in the mould open axis, but excluding moulds with molten material retained within the mould between cycles. Products are simple, straight drawn items. Typical features may include: force, cavity, back plates, support plates, cold runner, sprue, nozzle seat, locating ring-tab, sub, fan, diaphragm and direct gating, ejector pins and sleeves, ejector plate and stripper plate, simple drilling for mould cooling.Advanced dieA two or three plate die with one or more product forming components which move in a direction other than the mould open axis, and which are driven by the mould rather than external actuation. Excludes moulds which retain molten material within the mould between cycles. Typical features may include: sliding blocks or cores actuated by skew pins or cams; baffled, spiral, tube, and heat pipe cooling systems; rising cores; and internally actuated unscrewing systems.Complex dieDies which use at least one external power and control source to actuate product forming components, which move in a direction other than the mould open axis, and require sequencing with the mould operation. Includes moulds which retain molten material within the mould between cycles. Typical features may include: hot runners; insulated runners; externally actuated sliding blocks, cores, and unscrewing systems; safety interlocks.RequirementsRequirements for the die change may include checking the die dimensions such as mould height and required ejector stroke to ensure it is compatible with the selected machineSettingSetting of the machine conditions may include setting the mould height on the machine, the clamp force, the mould safety system, the ejector system, the mould opening and closing distances, speeds and forces and the injection unit.These settings may be performed automatically, using an electronic storage device to load settings from a previous run of this product, or may be performed by manually setting controls individually.ProceduresAll operations are performed in accordance with procedures.Procedures include all relevant workplace procedures, work instructions, temporary instructions and relevant industry and government codes and standards.Tools and equipmentThis unit of competency includes use of equipment and tools such as:hand carts and trolleyshoists/lifting equipment not requiring any special permits or licencesbasic hand tools relevant personal protective equipment.HazardsTypical hazards include:hazardous materialsmanual handling hazardshot surfaces.Anticipate problemsAnticipate problems includes taking a proactive approach to a wide range of routine and non-routine problems, using product and process knowledge to develop solutions to problems which do not have a known solution/a solution recorded in the procedures, and endeavouring to learn from the problem so that it does not recur.Typical die setting problems may include:lack of cleaning of die surface and cooling channels, leading to corrosioninadequate fitting of the dies to the platens, causing poor alignment or movement during productionfine adjustments of die movements, to optimise production.All operations are performed in accordance with procedures.VariablesKey variables, and their causes, to be monitored include:time/effort required to set a dienumber of attempts to produce a first off within specificationthe need to reset/adjust a die during then production run.