tool and die work never fails to impress

I like your collet holder - good idea! I surely will use this for my F38 collets. For others reading this: you can also buy sprue bushing switches for the B sides with ejector bore which can be turned without demounting the mold (using an Allen key). They mostly have the advantage that they include a small cone for a safe pulling of the sprue out of the A side. They are not too expensive. I get them for around 60€ (70$) here.

Great work 👏 I'm a tool maker and designer 👍

As always: very informative episode for us injection mold tooler beginners, Dave! 🙂 As an owner of a Boy 22 I also use aluminum for my tools (I only produce for my own products). I think you use 7075? Can you estimate how long an aluminum tool gives you good parts - e.g. your card rack tool: how many parts to you expect from it? I know it depends on material, geometry etc. - but a rough estimation would be great. I talked to some tool makers (don't know if it is the correct English term) here in Germany and they told me to hard anodize the surfaces for a MUCH longer lifetime of the aluminum molds. I remember that you use anodizes surfaces in the past for some parts. How are your experiences with coated surfaces?