The maintenance of an injection mold is often determined by the number of shots. Where a shot represent one cycle in the injection molding process.
In order to determine the number of cycles a cycle counters can be mounted onto the mold.
A pin is usually pressed into the counter while the mold is closing. Thus the counter is moved one step further.
But it need to be kept in mind that this means the counter does not check whether parts are actually produced or nut, but show how often the mold was closed.
The cycle counter that can be set on the machine controller can be reset to zero any time. This, and the fact that the mold can be used for production on different machines, makes the cycle counter on the machine controller not usable to determine the total number of shots done.

Cycle Counter in Injection Molding


Injection molding process: Cycle counter on an open mold


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This glossary of plastic industry is provided by PLEXPERT Canada Inc.