Scratches in chocolate molds

[no10]

Hi all, I'd like to provide an update and ask for the group's input.

 

I took Jim's recommendation and purchased CW molds from TCF Sales (I purchased two types: CW2995 and CW2443). I received the molds, and upon inspection, I again found several cavities in each mold that have scratches (see attached images). The scratches are different (in location and shape) from the scratches found on the Chef Rubber molds that I posted previously about (see above). I purchased three 2295 molds and all three have scratches in the same cavities, so I think it's safe to say that these scratches occurred during production. I contacted TCF Sales, and they contacted CW. Below is CW's response:

"I double checked with my colleagues from production told me these are hairlines and they occur during the production process when injecting the mould with polycarbonate.

These hairlines are unfortunately inevitable and I cannot guarantee that if we send replacements of the same type of moulds, they will be without hairlines…I checked the produced batches of both moulds and they show the same hairlines…

Alternatives (similar to the moulds with hairlines) for both moulds are:

CW1526: https://chocolateworld.be/winkel/moulds/frame-moulds/CW1526 (less cavities)   - available

CW2116: https://chocolateworld.be/winkel/moulds/frame-moulds/CW2116  - will become available next week

What do you think? Can we replace the moulds with hairlines by these alternatives?"

This is a similar response that CW provided to @sarah72 (see her comment above). I'm a little surprised about the prevalence of these hairline defects given that CW has the reputation of manufacturing quality molds. What are people's thoughts? Would you personally keep these molds? Are there other mold manufacturers that the group recommends?

For those who have CW2295, do your molds have these hairline defects?

Thank you all for the help and input.

[minas6907]

I think others have may have better opinions then my own, but I remember it bothering me more in the past. I remember first seeing the occasional hairline scratch in my molds and being pretty annoyed. I don't like the response from the company, I feel like they are just say 'well that's what it is.' As time went on, I think I just ignored it. I still see them, and I don't like it, but that's very interesting that it's part of production. I do see the same thing on my chocolate molds from CW, but on my molds from Cabrellon, I feel like they aren't quite as common. I wouldn't be surprised if cheaper methods of manufacturing the molds came into play here, but I don't know anything about that. 

 

Now that I'm thinking about it, I do recall always using the bonbons with hairlines for Instagram pics of ones cut open, not a big loss haha. 

 

One thing that is interesting is that I've noticed it in pictures from Notters Art of the Chocolatier. On page 172, there's a picture of displayed bonbons. The triangle piece towards the center has a hairline scratch towards the top of it. This always drove me crazy because I would have thought every bonbon that appears in that book should be absolutely perfect, but there's many with flaws, like pin holes and chipped cocoa butter. 

 

Anyways, these are just thoughts that came to mind. 

[no10]

Thanks for your perspective, @minas6907. I think I'll be returning these molds and seeking a different manufacturer. The occasional hairline is okay, but there are hairline defects in over 50% of the cavities on a given mold.

[wannabechocolatier]

11 hours ago, no10 said:

Thanks for your perspective, @minas6907. I think I'll be returning these molds and seeking a different manufacturer. The occasional hairline is okay, but there are hairline defects in over 50% of the cavities on a given mold.

If you're continuing your correspondence with them, could you ask if this has always been an issue, or just with recent batches or new manufacturing processes? I can't help but feel this is a more recent issue since if most of the cavities in a mold had hairline cracks in them, we'd have seen more discussion on it in the past.

[Rajala]

Those scratches are way too large to be just regular mistakes if you ask me. I had 8 moulds like that showing up recently - the 2295 as well. Emailing with them and they want pictures of the chocolate moulded in order to move on with this - but I haven't had time for that just yet.

 

Something is definitely up with the last couple of batches of 2295.

[no10]

A message from CW:

The issue with injection hairlines is ongoing since the beginning of our company and very often up for discussion.

Hairlines are an inevitable result from mould injecting with polycarbonate and are basically meeting points of polycarbonate where plastic touches after a full injection. Imagine an empty tooling and draw a line in the middle of the tooling which divides the tooling in part A and B. The “meeting” of polycarbonate happens at the point where part A and B close after a full injected. The annoying thing is that the line doesn’t necessarily has to be in the middle and hairlines can show up anywhere.

Take any moulds that you can find from us and hold upwards to light and try to count the lines you see. You’ll discover a dozen of hairlines but nevertheless our moulds stay unbreakable.

Conical designs are most sensitive to hairlines and actually nobody really knows why or how to explain this from a technical point of view. Hairlines show up more frequently on round shapes than on square shapes. Since more than 2 years everybody wants to work with spheres or cones in combination with colouring techniques because conical model gives the best result with colours. How lucky are we, right?

However, hairlines are usually speaking inside the plastic or just underneath the surface which doesn’t affect the quality nor the result on chocolate. All our moulds pass human quality control but rising / embossed hairlines are still rather difficult to detect with the naked eye. From experience I can tell we have less than 2% rejects from customers.

Chocolate World

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by no10 (log)

[no10]

On 12/9/2021 at 1:59 AM, Rajala said:

Those scratches are way too large to be just regular mistakes if you ask me. I had 8 moulds like that showing up recently - the 2295 as well. Emailing with them and they want pictures of the chocolate moulded in order to move on with this - but I haven't had time for that just yet.

 

Something is definitely up with the last couple of batches of 2295.

@Rajala, would you mind letting us know how your correspondence with CW unfolds?

[Rajala]

19 minutes ago, no10 said:

@Rajala, would you mind letting us know how your correspondence with CW unfolds?

 

For sure! It might be so that I'm too slow, I don't have the moulds on hand yet. They're with a customer. But I'll let you know.

[wannabechocolatier]

On 12/11/2021 at 11:11 AM, Rajala said:

 

For sure! It might be so that I'm too slow, I don't have the moulds on hand yet. They're with a customer. But I'll let you know.

Any updates?

[Rajala]

16 minutes ago, wannabechocolatier said:

Any updates?

Sorry, the guy decided to keep the moulds.

 

But I got the same thing that "it can happen with the injection technique" reply. I guess it can, but it's annoying and I would like there to be more quality control.